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Empire advances FreshCo expansion into Western Canada
Empire advances FreshCo expansion into Western Canada Canada NewsWire STELLARTON...
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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nEmpire advances FreshCo expansion into Western Canada\n\n/* Style Definitions */\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCanada NewsWire\nSTELLARTON, NS, June 4, 2019\n\n\n\n18 FreshCo locations in Western Canada confirmed to date Five stores now open in B.C. and Manitoba Two stores to open in B.C. in July 2019 Five locations to open in B.C. in Fall 2019 and Winter 2020 Six Safeway locations announced today will close and re-open as FreshCo stores Store closure costs of $15 million to be expensed in the first quarter of fiscal 2020 STELLARTON, NS, June 4, 2019 /CNW/ - Today Empire Company Limited (\"Empire\" or the \"Company\") (TSX: EMP.A) announced the locations of six additional FreshCo store investments in British Columbia (\"B.C.\") as part of its discount format expansion into Western Canada. The announcement follows five successful FreshCo openings in B.C. and Manitoba earlier this Spring. In fiscal 2018, the Company shared plans to expand FreshCo into the West by converting approximately 25% of its underperforming Safeway and Sobeys locations over a five year period.\n\"Western Canada is responding extremely well to our smaller box discount format,\" said Michael Medline, President & CEO, Empire Company Ltd. \"We've been hyper-focused on selecting the right locations for FreshCo stores and are converting poorly performing Safeway and Sobeys stores. Opening FreshCo stores in these locations is allowing us to not only leverage existing real estate within our network, but also win market share we simply couldn't compete for in the past.\"  \nThe Company opened its first FreshCo in Western Canada in Mission, B.C. on April 25, 2019, quickly followed by two store openings in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 2. Two additional FreshCo stores opened in Richmond, B.C. on May 16 and a further two stores will open in Surrey, B.C. in July 2019.\n\"Customer response to our first five FreshCo locations in B.C. and Manitoba has been overwhelmingly positive,\" said Mike Venton, General Manager, Discount. \"Discount is the fastest growing retail segment and we're now participating i...