‘We start with a simple idea,” he told this newspaper in 1996, already 35 years into the discount business. “We keep costs low by renting cheaper properties and selling large volumes of products at everyday low prices.”Reid, who opened his first Giant Tiger outlet in the ByWard Market in 1961 and ran the company until he retired in 2020, died on Saturday, the company announced. He was 89.
He struck out in business on his own with his first Giant Tiger store on the corner of Dalhousie and George streets with a $15,000 loan. The site was an old printing plant for the newspaper Le Droit. Money was so tight, Reid built his own display tables.Article content Discount stores “sell the same item for a lower price than department stores. It seemed a good concept,” he told this newspaper. “I chose Ottawa … because it was a big enough market and had a stable civil service economy.”
He opened a second store in Brockville in 1965. Four years later, he sold his first franchise in Maniwaki, Quebec.Article content