Empire accelerates store openings, remains confident in full-service grocery

Empire Company is increasing the number of new stores it plans to open in its fiscal 2027.

The parent company of Sobeys, Safeway, FreshCo and other food and pharmacy chains plans to open more than 25 new stores, up from its previous forecast of 20.

“It’s a combination of discount and our four new Mayrand stores in Quebec,” Pierre St-Laurent, president and CEO, said on the retailer’s first quarter earnings call Thursday (Sept. 10).

“I hope we will continue to accelerate that growth in the future.”

St-Laurent said Empire gained share in full-service and discount in the quarter as its competitors Loblaw Companies and Metro rapidly add more low-cost supermarket formats to their networks. 

Earlier this month, Loblaw said it was increasing the number of new stores it plans to open this year to 75, up from its previously announced 70. The expansion is primarily focused on its discount banners No Frills and Maxi.

“As we continue to expand our discount footprint, we expect that growth to increasingly support market shrinking in the channel,” St-Laurent said.

Empire opened four new stores in its Q1, in addition to the Mayrand locations. 

The company’s discount banner FreshCo recently opened its first stores in Atlantic Canada, in addition to two locations in Calgary. Empire's full-service banners Safeway and IGA also recently opened new locations.

“We're investing capital for the long term, not for next week. We're looking at opportunities, market by market,” St-Laurent said on pressures in full-service. “We remain confident that in the future things are going to improve. We're doing the right thing. We're very disciplined in our approach in everything we do at Empire, and it is going to benefit us over time. We're very confident about that. Everybody has A different strategy. We believe in our strategy, obviously, and early results of our new store openings are very encouraging.” 

This is a developing story. More to come.