Wally and Terri Brogan say goodbye after operating SuperValue for many years. Photo contributed
On April 28 the lights at SuperValu finally winked off, ending the grocery store’s nearly 60-year run operating in Oliver.
First opened by a pair of entrepreneurs in the late 1950s, most will remember the supermarket as the baby of Wally Brogan, who’s been the owner for more than 30 years.
Brogan, whose good-natured attitude helped weave the store into the fabric of the community, said in an interview April 22 that he’s “had a good run” at SuperValu, but that it’s time for him to retire.
“It’s tough; it’s all tough for me. I go home and I think about all the things that we’ve done here. It’s been good, but it’s tough to say goodbye to it all,” he said.
Sitting in his office overlooking the floor of the store, Brogan leafed through boxes filled with framed pictures and certificates. He recalled lively staff Christmas parties and conferences, even a trip to watch the 1974 Summit Series in Russia, which he won in a cigarette display contest.
“It’s been a good haul for me. I’m really going to miss it,” he said.
While Oliver’s SuperValu has become synonymous with Brogan, its history reaches back further than his takeover in 1973.
According to an advertisement in a 1981 edition of the Oliver Chronicle, “Oliver’s first real super-market” opened in December of 1957 “amongst much speculation that the store was ‘too much, too soon.’”
Ken Raincock and Ken Forbes, who had previously operated the “Double K” market on main street, bought two lots outside of town in order to build a supermarket.
They contracted Topping Construction to build their new store, and at the time many scoffed at the new building’s seemingly gargantuan size, and location far away from downtown.
In an interview years later, Ken Forbes did admit there was some tough times just after the store opened, but steady growth eventually led to its success.
A few years later John Loudon, a supervisor with the SuperValu firm, bought Raincock’s share in the store, and in 1967 he and Forbes built an addition on the building.
Brogan came on the scene in 1973. He had been managing SuperValu stores since he was 22 years old, and wanted to move into ownership. He admitted that when a friend first recommended he purchase the SuperValu in Oliver, he didn’t even know the town existed.
“What the hell is Oliver?” he asked him.
But Brogan quickly inserted himself into the community (even serving as mayor for a time), and before long the SuperValu became a kind of institution in Oliver. Brogan said that at one point he was one of the largest employers in town, with a staff of about 60 people.
In 1981 he opened in a new location, in a building that at the time spanned 18,000 square feet.
“When we moved here it was red and orange; it was awful, but that was what they did back then,” he remembered with a smile.
An even bigger SuperValu still sits at that location today.
Joyce Bott was a long-time employee of Brogan’s, who worked for decades as head cashier before retiring about 15 years ago.
She said she has nothing but fond memories of her time working there, and that she still cherishes the “family atmosphere” Brogan helped create among employees.
“Wally was an absolutely wonderful boss. He was just a wonderful manager; it was a family, it really was,” she said.
She said Brogan’s friendliness extended to his customers as well, where he extended some of that family atmosphere by offering a personalized service she’s never really seen anywhere else.
She admitted that even she will still get stopped on the street to this day by former customers who tell her they miss seeing her when they get their groceries.
Bott also recalled “lovely” staff parties, and said some of her favourite times at the store were doing things like Christmas decorating, when she and other staff would get to hang out there, but not necessarily be working.
She said that when SuperValu closes it will leave a hole in the community.
“It’s not going to be the same, that’s for sure,” she said. “A lot of people are really, really sorry.”
Brogan said he will be sorry to see his store close as well.
“I’m going to miss the customers,” he said. “Of course I know everybody here, I’ve been here that long. And I’ll miss the staff; it’s bittersweet.”
Now that the doors are shuttered, SupeValu’s parent company, Loblaws, is planning to open a “No Frills” discount grocery store in its place this summer.
By Trevor Nichols
