Thompsonites and shoppers from out of town will once again have the option of getting their groceries at the Thompson Plaza later this year, but some of the items on the shelves may seem awfully familiar.
A little less than a year after Loblaw announced, last April 27, that its Extra Foods store, the anchor tenant of Western Canada's oldest enclosed mall, would close permanently on June 23, 2012, the company that owns and manages the mall has confirmed that a new tenant has signed a lease to open a retail store in the space that has been vacant since last summer.
"We have entered into a long-term lease with NCN Family Food Store Limited Partnership who plan to open a Family Foods food store in late spring at the Thompson Plaza," said Cameron Olma of Citicor Management Group Inc., the Vancouver-based company that operates the Thompson Plaza and other shopping centres in Red Deer and Edmonton, Alberta as well as seven British Columbia communities, in an e-mail to the Thompson Citizen. "We are very pleased with the new agreement and very excited to once again offer a full-service grocery store. Family Foods has over 180 independently operated stores across Western Canada and we believe our new tenant will provide a good food store option for consumers."
The new store will be the 26th Family Foods-affiliated franchise in Manitoba and the fifth in Northern Manitoba. The others north of the 53rd parallel include Cornerview Enterprises in Snow Lake, The Grub Box in The Pas, Cross Lake Family Foods in Cross Lake and Lows Family Foods in Norway House.
Family Foods is a division of Macdonalds Consolidated, a Calgary-based wholesale grocery supplier which is itself a division of Canada Safeway Ltd., with which it shares a corporate office in Calgary. According to the company's website, it offers "dairy, cheese, juice, frozen vegetables and meat products produced in our parent company's own plants; 13 in Canada and 26 in the United States. The company lists approximately 18,000 SKUs [stock-keeping units], 4,000 of which are well-known private-label brands such as Lucerne, Edwards, Safeway and Family Foods."
According to the Macdonalds Consolidated website, the "Family foods retail banner was established for full service independent grocery store owners that are looking to capitalize on the opportunity offered by use of a consistent trade mark and retail offering while maintaining their independent entrepreneurship."
The Family Foods website at www.familyfoods.ca says "each location is able to provide its customers with high-quality products, without sacrificing the superior personal services that can only be achieved through local ownership."
Some of the brands which the company advertises as being available at its locations include Safeway Select, OvenJoy and Value Red, which will be familiar to shoppers who frequent the Safeway supermarket in Thompson.
Craig Ware, director of corporate affairs in Western Canada for Loblaw, said last April that Extra Foods in Thompson was closing because it was no longer economically viable to operate.
"I can assure you that the decision to close this store was not taken lightly," Ware said at that time. "A wide variety of possible options were considered and discussions were held with the local union, unfortunately however an agreement was unable to be reached. While we are disappointed to be closing this store, the decision is not a reflection on the colleagues from that store. They have been committed to serving the people of Thompson for many years and we are working through a transition plan for them."
Hourly rated workers at the Thompson Extra Foods store were represented by the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 832, whose president told the Thompson Citizen last April 28 that "the concessions on wages, pensions and benefits that Extra Foods was asking for in order to keep the store open was far too great.
"Our members were being asked to give up most of their compensation package so that Extra Foods could make even more money," said Local 832 president Jeff Traeger.
Mayor Tim Johnston touched upon the subject very briefly at the end of his mayor's report to city council at their April 23, 2012 meeting, saying he learned of the "potential" of Extra Foods closing late Monday afternoon, just hours before the council meeting.
"That did come as a surprise and I'm extremely concerned," Johnston told council.
The closure of Extra Foods marked the first time Loblaw Companies Ltd., the Brampton, Ont.-based corporate owner of Extra Foods and a subsidiary of George Weston Limited of Toronto, hasn't operated in Thompson since the opening of the Thompson Plaza on Nov. 2, 1961. Loblaw closed its Extra Foods store in Flin Flon lon Oct. 15, 2011 resulting in the loss of 45 jobs, including 17 full-time positions. There is still an Extra Foods supermarket in The Pas.
Extra Foods was the fourth national chain to shut a store in Thompson in less than a year, starting with Blockbuster, which closed in September 2011 when no buyer could be found for the remaining 253 Canadian Blockbuster stores that were acceptable to the court-appointed bankruptcy receiver. Rogers Plus, another video store, was closed because the company faces tough challenges and lots of competition from multiple sources for consumers' entertainment dollars, and not just from Netflix, Leigh-Ann Popek senior manager for media relations for Rogers Communications Inc. in Toronto, said in an interview when it closed in December 2011. Staples announced in September 2011 that it would be closing its 15,000-sq.ft-plus store at 69 Thompson Dr. N. by the end of the year prior to the expiration of its five-year lease on Jan. 31, 2012.
