Private company

Empire Company

Logo: Empire Company, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons⁴

Canadian conglomerate

Empire Company Limited is a Canadian conglomerate engaged mostly in food retail and corporate investments. Founded in 1963, the company is headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia and owns the Sobeys supermarket chain. In total, the company owns, affiliates or franchises more than 1,500 stores; in addition to Sobeys, brands include Safeway, IGA, Foodland, Farm Boy, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods and Lawtons Drug.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1963Founded¹

Industryconglomerate¹
HeadquartersStellarton¹
Websitewww.empireco.ca
Listed onToronto Stock Exchange¹
Legal formcompany limited by shares (limited company)³
LEI549300TX0ZUSTEF7C719³
StatusActive³
LEI statusLapsed (not renewed)³
Registered address115 KING STREET, B0K 1S0 Stellarton, Canada³
Registered withService Nova Scotia, 1020785³

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Corporate structure

Empire Company sits at the top of its group. 12 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Empire Company Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Sobeys Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Canada
  - Big 8 Beverages Subsidiary · Stellarton
  - IGA Subsidiary
  - Les Marchés Tradition Subsidiary · Canada
  - Pension Plan for Employees of Sobeys Inc. Subsidiary · Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Canada
  - Rachelle Bery Subsidiary · Canada
  - SOBEYS CAPITAL INCORPORATED Subsidiary · Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Foodland Subsidiary · Stellarton
- FreshCo Subsidiary · Mississauga
- Safeway Subsidiary · Calgary
- Thrifty Foods Subsidiary · Central Saanich

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Empire Company reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.¹

Products and brands

1998 Empire sells 38% of Sobeys, putting it out on the public stock exchange.

2000 Empire sells its 25% stake in Hannaford Bros Co for $1.03 billion.

March 2002 Empire sells Serca Foodservice to SYSCO for $411 million.

June 2005 When Wajax became an income trust, Empire sold 2.875 million shares for $50.8 million.

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2006 Empire sells 44 properties to Crombie REIT.

April 2008 Empire sells another 61 properties to Crombie REIT

2011 Empire sells its remaining share of Wajax.

June 2013 Empire announces the sale of Empire Theatres to Cineplex Entertainment and Landmark Cinemas. The aggregate gross purchase price paid to Empire Theatres in the two transactions was approximately $248 million in cash.

October 2013 Sale of Empire Theatres to Cineplex and Landmark is complete.

August 2013 Sobeys sells the land of 68 Safeway locations to Crombie REIT for $900 million.

Oct/Nov/Dec 2013 Sobeys announces the planned sale of 23 of its stores in Alberta in preparation to the Safeway acquisition; this move was required in order to satisfy the Competition Bureau.

From Wikipedia’s article on Empire Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁵

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

Sobey family

Subsidiaries

Sobeys

Also owns

From Wikidata.¹

Acquisitions

Empire Company has a long history of acquisitions:

1976 Lawton's Drug Stores Limited, which operated 18 stores in Nova Scotia.

November 1980 – July 1981 Empire acquires Sobey Holdings Limited, gaining a 50.97% stake in the company.

February 1983 Empire ups its ownership of Hannaford Bros. Co., an American food retailer, to 25% (Sold in 2000)

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June 1987 Empire buys the remaining 49.03% of Sobeys, making it an entirely owned subsidiary. (Sold in 1998, re-bought in 2007)

1987 Empire buys out its partner in Empire Theatres, turning it into an entirely owned subsidiary.

May 1988 Empire buys a 25% stake in Provigo.

1988 Empire acquires an additional 22% stake in Wajax, resulting in a total ownership of 45%.

June 1989 Empire re-purchases the outstanding share of Atlantic Shopping Centres, making it an entirely owned subsidiary.

December 1993 Empire Real Estate buys 64% of Halifax Developments, Ltd; making it an entirely owned subsidiary.

December 1998 Empire buys Oshawa Group for $1.5 billion.

January 2001 Empire Real Estate buys a 35.7% stake in Genstar Developmental Partnership for $29 million.

February 2004 Sobey's acquires Commisso's Food Markets, and Empire Real Estate acquires Commisso's real estate for a total of $103.5 million.

September 2005 Empire Theatres acquires 27 more theatres.

August 2006 Sobey's acquires Achille de la Chevrotière Ltée, including its grocery chain of about 25 stores in Quebec and Ontario. This costs $79.2 million.

July 15, 2007 Empire re-buys the remaining outstanding Sobey's share, making it once again an entirely owned subsidiary.

September 2007 Sobeys buys Thrifty Foods for $256.6 million.

2011 Sobeys purchases 236 retail gas locations for $214.9 million in Québec and Atlantic Canada.

June 2013 Empire buys all of Safeway Canada's stores for $5.8 billion

September 2018 Empire announces intent to buy Farm Boy stores in an $800 million deal.

March 2021 Empire announces it will buy 51% stake in Longo's and its Grocery Gateway e-commerce business for $357 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of Empire's 2022 financial year.