Store No. 5 first specifically built for No Frills

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This article was published 19/03/2019 (2406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Loblaw Companies’ No Frills flag has been around since the 1970s, but it’s recently found a new sweet spot for the chain in Winnipeg with the opening of its fifth store in the city this Friday.

The new 32,000-square-foot store at 1500 Plessis Rd. — specifically built as a grocery store — could become the local grocery store for a growing residential community in that Transcona neighbourhood.

John Pierce, No Frills vice-president of store operations, said the chain has been a winning formula for the Loblaw company, with the Plessis Road store the 259th in the country.

Other new No Frills stores in Winnipeg have been converted from Extra Foods, another Loblaw flag, but that’s not the case here.

“This one will be the first purpose-built new structure just for No Frills, and that’s very exciting in and of itself,” Pierce said.

No Frills is characterized as a “hard discount” grocery store with a limited line of offerings, everyday low prices and a very simplified community-based, franchised format.

“The idea of everyday low prices is a commitment to being very competitive,” Pierce said. “You don’t have to just buy specials. You can trust the prices throughout the store.”

The simple “hard discount” grocery model means there aren’t any “frills” like a post office, pharmacy or florist, and includes things like products displayed on shelves in their cardboard boxes.

In addition to Loblaw’s so-called “controlled labels” like President’s Choice, No Name, Organics and Naturally Imperfect, shoppers at No Frills will also find the national brands they expect to see at a grocery store.

Most No Frills franchisees are typically homegrown, recruited from employees elsewhere in the chain, and the Plessis Road store is no different.

The new Plessis Road store owner is Ted Thorpe, a former Winnipegger who was a No Frills store owner in Kenora for the past 10 years.

“I’m happy to be back home in Manitoba and excited to help the Transcona community get value for their grocery budget and leave the store with a great haul to feed their families,” Thorpe said in a prepared statement.

Pierce said the franchise model works well for No Frills, allowing each store to become more engaged in their particular neighbourhood and giving franchisees the flexibility to stock items in their stores that their customers want to see.

“It’s not an investor model,” Pierce said. “It’s an owner-operator model. They are in there every day, quite often with family members. It’s a very hands-on franchise model.”

It’s anticipated that the new store will require a workforce of about 75 full- and part-time workers who are unionized with collective bargaining agreements with the United Food and Commercial Workers defining wage rates, benefits and pension.

The momentum from the chain’s fairly recent discovery of Manitoba — its first location in the province opened in 2015 — will continue with two more stores opening in the city before the end of the year, one on St. Anne’s Road and another on Henderson Highway. In addition to the five No Frills stores in Winnipeg, there one in Selkirk and one in Dauphin.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca