New FreshCo stores to feature Cantor’s Meats

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This article was published 06/02/2019 (2052 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Sobeys opens its first two Western Canada FreshCo discount grocery stores in Winnipeg this spring, they will have a very distinctive Winnipeg feel to them.

The new stores will feature Cantor’s Express butcher counters run by the family-owned Logan Avenue institution Cantor’s Quality Meats & Groceries.

The two new stores, former Safeway locations at Jefferson Avenue and McPhillips Street, and Kildonan Crossing on Regent Avenue, are in the process of being renovated.

FreshCo will try to be different from other large discount grocers such as Walmart and Superstore by being smaller and easier to enter and leave, like a convenience store.

The Canadian-owned Sobeys owns 23 Safeway stores in Manitoba. The conversions will bring that number down to 21. Sobeys launched FreshCo in Ontario in 2010, and now has 92 stores in that province.

Ed Cantor said he can’t divulge too many details, but said that Sobeys people approached him to become involved in the new stores.

“We have a good, well-known name,” he said.

“Our customers have been asking us for some time to open a store in this neighbourhood or that neighbourhood.”

Cantor, the third generation of his family to run the 75-year-old enterprise, said he’s happy to be involved in this new concept.

“We’re going to be contributing to the economy, hiring more people, it’s good,” he said.

Cantor’s will be holding job fairs to fill positions for the two Cantor’s Express operations on Feb. 19 and 20 at the Canad Inns Destination Centre Garden City for the Jefferson and McPhillips FreshCo, and Feb. 21 and 22 at the Canad Inn Destination Centre Club Regent Casino Hotel for the Regent and Lagimodiere FreshCo.