Steinberg supermarket chain
Steinberg was founded in 1917 by Ida Steinberg, a Jewish-Hungarian immigrant to Canada. Originally known as Steinberg’s Supermarket, Ida’s five sons grew the business from its modest storefront on Boulevard Saint-Laurent into the largest supermarket chain in Québec. During its peak, Steinberg was so popular in the province that many French speakers referred to grocery shopping as “faire son Steinberg”.
Steinberg opened their first self-service grocery store in 1933 at a time when most grocers were either full-service or delivery. Allowing customers to pick their own items and save as much as 20 percent in the process proved very successful during the Great Depression and was the first of many innovations the chain would go on to introduce to Québec. Steinberg was also an early adopter of cellophane packaging and dedicated parking lots, leading many to credit them with bringing the supermarket concept to the province.
Under the leadership of Ida’s son Sam, Steinberg was among the first employers to require bilingualism from their staff. In 1961 Steinberg’s changed their name to “Steinberg”, dropping the possessive ‘s’ as tensions mounted between English and French speaking populations. With this change, the iconic Steinberg ‘S’ logo was introduced, replacing the previous logo which had been Sam’s signature. The company was sold in 1989 for $1.3 billion and was gradually auctioned off piece by piece with the final locations closing their doors by 1992.
Image: Canadiens hockey legend Jean Béliveau is driven past a downtown Steinberg Supermarket. Photo courtesy of Archives de la Ville de Montréal.