had been so closely associated with President's Choice in terms of promotion and product development, was leaving his senior executive post to become a private label consultant. Initially, both he and Loblaw expressed the desire to continue working together, with Nichol remaining on in the role of PC spokesman. But as Nichol moved forward with plans to develop his own Dave Nichol brand of private label products with Cott Corporation of Toronto, presumably in competition with President's Choice, the relationship deteriorated. Nichol hosted a couple more issues of Dave Nichol's Insider's Report but then vanished from the cover. The November 1994 edition dropped his name to become simply The Insider's Report. While media coverage of the Nichol/Loblaw split had been extensive, it seemingly had little or no negative impact on brand equity. News reports later indicated that Loblaw, post-Nichol, was experiencing stronger-than-ever corporate earnings. As Loblaw expanded operations in Canada under an array of regional and market segment store banners, by the mid 1990s it divested the last of its retail holdings south of the border with the sale of National supermarkets in St. Louis and New Orleans. At the time, Loblaw president Richard Currie reiterated the company's objective to move strategically, which included exiting markets if capital could be better deployed elsewhere. He further stated the company's intent to enter the Quebec market. In 1998, it did so with the purchase of Provigo, the Quebec-based supermarket chain with close to 250 outlets. In order to comply with Competition Bureau concerns, Loblaw sold 47 Loeb stores in Ontario, acquired through the Provigo deal, to Metro-Richelieu and agreed to divest stores in eight other markets. The Provigo acquisition meant that Loblaw had become the leading food retailer in Quebec, with Metro a close second. That same year, Loblaw also made another regional acquisition with the purchase of the 80-store Agora chain in Atlantic Canada. While other food chains, such as the Oshawa Group, struggled to turn a profit, Loblaw kept adding more stores and more square footage through acquisition and new construction: Loblaw president Richard Currie laughs at the notion that Canada has too many grocery stores. There's a lot of floor space, he allows, but never enough in the large, modern, well-equipped, one-stop shopping supermarkets that some Canadians like. Loblaw keeps expanding its fleet of 900 stores, adding about 10 percent to its floor space and sales each year, while