Top stories from May
1. Walmart picks up 13 Target locations
Walmart announced they would buy 13 of the former Target Canada stores plus a distribution centre in Cornwall, Ont. Just three days later Lowe’s home improvement chain reached a deal to buy 13 Target Canada leases and a distribution centre west of Toronto for about $151 million
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2. Sobeys makes news coast-to-coast
Nearly two years after it purchased Canada Safeway, Sobeys consolidated its businesses in Western Canada. The move will see Sobeys West, Thrifty Foods and Safeway businesses combined into a new Calgary-based group called the “Western Business Unit.”
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Earlier this month, members of Co-op Atlantic voted in favour of selling the company’s food and gas wholesale and retail business to Sobeys.
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3. Loblaw profit soars as strategic moves pay off
Loblaw Companies reported a big jump in first-quarter profit as it benefits from major strategic moves, including the purchase of Shoppers Drug Mart.
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4. Longo's rolls out nutella creperie
In development for more than 18 months, the Nutella Crêperie debuted earlier this month at Longo’s Maple Leaf Square location in downtown Toronto. The pop-up crepe kitchen will travel to Longo’s stores across the GTA, making fresh-to-order Nutella crepes.
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5. Canadians disinterested in online grocery shopping
Canadians love online shopping for things like clothes and electronics, but food? Forget it. A new survey from global research firm Mintel found 88% of Canadian grocery shoppers have never shopped for groceries online and 68% are not interested in trying it.
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6. Natrel opens Canada's first milk bar
The Agropur Co-operative brand teamed with popular coffee chain Java U to open the Natrel Milk Bar by Java U. Billed as Canada’s first milk bar, the shop is located in Montreal’s trendy Griffintown neighbourhood.
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7. Whole Foods plans new store concept geared at millennials
As Whole Foods faces intensifying competition from traditional supermarkets and big box retailers muscling into organic and natural products, Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods, said a new store concept geared at millennials will feature a “modern, streamlined design, innovative technology and a curated selection.”
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8. Meet your match at Metro's singles night
Single shoppers were checking out more than the weekly specials at a Metro store in downtown Toronto last week.
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9. Rabba highlights fresh and HMR in latest marketing push
Rabba Fine Foods is getting set to make a big marketing splash. The independent grocer, which has 34 locations in the Greater Toronto Area, has hired a marketing agency and a PR firm to help boost the business.
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10. Former Shoppers Drug Mart CEO to head Rexall Health
Former Shoppers Drug Mart president Jürgen Schreiber is back in the pharmacy store business. Schreiber was appointed CEO of Rexall Health last week.
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