Atlantic Superstore

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Atlantic Superstore is an upscale supermarket chain of 51 stores in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Each of the stores are about 60,000 to 120,000 square feet (5,000 to 10,000 m²) in size on average. The Atlantic Superstore is part of George Weston Limited and Loblaw Companies Limited, and is operated under the Atlantic Wholesalers division. In many instances, an Atlantic Superstore was built to replace an Atlantic SuperValu.

Despite the similarity in name to the affiliated Real Canadian Superstore, not all Atlantic Superstores are necessarily hypermarkets; many are simply large supermarkets with minimal general merchandise. Others, however, are marketed as "One Stop" stores (as is RCSS) and carry a wide variety of goods, including groceries, electronics, housewares, clothing, and generally offer services such as photo finishing and a pharmacy. Many such outlets also boast a community room, drive-thru pharmacy, gas bar, liquor store (operated by the applicable provincial agency), tobacco shop, as well as a walk-in medical clinic. Gas bars at some locations, some of which are branded "Superstore at the Pumps", offer a 3.5 cent a liter coupon where provincial laws allow this practice.

Atlantic Superstore has recently added self checkout registers at most of its stores in Nova Scotia and some in New Brunswick. These automated kiosks allow the customer to scan the barcode of the item they wish to purchase, then insert money to pay for the items, and receive any change automatically. The customer no longer needs to interact with a store employee during checkout.

[edit] History

The first store, then known as The Real Atlantic Superstore, opened in August, 1986 in Moncton, New Brunswick. In 1995 the name was shortened and all stores redesigned as part of Atlantic Wholesalers' restructuring of all their grocery banners.