Red Deer’s Safeway Port O’Call Mall location will be shuttered in April.
The grocery store will close in April 2022 and be reopened as a FreshCo in the fall of 2022.
Sobeys Inc. which owns Safeway along with several other grocery stores announced the closure and conversion of the store on Tuesday.
“The decision to close a store is never easy and is not taken lightly given the impact on our valuable employees, customers and communities,” Sobeys said in an email statement.
According to the statement, the pharmacy department will remain open throughout the renovations and construction. There will be a temporary pharmacy location on site, and the new FreshCo store will open with a pharmacy. The gas station will also remain open through the redevelopment.
Sobeys said that the company will work to find new roles for employees who will be impacted by the change.
“We are working closely with impacted teammates and are committed to supporting employees as they transition to new roles within our business or outside the company,” the email statement read.
“Over the coming weeks, we will be working closely with employees and their unions to ensure the terms of their collective agreements are met.”
Alberta has nine FreshCo locations, the majority of which are located in Calgary and Edmonton.
According to the release, FreshCo is a “discount food retail banner that provides the best low-price grocery shopping experience by offering quality fresh food at low prices.” Launched in 2010, FreshCo operates over 130 stores across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.
In Dec. of 2014, the Safeway grocery store on Red Deer’s north hill was closed.
byron.hackett@reddeeradvocate.com
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