A Letter to Galen Weston, Jr.

Dear Mr. Weston,

I am writing to you to let you know how much I appreciate your company.  Perhaps you get lots of letters like this; it wouldn’t surprise me, since in your commercials you seem like a very nice, approachable guy, someone who might even read letters from random people.  (Good job on those ads, by the way – my husband and I agree they hit the mark.)

I feel a certain attachment and affection for the Loblaw company.  Our local Zehrs was a great place to shop when I was a child; you could always smell delicious baking when you walked in (which counts for a lot to a little kid).  Later, I was one of the four original Garfield Weston Scholars at Wilfrid Laurier University in 1997, and thus directly benefited from the generosity of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.

At that time, my fellow scholars and I were invited to a luncheon with members of the Foundation, many of whom are, I guess, members of your family.  I remember being struck by what a genuine, down-to-earth group of people they seemed to be.  I had interesting conversations with several people that day; I recall one about the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor that the Foundation was involved in, and another, with your dad actually, about the workings of the produce department (specifically with regard to clementines).  It makes me happy to see on the website that the Foundation is still doing good works all over Canada.

Being part of that group of Scholars was an amazing, life-changing experience, not to mention a financial boon.  Since then, when I shop at my local Zehrs or Loblaws, I enjoy thinking that I’m patronizing a company that is… well, good.  One hears such bad things about big businesses all over the world; it’s nice to feel that I can trust at least one, and one that’s such a big part of my life.

These days, I am on maternity leave from my job as a French teacher, caring for my five-month-old son.  I was inspired to write this letter by a discovery I made a couple months ago.  I already tend to agree with the President’s Choice slogan “Worth switching supermarkets for”:  I know that President’s Choice can be trusted to put forth products that are high-quality.  I appreciate the initiatives of your Green, Organics, and Blue Menu lines; as an environmentalist, I’m glad you’re discouraging plastic bag use; as a vegetarian, I’m thrilled that you make yummy meatless products; as a frugal shopper, I love my PC MasterCard; I am undyingly loyal to your classic egg nog; and may I just say, in case you don’t already know, that your Peanut Butter Treats ice cream is the answer to the prayers of thousands.

To cap it all off, since I became a mom, I found the product that clinched PC’s place in my heart: nursing pads.  PC nursing pads are ideal – thin but highly absorbent, breathable but leak-resistant.  Much better and less expensive than the ones I originally bought from the nursing bra company (and you’d think they would know best).  I’ve been telling all my breast-feeding friends about them, and they react as I did: “Is there anything PC doesn’t make??”  And while I’m at it, I should mention that my son decisively prefers Teddy’s Choice Vitamin D drops to the more expensive “leading” brand.

I admit that I’m not a big fan of the Superstore format.  I do not espouse the idea that bigger is always better; but as long as my local PC store is a reasonable size, I will shop there.

My point, then, is to say thanks to you and your family who have made the Loblaw Company what it is.  I sure hope that my loyalty and trust are well-founded and will continue to be, because it really is nice to feel good about where I shop.