2024 Generation Next winner Rachel Downey (Q&A)

Rachel Downey

Manager, Strategic Projects - No Frills, Loblaw Companies Limited

While pursuing her degree in urban planning from the University of Waterloo, Rachel Downey got her start at Loblaw as a summer student in 2015, working in the grocer’s real estate group. She returned to Loblaw in 2018 for a co-op position, where her impressive performance led to a full-time gig—and by 2022, she had joined the No Frills team.

Promoted to manager of strategic projects for No Frills in 2024, Downey’s current role blends store operations, merchandising, as well as store design and development. “My main responsibilities are managing the numerous new stores No Frills is opening or converting—24 by the end of 2024!—along with renovations and strategic projects within No Frills stores,” she explains. 

Downey says her greatest achievements, so far, include the multiple new No Frills locations she’s played a part in opening, along with a new process “to effectively and efficiently open and convert new stores at an accelerated pace this year,” she explains. “It’s a proud feeling to see what once was an empty space come to life with programs and products catering to the needs of the community.

See the full list of Generation Next 2024 winners profiles.

Profiles were first published in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Grocer