Sales were highest in early March as shoppers hoarded what they felt they would need during the lockdown – toilet paper, baking flour, yeast, milk and eggs.
But sales from the company’s gas bars declined by 40 per cent as demand and prices both dropped sharply.
Empire’s revenues for its fourth quarter were $7 billion and its profits increased by 45.6 per cent to $177.8 million.
For the year, revenues increased modestly from $25.1 to $25.6 billion, but profits increased from $387.3 million to $583.5 million.
In a strange coincidence, this week Canada’s three dominant supermarket chains – Sobeys, Loblaws and Metro – all simultaneously ended pandemic bonuses for workers.
