And, a follow-up a day later...
Andrew T. wrote: ↑17 Jun 2019 14:10
* One of London's near-abandoned shopping centres is the Treasure Island Mall/Superstore Mall at 4380 Wellington Road South, which
reportedly contained a Loblaws Superstore in the 1980s. When I did my research last year, I couldn't find any reference to a Loblaws at 4380 in the 1980s...but there
was a Loblaws at
1550 Wellington in 1985. Could these two numbers actually be the same address? The area surrounding the mall was not annexed by the city of London until 1993...and annexations beget renumbering more often than not.
Today, I hit the books to see if I could clear the air on this location. What I found surprised me!
First off: 1550 and 4380 Wellington
are in fact the same location. In fact, the address number for the Superstore Mall changed and shifted rapidly throughout the 1980s and 1990s, even
before the area was annexed by the city!
The second element of surprise? In about 1990, Loblaws rebranded this store under the "Zehrs Food Plus" banner. This is the first reliable evidence I've seen of the company ever using the Zehrs brand in London...and it's perplexing, since all their other stores in London remained branded as Loblaws throughout the 1990s and remain branded as Loblaws now.
So in summary...
1985: Loblaws Groceteria at Superstore Mall, 1550 Wellington Road.
1990: Loblaws Groceteria at Superstore Mall, 1420 Wellington Road.
1991: Zehrs Food Plus at Superstore Mall, 1420 Wellington Road.
1995: Zehrs Food Plus at Superstore Mall, 4380 Wellington Road. (Post-annexation)
2000: No supermarket tenant at Superstore Mall, 4380 Wellington Road.
This store originally had a sloped front, visible in
this picture. Unfortunately, this kitschy bit of 1980s weirdness was covered over by a boxy facade a few years ago as the Loblaws property was subdivided and repurposed.
Since I still have write permissions, I've already added this information to the spreadsheet.
I also traced and added a few locations belonging to
Loeb, the Ontario grocery chain that I always forget about. Loeb reoccupied a couple of the Miracle Food Mart and Dominion stores that A&P divested in the '80s...which makes it all the more ironic that Loeb got swallowed up by Metro alongside A&P. Loeb also maintained a warehouse facility and two "cash and carry" wholesale outlets in London in addition to its stores, and the directories aren't always clear about which is which. But I think I have it straightened out.