FreshCo

FreshCo Ltd.
Supermarket
Industry Retail
Predecessor Price Chopper
Founded 2010 [1]
Headquarters Mississauga, Ontario
Products Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, general merchandise, meat & poultry, produce, seafood, snacks
Owner Empire Company
Parent Sobeys
Website freshco.com/ Edit this on Wikidata

FreshCo Ltd. is a Canadian discount supermarket chain owned by Sobeys Inc.[2] It was launched in March 2010.[3] As of March 2015, there were 88 FreshCo stores, all located in Ontario. A similarly named supermarket in Chennai, India, is related.

In December 2017, Sobeys Inc. announced plans to re-brand up to 64 stores in western Canada currently under the Safeway and Sobeys names into the FreshCo banner.[4]

FreshCo's main competitors in Canada include Nofrills (Loblaws) and Food Basics (Metro).

Business model

A FreshCo location in Leamington, Ontario

FreshCo aims to offer customers fresh, high-quality food at discount prices in a modern shopping setting.[5] According to an article, "the first impression of the FreshCo store in Oakville, Ontario — a burgeoning community in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) where farmland is swiftly being overtaken by housing developments — isn't of a discount supermarket". FreshCo aims to accomplish the look of a "well-appointed fresh-format store" or "market feel", instead of a discounter with a "price-impact banner boasting the cheapest prices in the market", by making the store aisles more spacious.

FreshCo offers a diverse selection of frozen and chilled ethnic products to reflect the community in which they operate.[6] FreshCo also has a "Fresh Hall" product aisle featuring fresh products, daily baked goods made in community bakeries, and a variety of Ontario cheeses and meats. A feature aisle provides with savings opportunities for the customers.[7][8]

FreshCo uses the slogan, "Fresher, Cheaper." [9] If customers are not satisfied with the freshness of the product they can get a refund of their money.

Predecessor: Price Chopper

Price Chopper had operated in Ontario in the 1990s under the ownership of Oshawa Group. Oshawa Group, including the Price Chopper chain, was acquired by Sobeys in 1998 as part of the latter's entry into the Ontario market. The 87 Price Chopper stores were scattered around many neighbourhoods in Ontario, particularly low-income communities. [10]

By the late 2000s, Price Chopper was facing increased competition from Loblaw Companies, which was opening more No Frills discount grocery stores in Eastern Canada.

According to an analyst from CIBC World Markets, Price Chopper had been regarded as an unprofitable also-ran for decades, under both Oshawa Group and Sobeys, with no lasting improvements from repeated turnaround efforts. The chain's few private-label offerings hurt its gross margins. Price Choppers was not contributing much to parent Sobeys' bottom line and lagged far behind Loblaw's No Frills and Metro's (formerly A&P Canada's) Food Basics in discount supermarket share, which was particularly significant in the Ontario market where discount grocers held 35 to 40 percent of the food shopping market.[11] Overall, Sobeys was struggling in Ontario, having only made 25% of its profits there despite that province containing 40% of its retail real estate, due to an outdated supply chain and unfavourable locations. [12]

Sobeys closed some Price Chopper stores in the Atlantic provinces, or converted them to its Foodland banner.

Former Price Chopper store on Gladstone Avenue in Toronto, now a FreshCo.

Sobeys hired Rob Adams, who was previously with Loblaw Companies managing its No Frills discount grocery division, to run its discount grocer chain. Adams came up with the idea for FreshCo to carry higher quality goods to differentiate them from other discount supermarkets.

According to parent company Sobeys, FreshCo is considered to be a new brand and not just a replacement for Price Chopper. However, most FreshCo stores were renovated and converted from existing Price Chopper locations, with only a handful of FreshCo stores which were newly built or converted from other retailers, essentially making FreshCo the de facto successor to Price Chopper. The first eight FreshCo stores were launched on May 12, 2010 in Brampton and Mississauga, Ontario. By April 2012, FreshCo expanded to 68 stores in Ontario.[13]

Reportedly, customer reception to FreshCo has been positive, and Sobeys has enjoyed the highest same-store increase in sales among major Canadian supermarket chains over the past few years.[14]

Chalo FreshCo

A Chalo FreshCo location in Malton, Ontario Canada

In 2015, Sobeys announced the opening of its first South Asian–focused FreshCo store in Brampton. Branded as Chalo FreshCo (chalo meaning "let's go" in Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Urdu), the store was designed by Sobeys to attract desi shoppers by providing a wider variety of South Asian products under one roof.[15] Following the success of the first location, a second Brampton location opened in 2016.[16]

The FreshCo store at Westwood Square Mall in the Malton neighbourhood of Mississauga was renovated into the third Chalo FreshCo location.

FreshCo locations

As of 2017, there are 91 stores operating under the FreshCo banner, all in Ontario:

Price Chopper locations

As of August 2, 2018, Sobeys still operates two stores under the Price Chopper brand: one in Scarborough and one in north Toronto. One location previously open at Bathurst and Steeles in north Toronto closed on August 2, 2018.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
  2. ↑ Flavelle, Dana (12 May 2010). "Sobeys tests new discount food stores". Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Kwon, N. (2011). Don't discount these discounters. Canadian Grocer, 125(7), 12-13. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/898434879
  4. ↑ Lee-Young, Joanne (13 December 2017). "National supermarket wars ripple into B.C.'s grocery market". Vancouver Sun. Postmedia Corporation. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  5. ↑ Whipp, T. (2010, Dec 01). FreshCo stores new, stylish. The Windsor Star. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/816215662
  6. ↑ Pachner, J. (2012, August 23). How sobeys is taking on loblaws. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/top-1000/how-sobeys-is-taking-on-loblaws/article1373879/?page=all
  7. ↑ Pachner, J. (2012, August 23). How sobeys is taking on loblaws. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/top-1000/how-sobeys-is-taking-on-loblaws/article1373879/?page=all
  8. ↑ The produce news. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://producenews.com/index.php/9-news-section/story-cat/4637-4381
  9. ↑ Holloway, A. (2010). Getting fresh. Canadian Grocer, 124(5), 23-25. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/613344791
  10. ↑ Pachner, J. (2012, August 23). How sobeys is taking on loblaws. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/top-1000/how-sobeys-is-taking-on-loblaws/article1373879/?page=all
  11. ↑ CBC News 12 MaY 2012
  12. ↑ Pachner, J. (2012, August 23). How sobeys is taking on loblaws. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/top-1000/how-sobeys-is-taking-on-loblaws/article1373879/?page=all
  13. ↑ Sobeys inc. launches FreshCo. discount stores. (2010). Marketwire, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/276011890
  14. ↑ Pachner, J. (2012, August 23). How sobeys is taking on loblaws. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/top-1000/how-sobeys-is-taking-on-loblaws/article1373879/?page=all
  15. ↑ "Sobeys launches South Asian store". Canadian Grocer. August 27, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Chalo! FreshCo opens second Brampton location". CanIndia News. October 7, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Store Locator" (PDF). Price Chopper. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
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