Yorkton's Sobey's store will close its doors for good March 20 leaving 82 people out of work. The employees were notified January 20 and will receive severance as per their collective bargaining agreement, according to Keri Scobie, communications manager for Sobey's West.
The decision followed an evaluation of numerous factors including location, demographics, competition and sales, Scobie said.
She explained the evaluation is a standard business practice of the company when leases are coming up for renewal, but would not point to any specific reasons.
"It's always a tricky thing when you make a decision to close a store," she said.
"There's lots of factors involved. It made most sense for us not to renew the lease."
The closure is not related to last year's decision by the Competition Bureau forcing Sobey's to sell off 23 stores in western Canada after its parent company Empire Co. Ltd. made a $5.8 billion bid to take over Safeway Canada.
"The bureau concluded that the proposed transaction would lead to a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the retail sale of a full-line of grocery products in a number of local markets in Western Canada," the regulator said.
