It’s the end of an era for Uptown shoppers.
The Royal City Centre Safeway is closing tomorrow and will re-open on Saturday as a Save-On-Foods store.
The Overwaitea Food Group LP, a Jim Pattison business, recently purchased the Royal City Centre Safeway location and the Sapperton Thrifty’s location from Sobeys.
The new Save-On-Foods location is just a couple of blocks from the Save-On-Foods also located Uptown at Westminster Centre. Another Save-On-Foods is also slated to open at downtown’s Columbia Square in the summer.
As part of Sobeys acquisition of Canada Safeway, Canada’s Competition Bureau required divestiture of a number of their locations. As a result, the Overwaitea Food Group bought 15 locations from the Sobeys Group, including the Royal City Centre Safeway in New Westminster.
Starting Wednesday, the store will be closed for a three-day renovation, re-opening on Saturday, March 22. However, the pharmacy will continue to operate during renovations to ensure continuity of patient care, according to a media release.
The Safeway staff and management team are staying on at the Save-On store.
“New Westminster is where this company got its start nearly 100 years ago and to see it thriving and growing is so rewarding,” Overwaitea Food Group president Darrell Jones said in the release. “We’re looking forward to welcoming even more great folks from New Westminster to Save-On-Foods and to thank everybody for their patience during our renovation. We'll have some fantastic deals at the store this weekend when we re-open.”
As for the Sapperton Thrifty's, that location change will take place in a few weeks time, Overwaitea spokesperson Julie Dickson wrote in an email.
