Once a place to find everything from dress pants to farm wagons, Ayre and Sons first opened in St. John’s, Newfoundland, over 165 years ago. What started with a single store in the heart of the city’s downtown later expanded into a chain of department stores and supermarkets across the province. Though the doors of this family business have long closed, its 132 years of operation left a lasting mark.

Opening shop

After moving to the province from England, Charles Robert Ayre partnered with his brother-in-law, John Steer, to open a store in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1856. Located on Water Street in the city’s downtown core, the department store offered a variety of items, including clothing, food, hardware and farm equipment.

A few years into the partnership, Steer left the business to open his own dry goods shop. Meanwhile, Ayre continued to run the department store and officially established Ayre and Sons Ltd. in 1859.

An Ayre of growth

Similar to many family businesses, generations of Ayres expanded operations. Charles’s son, John Ayre, eventually took over as director. Lewis Ayre also had a major impact on company growth, creating an Ayre and Sons holding company in 1931 to manage the family’s investment in other industries.

After Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada in 1959, the next decade marked major growth for Ayre and Sons. Throughout the 1960s, Ayre and Sons opened new stores across Newfoundland in Mount Pearl, Carbonear, Corner Brook and St. John’s. Development also happened further north with a location in Wabush, Labrador. Many of these locations were part of the business’s expansion into grocery stores called Ayre’s Supermarkets. However, it appears that the family quickly divested from this line of business, having sold their chain of eight Ayre’s Supermarkets to Dominion Stores Ltd. in 1963. All stores were rebranded with the Dominion name and continued to operate for decades. Research suggests that none of the original Ayre’s Supermarkets remain operating as a Dominion grocery store; most were closed or moved by the ‘90s. The longest operating location was in Churchill Square, St. John’s, which was a Dominion until 2007, when owner Loblaws rebanded it as a SaveEasy. The location was eventually demolished in 2020 and replaced with a new apartment and retail building.

Despite the company’s quick divestment in grocery stores, Ayre and Sons continued to grow its department store chain. In 1967, it opened a location in the Avalon Mall in St. John’s, which operated along with its flagship location on Water Street.

End of an Ayre(a)

After over a century of operations, Ayre and Sons started to experience financial difficulty throughout the ‘80s, and it closed in 1991. Following its closure, its downtown location became Atlantic Place (a building of corporate offices) and renovations of the Avalon Mall in 1993 saw its space replaced by other tenants.

Note: A representative of Ayre and Sons was unavailable for an interview; the above article is based on third-party research.

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