History_Canada

Canada’s First and Oldest Periodical Distributor

The News Group, as it is known and operates today, is the result of a century’s worth of sales, skill, effort, and evolution. In fact, when the roots of our Company are traced back to its inception, we distinguish ourselves as pioneers: we are Canada’s first and oldest periodical distributor!

A Jim Pattison Group of Companies Member

The News Group is proud to be a member of the Jim Pattison Group of Companies. The Pattison Group of Companies has a strong and positive market reputation, with most companies taking leadership status within their respective industry. This privately owned company includes a richly diverse mosaic of successful companies. Operating divisions are in food retail / distribution, Food processing, Packaging, Illuminated Signs, Media, Entertainment, Automotive, Export Services, Trade, Financial, and Real Estate.

For More information click here

A Greatly Changed Landscape

Today, there are four key pillars that support our Canadian magazine and book distribution network. These pillars span the breadth of this nation. Atlantic Canada, Ontario, the Prairies and BC. Until 1997, each of them operated within The News Group division of the Jim Pattison Group; however they were largely stand-alone and independently run operations with different banners.

 

The change in our industry toward consolidation, which began in Canada in 1996, led to enormous change on the magazine wholesaler landscape. In 1996 there were 26 wholesalers in Canada. Today, The News Group is the only true national wholesaler. Where many wholesalers had once provided services to small geographic markets, now only a handful operates across the vast expanse of our country.

The News Group Brand

1997 represented the beginning of branding our Company as The News Group, and the adaptation of best practices across our network. As we moved into an intense share-of-market battle, we had to find innovative ways to operate smarter and faster, and to trim our costs wherever possible. The way the Company stands today, is the product of years of change that predate the start of the consolidation mentioned above … all the way back to 1907!

The Only Constant In Life is Change

Within our history, it is clear that there has been constant change over the years of evolution within The News Group. As the saying goes, “the only constant in life is change” and our Company is in no way immune to that. If one other constant could be added as a characteristic of The News Group, it would have to be that at any point in time over our long history, one could find many like-minded, devoted, intelligent, and hard-working people in all different departments and regions working towards the common goals of:

The achievement of these goals punctuates our past, and their continued pursuit ensures our successful future.