On March 18 1965, Leon
Burzynski and Merlen Kropf opened the former Steinbergs
store in Fergus. The day was so stormy, the patrons
could barely see the bank across the street! Leon
and Merlen purchased this store for the unbelievable price
of $15,000; quite a deal by today's standards!
In January 1968 Kropf
and Burzynski purchased an old Red and White store
in Arthur. A third store was acquired in November
of the same year in Elora. The pair then ventured
into the superette business, opening one in Mount Forest
in March of 1969.
In 1970, Merlen bought
out his partner, while keeping the familiar L&M name.
In November 1973, Kropf
opened a second superette in Mt. Forest. Then in
August of the following year he opened a third store in
Mt. Forest, giving him three shops in this town, and three
full grocery stores to his growing business. At
this point phenomenal expansion occurred.
A store in Dundalk was
opened in July of 1976. One was opened in Shelburne
in November 1977. Markdale followed in July 1978
and Durham in September 1979. In December 1980,
the Fergus store was relocated from its downtown location
to where it stands today. In
1982, Kropf sold both superettes in Mt. Forest so he could
devote his attention to his rapidly growing supermarket
chain. The
final store was opened in 1984 in Palmerston.
After twenty successful
years in business, Kropf began making some changes to
the face of his company. The Mount Forest store was sold
in 1990. Following this, the Shelburne store was
also sold, five years later.
Another change began to
take place in April 1999. L&M bought the IGA store
in Dundalk, expanded it and opened their first Kropf's
IGA, closing the previous Dundalk L&M location in
January 2000. 1999 continued to be a busy year, with L&M
purchasing, renovating and reopening the Mt. Forest Foodland
in November, expanding the chain to include a third banner.
As this project ended, another began as the Markdale store
was renovated and changed to an IGA, giving the Kropfs
their second IGA and ninth store.
In November 2002 the Fergus
location was expanded and renovated and was reopened as
the third of the Kropf IGA Foodland stores.
Our History