Ioco Grocery Store

The Ioco Grocery Store, built in 1922, is a testament to the origins of Ioco as a company town and is valued for its economic role in the community. It reflects the ongoing development of the Ioco townsite, which was linked to the growth of the Ioco Refinery. By January 1914, Imperial Oil had selected a location for a refinery on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet. To house its workers, the Imperial Oil Company contracted architects Blackadder and MacKay, and the Dominion Construction Company, one of Vancouver's most successful construction firms, to build forty houses on a site across from the refinery in 1921. The surviving buildings at Ioco represent the life of an early company town in the 1920s. The town included a community hall, two grocery stores, a restaurant, a meat market, churches and a school. As the townsite was remote, its self-sufficiency was paramount to attracting and retaining skilled workers.

The Ioco Grocery Store is further valued for its modest Arts and Crafts styling. The consistent use of this domestic style for all of the town's buildings reinforced both the coherent nature of this tightly-knit, isolated community and the benevolent but paternalistic control exerted by Imperial Oil over every aspect of community life. The Grocery Store is also significant for its association with the first owner, John P. Grant. In 1922, Grant acquired the property and constructed this store, which also had a residence located above. In 1924, Grant sold the store to Swan Goranson and R. Larson, who continued its commercial operations.