Filipino grocery store coming to Winnipeg
Garden City Shopping Centre redevelops space left vacant by Sears
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This article was published 27/08/2018 (2658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A grocery store specializing in Filipino products is set to open in Garden City next summer.
Garden City Shopping Centre announced on Aug. 23 that it is renovating the space left vacant when Sears closed in Canada in 2017.
The shopping centre recently underwent a significant renovation, and officials say it is redeveloping the empty 92,000-square-foot space to accommodate two larger-format tenants and smaller stores. A 43,000-square-foot area will be occupied by Seafood City Supermarket, an American-based Filipino-focused chain known to North America as the “leading one-stop market, shopping, dining and retail hub catering to the Asian/Filipino lifestyle,” a release said. It will be one of the larger tenants to fill up space.
“The more stores, the better, so people can save some money and buy what’s best for them,” Chris Santos, president of the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba, said.
“I’m not familiar with the grocery store, but anything that’s Filipino I support it 110 per cent and I think the Filipino community thinks the same way as I do.”
Seafood City first opened in National City, Calif. in 1989. Many people think it’s a fish market, but it’s more than that, Rebecca Hyatt, property manager of RioCan’s Manitoba Portfolio, explained.
“It’s very exciting. It will keep the activity of that end of the mall alive. It was a bit quiet when Sears closed, and all the other tenants are excited as well,” she continued.
“Hopefully it will keep everyone in the area too. You can still get your regular grocery food there… it’s more kind of like the other grocery stores, you see a few rows of unique items, but this is more close to home for the Filipino culture, they can certainly embrace more of their comforting items they would get back home.”
“Up here there’s nothing (grocery stores) on this corner, so for walkability, I think it’s great for the local neighbourhood that surrounds us.”
Today they have locations in southern and northern California, Seattle, Wash., Hawaii, Chicago, Ill., Nevada, and Mississauga, Ont. The Winnipeg location will be the second in Canada.
Leila Castro lives in Amber Trails and said many people talk about Seafood City on social media and she is excited it’s going to be just a few blocks away from her home.
“It’s in the heart of the place where many Filipino immigrants are. It’s something that’s going to add to make an exciting life here in Winnipeg,” she said.
She said many Filipino restaurant and bakery owners have told her that a lot of non-Filipino people buy the food they prepare.
“With the growing number of Filipinos here, it’s about time that we have something big as far as a supermarket to offer to the multicultural community,” she said. “We are hoping that something close to what’s available back home will be made available to us here in Winnipeg. Seafood City has the Filipino culture.”
Seafood City will have its entrance on the corner of Leila Avenue and McPhillips Street, with the main storefront on the Leila Avenue side of the mall. The other side of Sears will be converted to six or so other spaces, but RioCan hasn’t confirmed anything yet, Hyatt said. The renovated part will have a new entrance to the mall with the same looks from the previous renovation.
Seafood City will take possession in early 2019 and will start building then. Hyatt said they hope to open by mid-summer, though that’s not set in stone yet.