If you work in CPG but work outside of Western Canada you have probably heard about "AG Foods" but given that many of their stores are in small towns across the West you may not have visited one or know much about them.
Associated Grocers (AG) was founded in 1927 in Alberta, and has since grown to become a grocery wholesale company that works across BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Associated Grocers was purchased by the Jim Pattison Group in 1989, which now has roughly a dozen retail banners under its Pattison Food Group name.
Today Associated Grocers is the leading grocery wholesale company in Western Canada serving 650 independent retail locations in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan out of several distribution centers located in two provinces.
We were recently in Sooke, BC and had the chance to visit Western Foods which was recently bought by Associated Grocers. First established in 1974, Western Foods has been operating in Sooke since 1995 and is one of two grocery stores in this town of 15,000 located a 45 minute drive west of Victoria, BC.
As you can see, the store is a small format but carries a good assortment of products with well executed deli, produce, meat and bakery departments on the perimeter. This location is a partner in the M&M Food Market Express program offered by AG, The store also stocks private labels of the Pattison Food Group such as Western Family and Only Goodness.