A veteran writer/producer for the NFB and CBC, he chronicled the history of the Kelly, Douglas Co. in From Sourdough to Super Store. The company began by provisioning prospectors during the '98 gold rush. Started by Vancouverites Bob Kelly and Frank Douglas as a wholesale grocery business in 1896, it expanded east as far as Manitoba and part of northern Ontario. With a motto 'Kelly, Douglas Travels First Class', it depended on his manufacturing arm, Nabob, during the Depression. The SuperValu chain of grocery stores started in 1950. Legal battles over ownership ensued with the George Weston Company of Toronto. Kelly-Douglas owned by Loblaws, and operated SuperValu stores, with annual sales near $3 billion in the late 1980s. They also have operated the Real Canadian Superstores. Bill Davies worked for eight years at CBC in Vancouver and Montreal, and was a director and writer for the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal for eleven years before returning to Vancouver in 1974.

BOOKS:

From Sourdough to Superstore (Kelly, Douglas and Co. Ltd., 1990)

[BCBW 1995] "Business"