Zehrs shoppers in Kincardine will be out of luck as of July 6th.
Loblaw has apparently decided to switch to a No Frills operation at the store in the Lake Huron shoreline community.
It’s expected the facility will be closed for nearly four months, while renovations are down on the building, with a scheduled re-opening in November.
The Vice President of No Frills Ontario is quoted in an email as saying the company decided to switch the Sutton Park Mall location to No Frills in order to provide “an exceptional shopping experience for our customers.”
Craig Hodgkinson says “No Frills grocery stores are a proven discount model that offer a value to their customers through their “Won’t Be Beat promise” on prices.
Employees currently working at the Zehrs store in Kincardine are expected to have three choices as of July 5th.
They can receive a buy-out lump sum payment and cannot work for a Loblaw’s affiliate again, they can receive a buy-down lump sum payment where they will be laid off and can apply for a job at No Frills, or they can bump someone at another Zehrs location.
The closest two stores are Goderich and Owen Sound
No Frills is unionized but it is a different union than Zehrs.
Over 200 No Frills stores exist in Canada and are classified as a ‘deep discount’ grocery store chain owned by Loblaw’s Companies Ltd.
Kincardine Zehrs Manager Greg Wilhelm told Bayshore Broadcasting News he couldn’t comment on the coming changes to the store.
He provided a corporate phone number in Toronto for any further details.
No one was available.
