Weston family

The Weston family's monument at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto

The Weston family is a prominent family of businesspeople that was founded in Canada and eventually developed global business interests, primarily in the food and retail sectors.[1] The family operations began with the purchase of a bakery in 1884 by American-born Canadian George Weston in Toronto, Ontario.[2] Over the course of subsequent decades, his descendants also established themselves in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States.

Through George Weston Limited and various holding companies, the Canadian branch of the Weston family currently owns or controls over 200 companies, including the Loblaws supermarket chain and the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy chain. Among their other businesses, members of this branch own or control several additional retailers, including Holt Renfrew in Canada.[3] They previously owned other upscale department stores in the Selfridges Group, including Selfridges in the UK, Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands.[4][5]

The main holding company of the British branch of the family is Wittington Investments. 79.2% of this company belongs to a British charitable trust called the Garfield Weston Foundation, with the balance owned by various family members. Wittington Investments owns a majority stake in Associated British Foods (which itself owns the discount clothing chain Primark), and 100% of British retailers Fortnum & Mason and Heal's.

In 2021, The Sunday Times named the Weston family among the most charitable people over the past 20 years, with donations of £1.661 billion.[6][7]

  1. ^ Forbes: Galen Weston & Family
  2. ^ Badgley, Kerry (2005). "Weston, George". In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XV (1921–1930) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  3. ^ "Selfridges sold for £4bn to Thai-Austrian alliance". BBC News. 24 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Brown Thomas and Arnotts may sell in £4bn Selfridges deal". Irish Times. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Selfridges owners agree £4bn sale to Thailand's Central Group". Retail Gazette. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  6. ^ McCall, Nick Rodrigues and Alastair. "Marcus Rashford tops The Sunday Times Giving List 2021". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  7. ^ "20 years of the Giving List by Alsastair McCall | CAF". www.cafonline.org. Retrieved 24 July 2021.