Nigeria: Ebeano Supermarket Opens in Canada

By Chiamaka Okafor

The Ebeano store is located on 358-360 Ontario street, St Catharines.

A Nigerian consumer store, Ebeano supermarket, has opened a branch in Canada.

Peter Ityohuna, the co-founder of Ebeano Canada, confirmed this to PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday in a telephone interview. According to Mr Andokari, the store was officially opened on December 3, 2021.

According to the supermarket's website, the store is located on 358-360 Ontario street, St Catharines.

Chris Bittle, a member of the Canadian parliament, for St. Catherines, was present at the opening.

Congratulating the supermarket on its opening, Mr Bittle wrote on his Facebook page, "Ebeano Supermarket officially opened their doors on Ontario street in St. Catharines today with 25 employees, nearly all of whom are full time."

He described Ebeano as a true global market where food from around the world can be found.

"It was exciting to see so many happy faces shopping this afternoon for products that may be difficult to find elsewhere. Congratulations to Peters Andokari Ityohuna and the entire team at Ebeano Supermarket on your grand opening!"

According to the company's website, in 2019 David Ojei and Peters Ityohuna thought it was time to bring the Ebeano concept to Canada and offer something for everyone.

Mr Ityohuna started as a cashier at one of Ebeano's first stores in the early 2000's. From there he quickly grew to understand the grocery business and helped in developing more stores until he finally reached the position of General Manager.

In 2014, Mr Ityohuna migrated to Canada and he, like many others who are newly migrated, had difficulty finding the comforts of home in his new country.

When Mr Ojei, his boss and co-founder of the original Ebeano supermarkets in Nigeria came to Canada for a visit, the two businessmen created the concept for a Canadian version of Ebeano.

By offering a variety of products from around the globe, they created what they called the first 'Global Food Market.' From there, the idea took hold and the next two years were spent finding the right location and preparing for the launch on December 3, 2021.

Ebeano supermarket has about six outlets in Nigeria, including in Abuja and Lagos. It lost its Abuja outlet last year in an unfortunate fire incident that razed the one stop shop to the ground.

This article originally appeared on Premium Times

Photo: Premium Times