The Canadian National Newspaper: Metro Inc. upsets market affinities through Dominion Supermarket rebranding

Take an established brand name, and abolish it.. yep...pure Quebec thinking. They think they are superior and their "Metro" name will catch on? Get over yourselves. You best get friendlier staff, or better yet, more staff to man the cash registers at night. We have an alternative..Wal-Mart! -- Submitted By TAP

Dominion has been around since 1927 and is a household name. I can't see "Metro", named after the Montreal and Paris subway system, will catch on in the rest of Canada. Obviously they didn't do any market research outside of Quebec. Dominion is the name they should keep and dump Metro. I suspect they have a secret deal with Loblaws, who operates stores under the Dominion name in Newfoundland. -- Submitted By Osckar1

Who's that Genius that spends 200Mio C$ on the deletion of two well-established and historic brand names? And exchange them my something as profane as "Metro" (reminds me of the major German B2B retailer or the subway in Paris). It takes Millions of dollars and years to establish a brand, and now they just abolish two at a time. How smart! Don't they have any responsibility against their stakeholders? -- Submitted By Kiyoseki

You know why the new grocery stores have to be Metro? Because Dominion is a British heritage name and Quebec doesn't want anything to do with that. And A&P, Atlantic and Pacific refers to our country from shore to shore. Quebec doesn't recognize it's part of a country from Atlantic to Pacific. -- Submitted By sailor

Typical Quebecois sentiment...don't use a well established name like Dominion or A&P that suggests any type of solidarity in a country (the A&P suggesting that we are one from coast to coast. Instead, pick a name that is reminiscent only of Montreal subway and individual communities. -- Submitted By Consumer

I had forgotten the Dominion/A&P had been bought by Metro. Now the slow decline in quality, higher than competitors pricing, lack of stock for 'on sale' items makes sense. We as consumers had to pay for the takeover. I find myself shopping at my local A&P less and less, don't think a name change to the 'real' owner is going to make any difference. Finally, its once again us as the consumer that's going to be ultimately paying for the $200 million upgrade which will likely be some cosmetic store changes and a lot of new signage. -- Submitted By hjk50

I'm unsure as to how the brand 'Metro' will change anything in the way people grocery shop, but I think that spending millions of dollars on a name change, and to keep up with the 'joneses' is a sad commentary on our society, and shows a lack of responsibility on the part of the corporation. Every 3.6 seconds someone in this world starves to death. I think perhaps a grocery chain could've found a better use for it's money. -- Submitted By 2centsworth

I hate the METRO name. It reminds me of the subway in Montreal. One thing they have changed... for the worse... is the AP/Dominion "It's Fresh or It's Free" guarantee. Metro is discontinuing this policy as of Sept. 4. -- Submitted By Sagebrush

"Metro"... such an ugly name for a grocery store. Fail. -- Submitted By stopslackin

"Consumer research showed that people liked the urban-sounding name, the company said." Bull. They probably researched Quebecers who didn't like the name 'Dominion' because it was too Anglo for them. The D that looks like a backward G will always have a place in my heart. I've never heard of 'Metro' before. I don't think it sounds 'urban' - it sounds boring and safe. Blah. Couldn't care less about A&P. -- Submitted By PeteG

About 3 years ago we noticed that the quality of produce in our local Dominion started to decrease dramatically. I had not realized they had been sold. They need to worry about their quality more and brand name less. Although the Sobey's and the Loblaws near us are not much better; we shop at good old Fiesta Farms. -- Submitted By William Young

The new name, Metro, lacks a bit of punch to me. Dominion has brand recognition and a history. Ah well out with the old in with the new, and somehow I suspect in a year or so out with the new and back to the old as they rebrand under Dominion when the new name doesn't really catch on. -- Submitted By Bishop

While I have no problems with the name 'Metro': 1. As we all know, there is a free condensed newspaper of the same name; 2. It seems a bit sad to let go of two store names with such history to it. 3. It sounds better to say 'I shopped at A&P/Dominion.' than to say 'I shopped at Metro.' Just my two cents worth. -- Submitted By g. wong

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