Overwaitea Food Group (OFG) announced February 13 that it is buying 15 stores from Sobeys Inc., which was forced to sell the locations as part of an agreement with Canada’s Competition Bureau.
The stores are currently branded either Sobeys, Safeway or Thrifty Foods.
Sobeys (TSX:EMP.A) last year purchased Canada Safeway for $5.8 billion and as a result had too much of a monopoly in some areas, according to the Competition Bureau. Sobeys is also selling 14 stores to Federated Co-operatives Ltd. and one store to an unnamed buyer.
Jim Pattison Group-owned OFG will convert 14 of its new 15 stores into Save-On-Foods branded grocers. Its other new store will become a Coopers Foods.
“This acquisition adds significantly to Save-On-Foods’ existing presence in both B.C. and Alberta and positions us for further growth in these provinces and beyond,” said OFG president Darrell Jones.
OFG is Canada's largest Western-based food store chain, with locations in more than 100 communities across British Columbia and Alberta. Its first of what are now 129 stores opened in New Westminster. The company operates stores branded Save-On-Foods, Overwaitea Foods, Cooper's Foods, Urban Fare, PriceSmart Foods and Bulkley Valley Wholesale.
The stores that OFG bought include three stores currently branded Safeway in Victoria. Other Safeway-branded stores that OFG bought are in:
•New Westminster;
•Tsawwassen;
•Sidney;
•Duncan;
•Ladysmith;
•Fort McMurray; and
•Port Alberni
New OFG-owned stores that are currently branded Thrifty Foods are in
New Westminster and Nanaimo. OFG’s two new Sobeys-branded stores are both in Alberta: Canmore and Cochrane.
