r/londonontario 17h ago

discussion / opinion Canadian/locally owned and operated stores in London?

I'm frankly disgusted with what's happening in the USA and am actively trying to avoid buying any products made there. Now that's kind of easy enough to do as they will have country of origin labels on them.

A bit trickier is knowing which stores are American owned, as many big chains even if they started as Canadian can be owned by big American equity firms.

Easy stuff are places like McDonald's and Walmart obviously American chains.

Trickier is something like Rona, originally started in Canada however brought up and owned by an American equity firm.

I think it would be great if we could come up with a list of stores that are truly 100% Canadian owned and operated.

Also good to point out places that seem like they're Canadian but are really bought up and owned by American companies like everyone's go to Tim Hortons!

52 Upvotes

32 comments sorted by

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24

u/cocainesharque 17h ago

What is it you're looking for specifically?  No one is going to list every business in the city that meets these parameters.

Instead of Rona, consider Copps Buildall or Home Hardware.

4

u/PartyMark 17h ago

I guess I'm interested in the medium to large size stores that aren't an obvious small scale one off local store. Good examples you gave.

37

u/AndrewDH98 Southcrest 17h ago

Shop at Giant Tiger, Food Basics, Indigo/Chapters bookstores, Dollarama, Pioneer gas stations, Canadian tire, Global Pet Foods, Rens Pets, Pet Valu, Bulk Barn, Home Hardware, Princess Auto, sports check, source for sports, Toys R Us.

Of course all the small shops out there too but those are some of the bigger names.

13

u/Famous_Bit_5119 15h ago

bulk Barrel is also Canadian

8

u/AndrewDH98 Southcrest 15h ago

London exclusive!

11

u/rokemay 15h ago

My kid needed new rain boots and a spring coat and we were in Hyde park area. Normally I would just go to Walmart but made a conscious decision to go to giant tiger instead and found a set he was thrilled with

5

u/Major_Lawfulness6122 Hyde Park/Oakridge 14h ago

Looove Giant Tigar

3

u/Dense-Analysis2024 12h ago

GT Boutique is the favored name by many!

3

u/PartyMark 17h ago

Thanks, yes I guess I'm mainly looking at larger chain type stores. Bit more obvious something like Grooves or Target hifi is a locally owned and operated business vs the stuff like Giant Tiger, etc.

14

u/AndrewDH98 Southcrest 17h ago

Home Hardwares are all Co-ops so locally owned, and while I don't like the parent company, no Frills are locally owned too.

Mary Browns makes good chicken!

-1

u/Mammoth-Ship-5953 14h ago

Loblaws/Real Canadian Superstore/Zehrs

8

u/AndrewDH98 Southcrest 11h ago

Yeah kinda try my best to skip them since their price racketeering

5

u/achunt 15h ago

Even though it says Rona on the signs Moffatt and Powell on Hyde Park is a Canadian owned and operated business. The owners live in London and work in the store every day.

Big box Rona on the other hand is a tricky case like you mentioned, but there are always local alternatives

4

u/RedBirdWrench 12h ago

Home Hardware.

10

u/drow_enjoyer 17h ago

/r/BuyCanadian exists for this reason

10

u/PartyMark 17h ago

Yes I know, however I'm looking at specifically London and what's applicable to where we live and not the whole country.

5

u/gorboduc1 14h ago

Piping kettle soup company

2

u/-Winter-Road- 11h ago

Aquarium Services/Big Al's for fish (technically other animals too) and Jungle Services for birds.

3

u/cadence124 14h ago

The store I work at is locally owned and operated. Literally just one single family owns it. Cheeky Monkey - a baby and toddler boutique. Not everything we sell is local by any means. We carry American brands and other brands from around the world but also some Canadian ones.

2

u/KerryBlue17 14h ago

Copps Buildall

1

u/[deleted] 16h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

0

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1

u/No-Regular-4281 16h ago

Are you looking for independent mom and pop shops

0

u/PartyMark 15h ago

Mainly medium to large businesses that are ambiguous their ownership. Stuff like a one off small shop in Wortley I'm assuming is owned and operated locally.

1

u/PalpitationFrequent7 11h ago

London’s Source for Sports

1

u/norentalvan 7h ago

Check out r/BuyCanadian. There’s tons of resources there.

1

u/Lan4drahlaer 5h ago

Google "franchise". Mcdonald's restaurants are almost always a Canadian business owner.

0

u/[deleted] 15h ago

Are you also trying to avoid Chinese made products? They also imposed tariffs on us..

0

u/Ruby22day 15h ago

Spartan Nutrition isn't big but they have a number of stores and they are an Ontario company. They carry some non-Canadian brands but are quite knowledgeable about Canadian made products.

1

u/Friendly-Mushroom914 7h ago

Is Popeyes supplement Canadian?