Brandon case triggered grocery-store law

The provincial government’s new grocery-store legislation meant to combat high prices was triggered by the business practices of a Brandon store, the Sun has learned.

Brandon East MLA Glen Simard proposed the legislation, which removes property controls for grocery stores, in response to a local Sobeys renewing its lease on a long-shuttered property.

“Anything we can do to drive prices down, I think it’s a good thing. We’re standing in front of an empty grocery store that could be servicing Brandon,” Simard said in an interview Thursday outside the vacant building on 18th Street.

Sobeys renewed a five-year lease at the former location at 1645 18th St. in 2023, after the store closed in 2017. The company’s aim was to prevent a competing grocery store from opening in the building, a Shindico representative told the Sun at the time.

The company opened a new Sobeys South location across the street at the Shoppers Mall the same year the former location closed.

The Property Controls for Grocery Stores and Supermarkets Act bans controls that restrict the use of land for a grocery store or supermarket. It got royal assent in June but only came into effect this month to enable stores to apply for an exemption.

Simard said the Sun’s reporting on the Sobeys lease is what gave him the idea to propose the legislation.

“There’s no reason why maybe a discount grocer can’t be in here. No reason why a direct competitor can’t be here,” Simard said.

“Brandon’s a big place, and people are clamouring for more choice, more competition.”

The Sun reached out to Sobeys for comment, but didn’t hear back by press time.

Currently, 23 grocery stores that had property controls in Manitoba have told the government they can remove those controls, Caedmon Malowany, a spokesperson for Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu, said Thursday.

An additional 44 stores have asked for a review by the minister. A “majority” of those are Sobeys stores or Sobeys subsidiaries, Malowany said.

Premier Wab Kinew told reporters in Winnipeg last week that big grocery chains are “looking out for their bottom line.” More competition would hopefully lead to better grocery prices, he said.

Kinew said the former Sobeys store in Brandon is “just sitting there because of these contractual barriers.”

“I don’t think one grocery store should be able to prevent another one from opening up shop like this,” he said. “This is the fundamentals of living in a free society and having a market economy.”

Kinew said he doesn’t know if the legislation is a “silver bullet,” but that the industry is “ripe for more competition.”

Simard said discount grocers should be able to set up shop at the old Sobeys and sell products to residents for a cheaper price.

“City planners didn’t develop a commercial space for it to sit up empty,” he said.

He wants grocery stores to be successful, he said, but “prices are going up, and if having no one beside them is the secret to their success, then that would mean that they don’t want to be competitive.”

He said Sandhu is going to challenge Sobeys on why it thinks having an empty building until 2028 is a good idea.

Malowany said the provincial government doesn’t know which specific stores have applied for exceptions, as the process was done through a third party.

While the legislation might not affect rules surrounding the closed Sobeys location in Brandon, it does prevent a similar practice from happening in the future.

Gerald Catchcart, economic development director for the City of Brandon, said while he can’t speak to the former Sobeys location specifically, more competition is generally a good thing.

“Competition is a key part of the society that we have here in Canada,” Cathcart said. “Businesses are competing for your dollars. That usually means better service, lower prices, better selection.”

He said the city wants to see buildings utilized with staff working inside them.

“Ideally, we wouldn’t have any retail commercial spaces that are empty long term. We would want those to be re-leased or re-owned and become an active part of the circular economy.”

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said he’s “glad” that the province is trying to do something to combat the high grocery prices.

He said it’s sad to see how much food local food banks, like Helping Hands, are going through to serve residents while grocery prices soar.

The Sun also reached out to Shindico — the company that owns the building the former Sobeys leases — but didn’t hear back before press time.

» alambert@brandonsun.com