Maxi grocery store opened to great fanfare on March 17, 1998 in the Parkside Plaza at Hamilton Street and Parkside Drive. Owned by Montreal based Provigo Group, the store employed 114 people and had a large deli section, a photo-processing shop, bakery and large frozen foods section. The opening drew over 8,000 people with lines stretching out into the parking lot.
The grand opening featured free balloons and flowers, entertainment from a giant purple dinosaur (Barney?), a clown, and an accordion player. Flamborough Mayor Ted McMeekin helped cut the ribbon along with store director Marilyn Shaw and an unnamed little girl.
Up to that point, the main grocery store in Watedown was the IGA, which had opened in the Village Shopping Plaza on August 26, 1964. A second IGA store opened across the street in what is now known as Sobeys Plaza, and the original IGA store eventually became a Food Town in 1988, but closed sometime before 1994.
The Maxi store based its offerings on demographics, saying the large frozen and prepared foods sections were aimed at youth and busy young professionals. According to their research, Waterdown had the highest under-19 and lowest percentage of seniors in the province. They anticipated huge growth in the Flamborough area.
Unfortunately, the concept did not catch on and was probably ahead of its time. Provigo Inc. was purchased by Loblaw Companies in 1999 and all six Ontario Maxi stores were closed as they were never profitable. The Waterdown store closed on June 19,1999 and re-opened on Monday, June 28 as a Fortinos store.
The Flamborough Heritage Society’s next meeting is Thursday September 26, 8: p.m. at Grace Anglican Church, 157 Mill St. N., Waterdown. Our guest speaker will be Tim Speed of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, talking about The Lorenz and Enigma cipher machines used during the Second World War. Admission is free, refreshments will be available and all are welcome.
