TRA Atlantic is the largest and most successful wholesale food operation in Atlantic Canada. Its head office is located in Middleton, Nova Scotia. It was named after its original owners, Tingley, Reagh, and Adams. TRA began operating in 1950 as a dry grocery products wholesaler in Middleton, Nova Scotia. In 1957, Sobeys purchased TRA. Since then, TRA has expanded into all of Atlantic Canada. Sobey’s opened its warehouses in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1979 at both locations in St. John’s and Grand Falls-Windsor. In Grand Falls-Windsor it is located on Hardy Avenue.
TRA Atlantic is a wholesale company that delivers food to independently owned grocery and convenience stores. There are roughly around 80 employees working with TRA Atlantic in the Grand Falls-Windsor warehouse. TRA sells grocery, meat and frozen products, deli items and produce, and confectionery to most grocery and convenience stores across the island. These products are delivered to the stores by tractor trailer trucks. In the warehouse, there is a room with big boxes of candy, chocolate bars, gum, and other confectionary items. This room is called a repack room. There is also a large freezer and cooler room in which all of the meats, frozen products and deli items are located. The freezer room is really cold, 21 degrees below on a good day. My dad works in the freezer room and he has to wear a survival suit.
The boxes of grocery items are located in the main warehouse. It is divided into aisles from A to X with shelves that are really, really high. Most of the boxes are stored on pallets so the employees can use the forklifts and jacks to help put up the grocery items and other products on the high shelves, and take them down when they need to load them onto the trucks. The products are then delivered to the stores. When my class and I visited TRA Atlantic to get pictures to go with my report, we got a picture taken in front of the boxes of Purity products that are made right here in our province. We were holding our Flat Pen Pals from England. I was holding Flat Jake Shepherd. Our pen pals at Tany's Dell school in Harlow, England loved the Purity gift box that we sent them for Christmas. When they see this picture on the web site it will remind them of the good treats that we sent them. All the students enjoyed their trip to TRA Atlantic and when we were leaving they gave everybody a chocolate bar and a box of juice. Thank you, TRA Atlantic!
Tyler Young (2005-2006)