Sobeys continues to quietly close more of its stores. Although the very recent, but completely unexpected, closure of a specialty one in downtown Edmonton got noticed by the media, the upcoming (Oct. 2nd) closure of my closest Sobeys seems to have gone unnoticed.
These are on top of the 50 or so "underperforming" Sobeys and Safeways formally announced for closure in June.
In this particular case, the store did well initially as an IGA Garden Market, when the only competition was a rundown Safeway that had been a cash cow because of its captive audience. That Safeway has since spruced itself up and really improved its service. A Save-On opened 10 years ago kiddy-korner from the Sobeys, literally buying their way into the market with 15% Tuesdays which coincided with both the major specials and the biggest points offerings of each month. Since then we have seen another Safeway, a Walmart Supercentre and, what I believe was the final nail in the coffin, a well-run Superstore that just opened at Christmas.