Weston and his family, with an estimated net worth of US$8.7 billion, are listed as the third wealthiest in Canada and 178th in the world by Forbes magazine (June 2019).
Weston was also head of the world's second-largest luxury goods retailer as chairman of Holt Renfrew in Canada and the Selfridges Group, owner of Selfridges in the United Kingdom, Brown Thomas in Ireland, the De Bijenkorf department store chain in the Netherlands, and the recently acquired Ogilvy department store in Montreal.
In 1945, Weston and his family returned to Canada but moved frequently as his father pursued various business ventures, which included supermarket chains in North America and Europe.
Four years later, he expanded his business interests with the purchase of a bankrupt department store called Todd Burns, which he renamed Penneys (now known as Primark outside of Ireland).
"[15] The new store featured an expanded produce section moved upfront with huge photographs of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and baked goods.
"[16] Weston also brought in new managerial talent that included former university schoolmate Dave Nichol and fellow McKinsey consultant Richard Currie, who took on the role of "change agents".
[17] In spite of no previous experience in the retail food industry, Weston gave Nichol and Currie the authority to force change on an often reluctant senior management.
[19] With the company's holdings in the United States also losing money, particularly Chicago, Illinois-based National Tea with some 700 supermarkets, Weston initiated a similar program of rationalization and renewal.
"[13] In addition to investing in store renovations, early on Weston earmarked $40 million for the development of private label brands: "We found it essential to change products and services before redesigning their image.
"[20] In March 1978, Loblaw launched "No Name", a line of 16 generic products in simple black and yellow packaging with advertised savings of 10 to 40 percent over the national brands.
When sales of "President's Blend Gourmet Coffee" started outselling every other grocery item on the shelf, the decision was made to introduce a premium line of store brand products.
That same year, Loblaw sold three unprofitable divisions - Chicago, Syracuse, and California State – representing 280 stores or half of its remaining U.S. retail outlets.
[29] In 1978, both Loblaw and George Weston Limited returned to profitability and in 1979 the company showed record earnings of $76 million on sales of $6 billion.
[32] As a result of Loblaw owning much of its real estate, rather than leasing, the company was able to reduce the size of its Supercentres by simply renting out the redundant space.
[32][30] While Weston expressed personal support for free trade with the United States, the signing of an agreement in 1988 resulted in another re-evaluation of his company's asset mix.
Through the late 1980s and 1990s, businesses that included biscuit and ice cream making, bathroom tissue manufacturing, milling, sugar refining and chocolate bar makings, were divested as domestic industries struggled to remain competitive:[31] "The historic east-west dynamics of the Canadian economy, as well as our small and scattered population, created structural inefficiencies in everything we did.
And so, in response to free trade, we had to become competitive on our manufacturing side, which meant staying with fewer product categories and only those that could succeed on the North American scale.
[32][29] Loblaw bought 80-store Agora Foods of Atlantic Canada for $81 million in late 1998 and soon thereafter announced the purchase of Quebec-based Provigo for $1.7 billion.
[36] East and West coast fish processing operations, namely British Columbia Packers and Connors Brothers of New Brunswick, were merged and sold.
[38] In 2006, Loblaw recorded its first loss in almost two decades as a program to centralize administrative functions and consolidate warehouse operations resulted in chronic supply chains problems and customer complaints of empty shelves.
With the introduction of a "fix the basics" program, designed to re-focus on food retailing, and a drive to resolve logistical problems, Loblaw returned to profitability in 2007.
Promoted as a "Village by the Sea", the project combined Weston's interest in modern architecture with decades of first-hand experience in commercial planning.
He also served as president of the board of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and as chairman and chief fundraiser for the Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific.
[60] In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, The Garfield Weston Foundation created an initiative valued at £25 million designed to support mid to large-scale organizations impacted by the virus.
[63] Weston was also a significant contributor to the Fraser Institute, a conservative think-tank headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, donating over $1 million CDN annually.