How store experience shaped Oliver’s path

The day after Co-op Student Oliver Bowes turned 15, he did what many teenagers do when they’re ready to earn their first paycheque. He got a part-time job. His first shift was at Real Canadian Superstore^® in Oakville, where he joined the front lines as a housewares clerk. For four years, Oliver worked in the store, learning the rhythm of retail from the front-line. At six-foot-three, reaching the top shelf was rarely a challenge. Understanding why a product belonged there? That came later.

After his first year at Western University studying Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, Oliver applied for a co-op position at Loblaw, hoping to bring his front-line perspective into rooms where decisions were being made behind the scenes.

His first placement was in Merchandising for the Super Market division, where he helped support work on pricing strategy and planograms, the blueprints that guide how products are arranged on shelves. It was a full-circle moment. The work he once experienced as a store colleague was now something he could influence, with the perspective of someone who knew what those decisions looked like on the floor.

"By the time a new layout, pricing strategy, or merchandising decision reaches stores, a lot of work and consideration has already gone into it,” Oliver says. “It’s interesting to see the workback plan and understand why certain decisions are made.”

That is the co-op experience at Loblaw: real work, real responsibility, and a clearer view of how different parts of the business connect. There’s no fetching coffee here. Instead, Oliver is deciding where the coffee pods in our stores should go. Now in his second co-op term with Loblaw, Oliver is a Strategy Analyst in Marketing and Brands, looking at the business through an even broader lens. His path from store operations to merchandising strategy has shown him how decisions made behind the scenes eventually shape the experience of team members and customers.

It has also reinforced the value of understanding the business from the store level.

Mentors helped Oliver turn that perspective into practical skills. They taught him how to break down complex business problems, use data to test his assumptions and present clear recommendations to leaders. Hearing about their own career paths also showed him that there is no single route to building a career at Loblaw.

“What you’re doing day to day affects so much of the business and millions of people across the country,” he says. “Interns can contribute to real work and see the impact quickly.”

For Oliver, what began as an opportunity to gain experience has become a clearer sense of direction.

“I didn’t expect to become as interested in and passionate about Canadian grocery retail as I have,” he says. “The co-op program has definitely influenced the type of work and schooling I’m interested in.”

He now sees retail, technology and law not as separate paths, but as fields that increasingly overlap. From the use of data and digital tools to the regulations that shape how businesses operate, Oliver has discovered opportunities to bring his interests together within the grocery industry, and hopes his Loblaw journey is far from over.

Team members can help open that door for other students by sharing the co-op program with people in their networks.

His three words for the summer term? Impactful, engaging, and fun.

Not bad for someone who was technically supposed to be on summer vacation.