Empire Company Limited is a Canadian conglomerate engaged mostly in food retail and corporate investments. The company is headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Empire Company also owns the Sobeys supermarket chain. The company was founded in 1963. In total, the company owns, affiliates or franchises more than 1,500 stores; in addition to Sobeys, brands include Safeway, IGA, Foodland, Farm Boy, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods and Lawtons Drug. Acquisitions Empire Company has a long history of acquisitions: 1976 Lawton's Drug Stores Limited, which operated 18 stores in Nova Scotia. November 1980 - July 1981 Empire acquires Sobey Holdings Limited, gaining a 50.97% stake in the company. February 1983 Empire ups its ownership of Hannaford Bros. Co., an American food retailer, to 25% (Sold in 2000) June 1987 Empire buys the remaining 49.03% of Sobeys, making it an entirely owned subsidiary. (Sold in 1998, re-bought in 2007) 1987 Empire buys out its partner in Empire Theatres, turning it into an entirely owned subsidiary. May 1988 Empire buys a 25% stake in Provigo. 1988 Empire acquires an additional 22% stake in Wajax, resulting in a total ownership of 45%. June 1989 Empire re-purchases the outstanding share of Atlantic Shopping Centres, making it an entirely owned subsidiary. December 1993 Empire Real Estate buys 64% of Halifax Developments, Ltd; making it an entirely owned subsidiary. December 1998 Empire buys Oshawa Group for $1.5 billion. January 2001 Empire Real Estate buys a 35.7% stake in Genstar Developmental Partnership for $29 million. February 2004 Sobey's acquires Commisso's Food Markets, and Empire Real Estate acquires Commisso's real estate for a total of $103.5 million. September 2005 Empire Theatres acquires 27 more theatres. August 2006 Sobey's acquires Achille de la Chevrotière Ltée, including its grocery chain of about 25 stores in Quebec and Ontario. This costs $79.2 million. July 15, 2007 Empire re-buys the remaining outstanding Sobey's share, making it once again an entirely owned subsidiary. September 2007 Sobeys buys Thrifty Foods for $256.6 million. 2011 Sobeys purchases 236 retail gas locations for $214.9 million in Québec and Atlantic Canada. June 2013 Empire buys all of Safeway Canada's stores for $5.8 billion September 2018 Empire announces intent to buy Farm Boy stores in an $800 million deal. March 2021 Empire announces it will buy 51% stake in Longo's and its Grocery Gateway e-commerce business for $357 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of Empire's 2022