The North West Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the fur trading company, see North West Company.
| The North West Company | |
 |
|
| Type | Public (TSX: NWF.UN) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Headquarters | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Key people | Edward S. Kennedy, President & CEO |
| Industry | Grocery, Fur, General Merchandise |
| Employees | 4,830 (January 2005) |
| Website | [1] |
The North West Company is a grocery vendor in remote communities across northern Canada and Alaska. It claims to trace its history back to a fur trading business headquartered in the city of Montreal in British North America from 1779 to 1821. [2] However, since the North West Company in 1821 was completely merged into the Hudson's Bay Company, this has little basis in fact.
The North West Company today is actually the old HBC Northern Stores Division. In 1987 the division was acquired by a group of investors and in the 1990s it was relaunched under the old name of the North West Company.
[edit] North West Today
Currently, the North West Company (TSX: NWF.UN) operates stores under the banners of Northern, AC Value Centre, NorthMart, Quickstop, and Giant Tiger. As of January 2004, the North West Company has 4,552 employees in Canada and 736 in Alaska, and is the largest employer of aboriginal people in the business sector. Holding to its roots, it also runs the largest Inuit art marketing service in the world and a fur marketing division.
It has its head office in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
