This one-storey brick building on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg, measuring 32 feet by 80 feet, was constructed in 1929, at a cost of about $12,000, by W. A. Irish and Company. Opened officially on 2 November 1929, it was one of the first nine stores built in the city for Safeway Stores Limited. The grocery store chain occupied the building until 1951, when it became home to Storr’s Drug Store. It operated here until 1975.
Former Safeway store on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg (May 2019)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.88568, W97.16995
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Saul and Irish Construction Company / W. A. Irish and Company
Manitoba Business: Safeway Stores Limited
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 3148/1929, City of Winnipeg Archives.
“Safeway stores receive four building permits,” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 July 1929, page 3.
[Safeway advertisement], Winnipeg Tribune, 1 November 1929, page 7.
“For Easter … It’s Swift’s premium ham,” Winnipeg Tribune, 8 April 1936, page 12.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
“Former Safeway at 893 Portage gets a makeover” by Christian Cassidy, West End Dumplings.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough, Nathan Kramer, and George Penner.
Page revised: 26 February 2024
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