Loblaw Cos. launches "No Name" discount grocery store

[pseudo3d]

Basically, Loblaws is launching what appears to be a deep-discount grocery store with no refrigerated products and short operating hours.

I'm not sure that this would be a success. The very limited hours (10 am to 7 pm) makes it inconvenient to a lot of working people (especially the working poor as they seem to want) and a lack of dairy and meat make it unlikely for everyday shopping.

There's a reason why this sort of grocery store really never caught on.

Article:
https://www.supermarketnews.com/store-d ... alue-store

[storewanderer]

They already have No Frills. I guess No Frills has gotten "too many frills" so now they need to aim lower.

I wonder if these will be run by franchisees (like No Frills) or corporate operated.

No refrigeration basically means this is a hard dry goods store. The closest example I can think of this is the old west coast Grocery Outlet chain back when they operated under the name Canned Foods Grocery Outlet but even by the early 90's they started to add frozen/refrigerated into their stores. I vaguely remember them in their initial form where they did not have perishable anything.

Since it is just a pilot and a cheap one at that we will see how it does. I'd probably buy some items there.

With such a limited item mix the center store will probably be like Joe V's... but then Joe V's has a bare bones perimeter so it is a complete store. This isn't a complete store.

I am wondering if an expansion of Aldi into Canada is imminent and they are thinking they need to be pro-active. But this sounds far more bare bones than Aldi.

[storewanderer]

Reading again I see it will have frozen but won't have refrigerated. I find that to be a bit odd.

I assume they will have frozen due to the amount of thaw and sell bread type items sold in Canada and they decided they need a space to keep those so they can add in some other random items since the frozen truck has to stop and deliver there.

I think they will have to add refrigerated and have some dairy products... they could in theory cover the "meat" category by just selling frozen meat products.

I like any idea that helps get prices down and their private label program is superior so that attribute would in itself make this store have a solid product offer.

[Romr123]

Reading again I see it will have frozen but won't have refrigerated. I find that to be a bit odd.

I assume they will have frozen due to the amount of thaw and sell bread type items sold in Canada and they decided they need a space to keep those so they can add in some other random items since the frozen truck has to stop and deliver there.

I think they will have to add refrigerated and have some dairy products... they could in theory cover the "meat" category by just selling frozen meat products.

I like any idea that helps get prices down and their private label program is superior so that attribute would in itself make this store have a solid product offer.

Why is it that so much thaw and sell bakery stuff comes from Canada? Have always questioned that.

[BillyGr]

Reading again I see it will have frozen but won't have refrigerated. I find that to be a bit odd.

I assume they will have frozen due to the amount of thaw and sell bread type items sold in Canada and they decided they need a space to keep those so they can add in some other random items since the frozen truck has to stop and deliver there.

I think they will have to add refrigerated and have some dairy products... they could in theory cover the "meat" category by just selling frozen meat products.

I like any idea that helps get prices down and their private label program is superior so that attribute would in itself make this store have a solid product offer.

Maybe it makes sense with one thought added in - frozen items usually have a much longer shelf life than many refrigerated items.

Thus, they might be able to have a frozen delivery much less frequently than would be needed for refrigerated, and less chance of items going bad before being sold.

[storewanderer]

Why is it that so much thaw and sell bakery stuff comes from Canada? Have always questioned that.

Seems to be a big industry for them. Canada seems to be more into bakery stuff than the US. Look at how even Wal Mart does a lot of baking in store there (far more made in store items than in the US). Safeway's program was also far more extensive than the US program was.

So that does make it a bit strange that there is so much thaw and sell production in Canada too. The majority of Wal Mart's United States thaw and sell bakery is "product of Canada." All of the muffins, pies, and various other items...

[ClownLoach]

Interestingly enough, Loblaw's ACE Boulangerie breads are now being sold in the service bakery at Ralphs. I almost fell over when I saw the display. They are frozen and thawed in store. A lot of the ACE product at Provigo (Loblaw's version of a "Pavilions" type banner) appeared to be thaw and bake, with a few dozen items explicitly labeled as scratch baked.

Having spent a lot of time in Montreal and other parts of Canada, the 10-7 hours make sense. Nobody shops after 7pm except for drugstores. Everything else is dining, bars, nightlife etc. but not retail. It is a very different feeling country.

[storewanderer]

Interestingly enough, Loblaw's ACE Boulangerie breads are now being sold in the service bakery at Ralphs. I almost fell over when I saw the display. They are frozen and thawed in store. A lot of the ACE product at Provigo (Loblaw's version of a "Pavilions" type banner) appeared to be thaw and bake, with a few dozen items explicitly labeled as scratch baked.

Having spent a lot of time in Montreal and other parts of Canada, the 10-7 hours make sense. Nobody shops after 7pm except for drugstores. Everything else is dining, bars, nightlife etc. but not retail. It is a very different feeling country.

Still decent crowds in stores around Vancouver and down around the airport there up until 10 PM when most of them close, but once you get out of Vancouver even on the edges (like North Vancouver) stores are very quiet after 7 PM.

Loblaws also has a Loblaws banner that is very Pavilions like on some stores too.

Provigo is the name they used on the wholesale operation they once had in California in the 90's.

There is some ACE at Smiths too. Supposedly Kroger has a test going where they stop baking any bread in store and go to strictly thaw and serve. I have yet to find a location participating in this test so maybe it doesn't really exist or already got shelved.

[buckguy]

Interestingly enough, Loblaw's ACE Boulangerie breads are now being sold in the service bakery at Ralphs. I almost fell over when I saw the display. They are frozen and thawed in store. A lot of the ACE product at Provigo (Loblaw's version of a "Pavilions" type banner) appeared to be thaw and bake, with a few dozen items explicitly labeled as scratch baked.

Having spent a lot of time in Montreal and other parts of Canada, the 10-7 hours make sense. Nobody shops after 7pm except for drugstores. Everything else is dining, bars, nightlife etc. but not retail. It is a very different feeling country.

I went to Provigo when I was in Montreal in June. They seem to be the Montreal version of Loblaw and not really a premium operation.

[ClownLoach]

Interestingly enough, Loblaw's ACE Boulangerie breads are now being sold in the service bakery at Ralphs. I almost fell over when I saw the display. They are frozen and thawed in store. A lot of the ACE product at Provigo (Loblaw's version of a "Pavilions" type banner) appeared to be thaw and bake, with a few dozen items explicitly labeled as scratch baked.

Having spent a lot of time in Montreal and other parts of Canada, the 10-7 hours make sense. Nobody shops after 7pm except for drugstores. Everything else is dining, bars, nightlife etc. but not retail. It is a very different feeling country.

I went to Provigo when I was in Montreal in June. They seem to be the Montreal version of Loblaw and not really a premium operation.

Assuming you went to an "old" Provigo. There are quite a few. The "new" locations are beautiful. There are a few cases where they closed a Loblaws then opened a Provigo a few blocks away. The one on Jean-Talon near the Parc station is beautiful. But then there are also some real mediocre old stores like the one near Cote-Vertu, which seems to be a franchise operator. I should have mentioned that the newer premium stores use the name Provigo Le Marché.