Sobeys news

President and CEO Marc Poulin has left the company, effective immediately. Weakness at Safeway being left in other parts of the business Poulin’s departure comes following a challenging 12 months at the retailer where business performance has been impacted by its integration of Safeway in Western Canada. This resulted in Sobeys recording a loss of $2.1bn for the year following impairment c...

With Sobeys reporting a further quarter of challenging results, we outline three key things to watch for over the next 12 months as it focuses on stabilising the business. A challenging end to the year Although Sobeys' fourth quarter sales increased by 8.9%, the retailer benefited from an additional trading week which accounted for 8.0% of the growth. Same-store sales, excluding the impact...

Sobeys has appointed Beth Newlands Campbell as President of the company’s Atlantic/Ontario business unit. Experienced grocery leader This is a key appointment for Sobeys given Ms. Newlands Campbell’s significant experience in the grocery sector. She has spent 30 years in progressively senior operations marketing, merchandising and strategic planning roles with Delhaize’s US operations, in...

.style1 { text-align: center; }.style2 { text-align: right; } Last month Sobeys celebrated the grand re-opening of its Urban Fresh store in Toronto’s waterfront district following a major remodel. We visited this store to review some of the new features. 1. Setting fresh expectations with produce The retailer has ensured a strong first impression for fresh foods within its produce depa...

As the Overwaitea Food Group expands beyond British Columbia and Alberta for the first time, we look at what makes this retailer one to watch in Canada. 1. Private ownership enables long-term planning The Overwaitea Foods Group is wholly owned by the Pattison Group, one of the largest private companies in Canada. This not only provides the retailer with access to significant resources, but...

Having launched a pilot program with Sobeys’ FreshCo operation in Toronto, Instabuggy and Sobeys are now extending their relationship to the Ottawa area. Moving beyond FreshCo to offer the service at Sobeys Urban Fresh Instabuggy, a grocery ecommerce business which operates a similar business model to Instacart, initially launched its service in Toronto last April through a pilot pro...

Sobeys reported a challenging third quarter performance, with sales and profits impacted by the integration of Safeway in Western Canada. Western operations hold back company performance Sobeys’ third quarter sales increased by 1.5% to $6.0bn, with same-store sales up 0.4%. Excluding the impact of fuel and the retail West business unit, same-store sales would have increased by 2.7%. The ch...

We highlight the five trends set to shape the grocery sector in the US and Canada this year. 1. Format reinvention Our key trend to watch this year is ‘format reinvention’. We expect to see a number of new concepts enter the market, with a particular focus on the supermarket format. Over the last year, retailers in North America have been channelling increased levels of investment into this...

As Walmart expands its test of click and collect for online groceries to the Toronto area, we review how the channel is developing in Canada. Builds on successful launch in Ottawa Following the launch of an 11 store test in Ottawa last year, Walmart Canada has expanded this to 12 stores in the Toronto area. The Ottawa test revealed strong interest from shoppers in the service, with the con...

Sobeys has launched a number of new programs at Safeway to bring it closer in line with its core Sobeys operation. New programs launched under one team structure Having completed the acquisition of Canada Safeway at the end of 2013, Sobeys has spent the last two years focusing on the back-end technical infrastructure before addressing customer-facing areas. Central to this has been the cre...