The IGA at Columbia Square is closing after 14 years in New Westminster because of dwindling sales coupled with labour costs, the company says.
Scott Coburn, vice-president of human resources for H.Y. Louie Co. Limited, which runs the IGA, said the location is shutting down because of a significant decline in sales over the last year.
"It's no longer financially viable for us to operate in that location," Coburn told The Record.
The company faced new competition with the opening of a downtown Safeway at Plaza 88 about a year ago and a new Donald's Market at River Market.
Coburn said the company has no plans to re-open another IGA location in New Westminster at this point.
The company has given six month's notice to the landlord and 60 day's notice to unionized staff. Coburn estimates they will be out of the property at the latest in five months.
Approximately 55 people are employed at the IGA in New West. The local IGA is one store within a five-store bargaining unit, so seniority of all staff will prevail in determining which staff are actually affected by the closure. Still, 55 people will lose their job as a result of the closure, Coburn said.
