Ayre & Sons, Ltd. was a department store chain in Newfoundland, Canada. The chain was formed in 1859 in St. John's, Newfoundland by Charles R. Ayre. Ayre opened his flagship store on Water Street in St. John's in 1859. After Newfoundland joined the Canadian confederation in 1949, Ayre's opened some more stores across the province in the 1960s, with locations in Mount Pearl, Carbonear, Corner Brook, and Wabush. A location in the Avalon Mall in St. John's also opened when the mall opened in 1967. However, the company began to encounter financial problems in the 1980s, and in 1991, Ayre and Sons filed for bankruptcy.
Ayre's Supermarkets
Ayre's also began to open supermarkets in the 1960s, under the name Ayre's Supermarkets. The chain was sold to Dominion Stores Ltd. in 1963, with six locations in the St. John's area (five in St. John's plus one in Mount Pearl), as well as supermarkets in Carbonear and Corner Brook. As a result, Ayre's Supermarkets later adopted the Dominion brand. Following the sale of Dominion to A&P Canada, the Dominion stores in Newfoundland and Labrador were resold to local owners in 1987 and subsequently merged with two smaller local chains. The newly amalgamated parent company was named Amalco Foods, but the combined chain's brand name remained "Dominion". The amalgamated chain was acquired by Loblaw Companies Limited in 1995.