Steinberg's (supermarket) - Expansion

Expansion

Steinberg's eventually entered the real estate market in 1952 under the name Ivanhoe Investments and owned several shopping centres. Ivanhoe turned out to be one of Steinberg's most profitable ventures and still exists today under the name Ivanhoe Cambridge. Steinberg's also had holdings in food production and distribution.

In keeping with increasing French language pressures in Quebec, Steinberg's dropped the possessive "'s" from its name to become "Steinberg" in 1961. This was accompanied with the introduction of a new logo as shown above this article (the previous logo had consisted of Sam Steinberg's personal signature). Despite the change, the chain continued to be referred to as "Steinberg's" among the English-speaking public and media throughout its history and beyond.

For several decades, and until the late 1980s, Steinberg's was the largest supermarket chain in the province of Quebec. Store outlets could be spotted in nearly every district of the island of Montreal and was a major competitor for chains like Provigo and Metro. Sam Steinberg was one of the first employers to implement mandatory bilingualism (English and French) for all his personnel and as a result, the company became so entrenched in Quebec culture that among French speakers, "Je fais mon Steinberg" ("I'm doing my Steinberg's") became a synonym for going grocery shopping, regardless of supermarket chain.

The chain expanded into Ontario beyond the Ottawa area, typically using the Miracle Food Mart and Miracle Ultra Mart banner for its Ontario supermarkets outside of Eastern Ontario.

At one point a hypermarket was introduced called Steinberg Beaucoup, which consisted of a Steinberg's grocery, a Miracle Mart department store and Le Quick and Pik-Nik restaurants, all under the same roof.

Steinberg's owned and operated several well-known businesses:

• Miracle Mart, a discount department store chain (led by daughter Mitzi and renamed "M" store in 1986), carried clothing, toys, household appliances and goods. The "M" department stores ceased operations shortly after Steinberg's went bankrupt.
• Miracle Food Mart, a supermarket chain operating in the Ontario regions where there were no stores of the grocery chain Steinberg's proper.
• Valdi, a limited assortment (discount) grocery chain in Ontario and the western provinces, Valdi was founded in 1979.
• Pik-Nik, popular snack-bars operating in shopping malls.
• Le Quick, a restaurant chain
• Cardinal Distributors, a mail-order gift catalogue that merged in 1980 with Consumers Distributing.