Empire Company Limited is engaged in the business of food retailing and related real estate. The Company's segments include Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The Food Retailing segment consists of its subsidiary, Sobeys Inc., which owns, affiliates or franchises over 1,500 stores in approximately 10 provinces under retail banners that include Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawton's Drug Stores, as well as more than 350 retail fuel locations. The Company's Investments and Other Operations segment includes equity accounted interest in Crombie REIT, which is an open-ended real estate investment trust owning a portfolio of over 260 retail and office properties across Canada, and equity accounted interests in Genstar Development Partnership, Genstar Development Partnership II, GDC Investments 4, L.P., GDC Investments 6, L.P., GDC Investments 7, L.P., GDC Investments 8, L.P. and The Fraipont Partnership (collectively, Genstar).