It was 1979… The year Sony released the Walkman (playing The Specials, Talking Heads and The Clash), the game Trivial Pursuit launched, and the snowboard was invented. And it was also the year a plucky and wide-lapelled entrepreneur started up a humble wholesale barbecue and propane distribution business in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The idea proved successful and barbecues proved popular, so it didn’t take long for a retail operation to take hold: within two years, the distribution business evolved into an unfancy barbecue store in Calgary’s Northeast.

The game plan then was the same as it is today: offer quality products, competitive pricing, super knowledgeable staff and unparalleled service. Barbecues Galore continued to grow and expand: with the opening in 1993 of a second retail location in South Calgary and then with the purchase in 1996 of Woods Fireplaces, adding their sixty-plus years of fireplace expertise to the great grilling know-how at Barbecues Galore. A perfect, highly flammable match, really.

Yes, there is a chain of stores in Australia named “Barbeques Galore” (notice the improper use of the ‘Q’ in the name).  And, yes again, there is a chain of stores in the USA also misusing the letter ‘Q’ and doing business as “Barbeques Galore”.  Neither of those two chains have anything to do with our Canadian operation (nor will they ever win a spelling-bee). 

Feeling brave — and sensing the pressing need for barbecue expertise in the Greater Toronto Area (that’s the “GTA” to folks in the know) —Barbecues Galore expanded into Ontario in 2003, purchasing existing barbecue stores in both Burlington and Oakville. It took more than a decade for that happy family of four to grow to five retail locations, with the Etobicoke  store added to the lineup in 2017. (“Etobicoke”, by the way, is an indigenous word for “West Toronto”.)

---

At Barbecues Galore we’re proud of our roots, we’re proud of our people, and we’re proud to sell a staggering variety of barbecues, accessories, fireplaces, patio furniture, fire tables and a lot more, much of it designed and made right here in Canada by family-owned businesses with great stories just like ours.