Empire to open 70 new grocery stores over next three years
Sobeys parent company Empire Company Ltd. is looking to significantly grow its store network over the next three years.
The Stellarton, N.S.-headquartered food and pharmacy retailer said it plans to open 70 new grocery stores in the period. Twenty are already in the works for fiscal 2027.
“We expect total total food sales growth to outpace same store sales more meaningfully going forward,” Pierre St-Laurent, president and chief executive officer, said on Empire’s fourth quarter earnings call Thursday (June 18).
St-Laurent said about 75% of the new stores will be discount supermarkets.
Empire’s flagship discount banner, FreshCo, has locations in Ontario, Alberta, B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The company is bringing the banner to Atlantic Canada, with one conversion and two new store openings planned for Nova Scotia in 2026.
Empire is also entering Quebec’s discount wholesale segment with the acquisition of Mayrand Group Inc., announced in April.
The deal has received court and regulatory approval and is expected to close in the coming days.
“You will still see Farm Boys and Longo's and IGAs, because there's room to grow. There's new development where we believe full service is the best format for that neighborhood,” St-Laurent said. “But we have a lot of room to grow in discount without cannibalizing our network.”
St-Laurent said fiscal 2026 marked a shift towards new store growth following a period of renovations and conversions.
The company completed 24 real estate projects in the fourth quarter, including five new store openings: four in discount and two conversions.
“Over the next three years, we intend to accelerate our level of activity, completing more than 90 projects annually, an increase of 25% compared to fiscal ‘25 and ‘26,” St-Laurent said.
Empire recorded net earnings and adjusted net earnings of $212 million ($0.94 per share) in its fourth quarter. That’s up from $173 million last year, an increase of 22.5%.
Sales rose 2.2% to $7.81 billion. Same-store food sales growth increased by 1.5% while same-store sales growth increased by 1.7%.
St-Laurent said the retailer’s sales growth was driven by strong performance in its full service network and continued momentum in discount
Executives said Empire received fewer price increase requests in the fourth quarter compared to last year.
“Our national sourcing teams remain disciplined in protecting customer value, consistent with our approach on tariffs,” St-Laurent said. “We are pushing back on fuel-related surcharges. We know many customers remain stretched, and our focus is on continuing the strength of our value proposition.”
As Empire looks ahead to fiscal 2027, St-Laurent said the company is looking to grow in the areas of discount, pharmacy, ecommerce and retail media.
Pharmacy outlook
Empire has a network of more than 400 pharmacies, including both in-store pharmacies and standalone Lawtons Drugs locations.
“It’s a pretty interesting business for us,” St-Laurent said. “Since 2017, it has not been our focus. We had other priorities to fix the core business, which is done.”
Doug Nathanson is now leading the pharmacy group as chief pharmacy and development officer.
St-Laurent said Empire sees the potential in growing its pharmacy store network and is open to potential strategic acquisitions.
“Adding more pharmacies in our new stores network, even going after small token acquisitions in the market—the team is focusing on it right now. Growing the top line and bottom line in productivity is going to improve our performance. Last year, pharmacy did overperform the rest of the business. It's just the beginning. We're encouraged by what we see in front of us to drive that business to the next level.”
