Gordon Reid (1933 – July 8, 2023) was a Canadian businessman. He was the founder of Giant Tiger, Canada’s third-largest chain of discount stores.
Early life (1933–1961)
Reid was born in 1933 in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of May (Slaney) and Noble Greenway Reid. As a boy, he moved to the working-class Montreal suburb of Verdun. Reid's mother worked in the retail industry, behind the lunch counter at the Woolworth's in downtown Montreal. In 1949, at age 16, Reid went to work full-time in the men's furnishings department at Simpsons after he had been expelled from school for what he described as "misbehaving, setting a bad example, something that was quite small."
In 1955, Reid was hired by Frank Hacking, a Toronto-based importer, to sell Japanese-made sporting goods to retailers in Quebec. In 1957, he moved to Windsor and set up an office for Hacking across the river in Detroit, to sell to American retailers. It was in the American Midwest during the subsequent two years that Reid first saw discount stores—a new concept at the time. He was particularly impressed by Uncle Bill's, a chain headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Initially, he had intended to name his store Top Value Discount, but discovered that in Canada, the "Top Value" trademark was already owned by the Loeb grocery store chain. According to Reid, he made this discovery when he spotted the name on the side of the carton from which he was pouring milk into his breakfast cereal. A second store was not successfully opened until 1965,
Second, Reid introduced a policy of making key head office personnel co-owners of the chain. By 1980, ownership had been extended to ten additional individuals. In a 1980 interview, Reid cited the agricultural cooperative movement as the inspiration for this approach.
The first Giant Tiger franchise, for a store in Maniwaki, Quebec, was issued in the late 1960s to Jean-Guy Desjardins. The benefit of this new way of operating was felt immediately. Up to this point, Reid and his small head office staff had been trying to make all key decisions, with the result that, despite its small size, the chain was slow-moving and inflexible. But from the moment the change was made, "the [Maniwaki] store made money and I didn't have to do anything. [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.' "
The greater autonomy that could be permitted to franchise owners whose personal financial interests were symmetrical with those of the head office meant that there was less need for Giant Tiger to develop centralized systems. Eleven years after Giant Tiger's first experiment with franchising, Reid emphasized the flexibility that it gave his company: "The weakness of the chain stores is that they try to standardize."
In later years, Reid slowly relinquished direct control of Giant Tiger. In 1999, Reid resigned the presidency of Giant Tiger in favour of Jeff York, an executive with ten years' experience at the company. In October 2010, Reid turned over the post of chief executive officer to Andy Gross, an executive with over 25 years' experience at Giant Tiger, who had, by this time, already inherited the presidency from Jeff York. Reid remains chairman of the board.
Personal life and death
In 2010, even after handing over the reins as CEO, "Reid still goes to work six days a week."
Gordon Reid died on July 8, 2023, at the age of 89.
Board memberships and affiliations
- Board Member, Canadian Council of Chief Executives;
- Member, Canadian Council of Chief Executives;
- Board Member, International Mass Retail Association;
- Board Member, Ottawa Heart Institute;
- Board Member, Retail Industry Leaders Association.
Lifetime achievement award
In 2010, the Retail Council of Canada awarded Reid its Lifetime Achievement Award. The press release for the award cited both Reid’s history as founder of Giant Tiger and the company’s $2 million in annual donations to charity and community associations.