Friday, June 27, 2014

Sobeys to close 50 to 60 stores

Sobeys says it will close 50 to 60 of its least profitable stores this year.

It is also converting some from Sobeys to FreshCo, such as the supermarket it owns in Cambridge.

About 60 per cent of the closures will be in Western Canada where the company bought Canada Safeway’s stores for $5.8 billion in the biggest supermarket deal in a decade.

Loblaws bought the Shopper’s Drug Mart chain of pharmacies.

Kevin Grier of the George Morris Centre told Marina Strauss of the Globe and Mail that he doubts Sobeys closures will be the only ones this year.


Expansions by Wal-Mart and the arrival of Target have increased the store space for marketing groceries, so analysts say something has to give.