WINNIPEG – Sobeys Inc. has signed deals to sell 30 stores in Western Canada for a total of roughly $430-million.
The grocery store chain was required to sell 23 stores as part of an agreement with the Competition Bureau following its purchase of Canada Safeway last year.
Federated Co-operatives Ltd. has agreed to buy 14 stores including four in Winnipeg.
The locations in Grant Park, Southdale, Main Street and Dakota Street will be converted to Red River Co-op grocery stores by May.
“The opportunity to buy existing facilities with existing employees and to start fresh in (Winnipeg) is very exciting,” said Scott Banda, the CEO of Federated Co-operatives Limited.
Banda says all Safeway employees will continue to have jobs and will stay unionized.
Just like Red River Co-op gas bars, you can buy a share of the grocery stores and receive a portion of the company’s profits each year.
Sobeys says Overwaitea Food Group has agreed to buy 15 locations – none in Manitoba.
The company has also signed a deal to sell its Price Chopper location in Winnipeg to another, unidentified buyer.
Sobeys said Overwaitea and the Co-op chain have received approval from the Competition Bureau and that it anticipates the deals will close in March or early April.
The sale of the Price Chopper store in Winnipeg is subject to finalization of an agreement and approval from the Competition Bureau.
– with files from the Canadian Press
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