I recently stumbled across this Christmas time ad from 1962.
11 locations listed there. When they were acquired in 1995 by Shoppers Drug Mart, there were 135 locations across south western Ontario.
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
View Comments
An interesting read of the locations...most of them made it to the end of Big V's existence--but were abandoned by SDM in the first few years after the buyout. I grew up in Hamilton which was probably Big V's other big market (though HQ ended up in London)--the stores always had a very "different" feel than other pharmacy chains--heavily stocked, narrow-aisles and carpeting, which always added to that "hushed" feeling.
I notice that the stores all had different names. Was Big V a distributor in the same way as Rexall?
Sweet, flash bulbs! I remember those but in the smaller cube form.
Doug yes it was a disributor.
Big V started right here in Windsor. Another great idea started in Windsor and then screwed up by outsiders. I gotta agree with JT all the way especially with the gross SDM's. I now happily go to a local pharmacy.
A true Windsor success story as this company was was born through the affiliation of seven (I think) local pharmacists and eventually grew to the point where the competition needed to acquire the chain...
It's interesting to note that that ad depicts the transition from 5-digit to 7-digit dialing.
I miss Big V !!! Thanks for posting this!!! Yup 1995 they were done!
Bought my son's last pair of diapers there...
Andrew remember Valdies? was it spelt like that? Valdie's i dont know how to spell it.....it was located where the block busters is now on Tec.W? & it another one located on Dougall?
I remember them bulbs! Thought they were the coolest!! when 1 burnt out you knew how many more pictures you could take !! haaaaaaaa I loved the sound it made...just like a crisp haaaa
In the beginning several local pharmacists banded together so that they could get bettter buying power. They had a warehouse on Tecumseh Road East, the building which is still standing across from the Daimler dealership. The rule was that only pharmacists could be owners of the chain. As the chain picked up momentum across Ontario London became the most central location to service the province. One by one, pharmacists did join until the early 1990s. The reason that Big V eventually capitulated to Shoppers was because the business strucure operated much like a pyramid. When the original owners were ready for retirement no one could afford to buy them out at the price they felt they were warranted. Shoppers indeed wanted them out of the way because their neighbourhood model was effectively putting the hurt on them (they located in malls and plazas only). The deal was done and Shoppers proceeded to thin them out. Funny thing is that Shoppers is now moving toward the neighbourhood model. So is Rexall. The struggle continues.
If my memory serves me right CL stood for Clearwater exchange ?? The BV on Ouellette was named Ponds Big V, if again my memory serves me..some days it doesn't!