Gordon Reid (1933-2023): Retailer opened first Giant Tiger in ByWard Market in 1961

Reid ran the company until he retired in 2020.

Published Jul 10, 2023 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 3 minute read

Founder and CEO of Giant Tiger Stores Limited, Gordon Reid, died on Saturday. Photo by Errol McGihon /Errol McGihon – The Ottawa Sun

It wasn’t rocket science that made Gordon Reid’s retail chain into a giant — well, a Giant Tiger to be exact.

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‘We start with a simple idea,” he told this newspaper in 1996, already 35 years into the discount business. “We keep costs low by renting cheaper properties and selling large volumes of products at everyday low prices.”

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Reid, who opened his first Giant Tiger outlet in the ByWard Market in 1961 and ran the company until he retired in 2020, died on Saturday, the company announced. He was 89.

Reid was born in Vancouver but moved to Montreal with his family as a boy. He got his first job at 13, gift-wrapping packages for the Simpson’s department store in Montreal, where he quickly advanced through the ranks. Later he worked as an importer, based in Windsor, Ont. and around the U.S. Mid-West.

He struck out in business on his own with his first Giant Tiger store on the corner of Dalhousie and George streets with a $15,000 loan. The site was an old printing plant for the newspaper Le Droit. Money was so tight, Reid built his own display tables.

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Originally, he wanted to call it Top Value, but found that name was already trademarked. He chose Giant Tiger based on a discount retailer he admired in Cleveland, Ohio.

Discount stores “sell the same item for a lower price than department stores. It seemed a good concept,” he told this newspaper. “I chose Ottawa … because it was a big enough market and had a stable civil service economy.”

OTTAWA, – July 10, 2023, 2023 – ByWard Market Giant Tiger store, the first store opened by the chain. Giant Tiger founder and Chairman Emeritus Gordon Reid has died, the company announced Monday. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /Postmedia

In the first year, sales were a disappointing $139,000. The second year he almost closed. But Reid persevered, buoyed by loyal support from Ottawa’s Francophone community. In 1992, he commissioned a mural depicting Franco-Ontarian events on the side of the George Street store as a thank-you.

He opened a second store in Brockville in 1965. Four years later, he sold his first franchise in Maniwaki, Quebec.

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With a fierce competitive spirit, an eye for snapping up cheap properties, and a winning business model, Reid built Giant Tiger into a national franchise that now has more than 265 stores and 10,000 employees. While department stores like Simpsons and Eatons — even American juggernaut Target — have come and gone, Giant Tiger continues to thrive.

Giant Tiger has even held its own against Wal-Mart.

“Wal-Mart destroyed our competition,” he told this newspaper. Reid bought up money-losing Zellers and K-Mart stores and converted them to Giant Tigers, hiring their former managers and employees for their experience. And he made sure his stores always respected their customers and their community.

“When your customers are your neighbours, you want to do things right,” he often said.

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In 2010, Reid was awarded the Retail Council of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award, with council president Diane Brisebois calling him “a man of vision who has forged a company with a family-based culture.” The company, under Reid’s direction, contributed more than $2 million in charitable donations to more than 700 organizations, she said.

“Gordon was a giant within Canada’s retail sector, an innovator who reshaped the industry,” Giant Tiger’s interim president and CEO Gino DiGioacchino, said in a statement released by the company on Monday. “To us, he was also a friend and mentor. He will be greatly missed.”

Reid is survived by his wife Nancy, his daughter Jacqueline, and sons Blake and Scott. Scott Reid is the Member of Parliament for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston. He is also survived by three step-children: Daryle, Laurie and Kevin.

A commemoration in recognition of Gordon’s legacy will be held at a later date.