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Historicist: More Power To Your East End Food Dollar

By Jamie Bradburn

Every Saturday morning Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today.
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Power Supermarket, 1953. City of Toronto Archives, fonds 1257, series 1057, item 496
November 12, 1953: shoppers descended on Danforth Avenue a few doors west of Woodbine to await the grand opening of the eighth store in the budget-conscious Power supermarket chain. Care to join the crowd and check out the offers in aisle three?


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Advertisement, The Toronto Star, November 11, 1953
The Power chain’s origins dated to 1904, when Samuel and Sarah Weinstein opened a grocery store named after themselves near present-day Bay and Dundas. The family’s first store under the low-cost Power banner opened at Coxwell and Danforth in 1933 with the slogan “Why Pay for Fixtures?” The same year that 2055 Danforth Avenue opened, Power was purchased by Loblaw Groceterias but maintained a distinct identity and independent marketing policies. Samuel and Sarah’s son Leon ran the company by this point and eventually served as president of Loblaws from 1968 to 1970.
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Power Supermarket, 1953. City of Toronto Archives, fonds 1257, series 1057, item 498
The grand opening ad was posted by the front door. Staff and dignitaries were photographed as they pondered how to cut the ribbon before letting shoppers in. Scissors? Knife? A quick chop with the flower bouquet?
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Power Supermarket, 1953. City of Toronto Archives, fonds 1257, series 1057, item 499
These bag boys were primed to start packing away purchases. Current city officials would be proud of the paper bags on display.
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Power Supermarket, 1953. City of Toronto Archives, fonds 1257, series 1057, item 500
The Power name faded away during reorganizations of Loblaws store banners in the 1970s. The company still operates at least two of the locations listed in the grand opening ad as No Frills stores (Parliament Street and Eglinton Avenue West), while the Sunnybrook Plaza store now operates as a Pharma Plus. As for 2055 Danforth…
2008_11_29-2055-danforth-no.jpg
…it sits vacant, surrounded by a fence bearing “no trespassing” signs.
Photo of 2055 Danforth by Jamie Bradburn. Additional material from the June 18, 1968 edition of The Globe and Mail.

Comments

  • CanadianSkeezix

    Another great Historicist piece.
    I love how the supermarket has shelves of cigarettes on display, located between sundries and coffee, just down from the fish.

  • jlangdon

    There was one on Yonge north of Lawrence that I remember. It eventually became a Loblaws till the new store opened at Yonge Boulevard. The Joseph Brown seniors’ home is now on that Power store site.
    If memory serves, there may also have been one at Briar Hill and Yonge that also got replaced by a seniors’ residence.
    Ah, nostalgia.

  • Val Dodge

    The Danforth location later housed Woodbine Building Supply, which exploded and burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 2001 in an insurance fraud scheme.

  • canrocks

    SO GODDAMNED INTERESTING!!!!
    As soon as I saw the first picture I immediately thought of the No Frills at Parliament and Carlton. It’s interesting to know that it didn’t originate as a Loblaws, as I previously thought, and that the building is more than fifty years old. I’m glad someone’s keeping track of this stuff.

  • David Toronto

    I don’t see any parking facility. Was there any?
    In my childhood we had an A&P and Loblaws on Bloor near Runnymede and Jane. Neither had or offered parking.

  • Adam Sobolak

    By the time we get to 1953ish, wouldn’t some of these newly-built “storefront” supermarkets have had some token parking spaces to the rear? Though I can’t squint it out among the ultra-modern accoutrements in this ad. (They do boast “Music By Muzak”, though.)

  • Val Dodge

    The Danforth store is one of the ones listed at the bottom of the ad as having free parking. I’m only familiar with the location during its incarnations as a hardware store and a big hole in the ground, but there was a vehicle entrance off Woodbine that led to what was probably a parking lot back in the grocery store days. During the subsequent hardware store days, it was used mostly as a loading area and storage lot for gravel, pavers, and other building materials.

  • cg

    I see that Shopsy’s turkeys was an opening day promotions. If I recall correctly, Leon Weinstein and Shopsy (Sam Shopsowitz), who played violin and accordion respectively, would often ‘jam’ together for charitable events.
    As for the glimpse of the mechanical ‘pony’ ride in one of the images above, at one time they were ubiquitous in every supermarket. I don’t think I’ve seen one since Knob Hill Farms closed the doors.

  • Davidimrie

    Hi from Winnipeg. I remember the Power store at Danforth & Coxwell, also remember the one at Queen & Leslie (Avondale Seniors’ Home now occupies the site). Interestingly, Leon Weinstein was a cousin of legendary Channel 7 News Anchor Irv Weinstein.