Several Island grocery stores are changing hands as part of the fall-out from a deal last year that saw Sobeys buy Canada Safeway.
The federal competition bureau required Sobeys to sell some stores. The company announced Thursday that it was selling 15 stores in Alberta and BC to Overwaitea Foods. They include Safeway stores in Port Alberni, Duncan, and Ladysmith and a Thrifty Foods location at Brooks Landing in Nanaimo. Three stores on the south Island are also part of the deal.
“We are thrilled to be able to welcome these stores, along with their existing team members and customers to our Group,” says Overwaitea President Darrell Jones, who adds the stores will be re-branded to Save-on-Foods.
Overwaitea is not saying what it paid for the stores, but Sobeys says the deals it did Thursday with both Overwaitea and Co-op (which bought 14 stores) have a total value of $430 million.
Safeway, meanwhile, has announced plans to close its store in Courtenay in May.Â
