Commisso's Food Markets

In 1962, Mike Commisso, a local foundry worker, opened a 20 by 80-foot (24 m) family grocery store in Beamsville, Ontario. Upon his retirement, the business was handed over to his three sons who expanded the company over a period of several years.

A second location was opened at 106 Broadway, Welland, ON L3C 5L5 Welland, Ontario in 1967. In 1977, the Welland store was re-located to the Rose City Plaza on Ontario Road in Welland, a new 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m2) building, operating under the name Food Terminal. The low-priced products and high quality service of the store, which operated in a warehouse-like setting, made the store popular for families in the area. Food Terminal soon operated in several communities throughout the Niagara region, including three stores in St. Catharines.

In the 1990s, Food Terminal adopted a new look and name, inspired by the original Beamsville store's "Town Square" design. All Food Terminal stores were converted to the Commisso's Food Markets format, which included new investments in state-of-the-art technology and further expansion into Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area.

In 2000, Commisso's bought Lanzarotta Wholesale Grocers Limited (LWG) - a private family-owned Ontario company. At the time, LWG was one of Canada's largest, most successful independent wholesale grocers, at distribution rates of nearly 10,000 products to 7,000 retailers a week. The purchase of LWG brought Commisso's several key advantages including additional purchasing power, stronger merchandising performance, greater warehouse capacity and management, and the introduction of the Our Very Own line of discount products.