[4] In the mid and late 1940s, Giant Tiger founder Gordon Reid, who was then in his early twenties, was a travelling salesman for an importer in the United States.
Reid reports that he was also inspired by Frank Woolworth’s continent-wide success, half a century earlier, in creating hundreds of profitable Five-and-Dime stores.
Reid’s own retail experience, dating back to his first job as a teenager, had been in department stores rather than in discount,[8] but his mother had worked behind the luncheon counter at a Woolworth’s in downtown Montreal.
[9] Reid stated, four decades later, that he had believed, even at this early stage, that it would be possible to build a Canada-wide chain based on this model.
Asked by a reporter whether he had ever imagined that Giant Tiger would eventually have the success it was then enjoying, Reid stated, "Yes.
[Jean-Guy Desjardins] did the advertising, he found the location, he merchandised it to suit his customers, he did everything ... And, I thought, 'by golly, that's a good system.
'"[12] Because the chain most often has been shoehorned into existing spaces now too small for the major big-box store or hypermarket chains, individual store managers are given wide leeway in ordering decisions and are free to devote their limited floor space to items which sell well in their local market.
[7] Gordon Reid opened the first Giant Tiger store, on George Street in Ottawa’s Byward Market, on May 13, 1961, with a $15,000 investment.
In 2013, thirty-one of these stores were open and NWC was eyeing expansion into older city neighbourhoods and rural towns too small to support a Target or Walmart.
Between 2001 and 2020, The North West Company operated all of Giant Tiger's locations in western Canada[20] under a single master franchise agreement.
[3] In March 2020, The North West Company announced that it would sell 34 of its 46 franchises to Giant Tiger, while closing six underperforming locations, maintaining five in northern markets, and converting one (Prince Albert) to a different banner.
Traditional lines of Giant Tiger merchandise are further restricted to free up space for an expanded produce, dairy, deli and bakery section.
[26] In 2001, Reid reported that deliveries were taking place daily: "We have the most efficient shipping and distribution system in the general merchandise field ...
"[6] On May 31, 1996, Giant Tiger purchased and took possession of a 29,000 m2 (310,000 sq ft) distribution centre on Walkley Road in Ottawa, previously occupied by Sears Canada.
In December 2005, Giant Tiger opened a new 3,700 m2 (40,000 sq ft) distribution centre for frozen and refrigerated products in Brockville, Ontario.
[3] In October 2010, Reid stepped down as chief executive officer of Giant Tiger, in favour of Andy Gross, a 25-year veteran with the chain, who started working as a buyer when there were fewer than thirty stores.