Details are still pending for a memorial to prominent British Columbia grocer and philanthropist Alex Campbell, who died Tuesday at age 70.
Campbell, who co-founded B.C.’s Thrifty Foods chain with one store in Victoria in 1977 with friend Ernie Skinner, is considered an innovator and early adopter in the Canadian supermarket business, in part for his “buy local” ethic and “fair trade” dealings with suppliers.
Campbell got into the grocery industry in 1956 as a student, eventually becoming a district manager for the Shop Easy chain in Vancouver.
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When he started in the business at age 15, “there were lots of opportunities to meet people, you know, fellow employees and customers,” Campbell said on the company’s website.
“When I started I was a pretty shy kind of kid, but you’re going to have to get away from that to deal with customers, and so I think it certainly helped me in my personal development at that stage in my life.”
In 1973, he moved to Vancouver Island to set up the 49th Parallel Grocery in Ladysmith, south of Nanaimo. Campbell and Skinner started the first Thrifty Foods store in Victoria’s Fairfield district and expanded to nine stores on the island by 1992, the year after Skinner left the company. The chain now includes 26 stores in the province and remains the single largest private employer on Vancouver Island.
“Perhaps what most sets Alex Campbell apart from other entrepreneurs was an early commitment to corporate social responsibility,” University of Victoria business professor Brock Smith said in 2010, when Campbell was named a Business Distinguished Entrepreneur by the school.
“Long before that phrase was coined, Alex Campbell did right by people, his suppliers and his community in recognition that honour, fairness and helping others are hallmarks of a leader and the duty of successful companies.”
Apart from his relationships with suppliers, Campbell was also among the first to adopt practices such as employee minority share ownership, employee home ownership grants and developing carbon-neutral strategies, Smith said. The chain also developed Sendial, a program in which volunteers shop for food and arrange for delivery to housebound seniors.
Thrifty’s in 1991 also launched what would eventually become the largest selection of certified organic products, including over 70 varieties of organic fruits and vegetables, of any grocery chain in the province.
Finding Thrifty’s “needed a significant amount of capital to remain the market leader in an increasingly competitive environment,” Campbell sold the company for $260 million in July 2007 to the Nova Scotia-based Sobeys chain, which continues to operate the Thrifty’s stores under the Thrifty Foods brand.
“While there is no doubt he had a knack for business, it was his philosophy of treating everyone with respect and kindness that made Thrifty Foods such a huge success,” B.C. Premier Christy Clark said in a statement Wednesday. “The enduring admiration of his many employees is perhaps his greatest legacy.”
