Food store rescues Prairie Oasis building

The Food Rescue Grocery Store has found its home in a new downtown location and will start welcoming customers in the Prairie Oasis building next Tuesday.

Formerly located in The Town Centre, the Food Rescue Grocery Store operates under the John Howard Society of Brandon by selling surplus food that would otherwise go to waste for a discounted price.

The goal for the grocery store was always to move into the Prairie Oasis building at 241 Eighth St., the store’s manager said Thursday.

Elizabeth Morrow has worked with Food Rescue since it opened in 2021. She was first a milk and cheese vendor and now manages the store.

“I love it, it’s literally my whole life,” Morrow laughed.

“We’re an alternative grocery store,” she said. “Our food and everything we get is (mostly) donation based … We’re the only one in Canada that does it like this.”

Product prices are based on a cost-recovery basis and sold below retail value.

Morrow says the store addresses the community’s need for affordable groceries and fills a void downtown.

“Other than Superstore and some convenience stores, there really isn’t a grocery store down here,” she said Thursday from the store’s new location, where shelves were being stocked and prepped for the soft opening on Tuesday.

“People always ask me, ‘Why downtown?’ Well, ’cause that’s where we’re needed most,” Morrow said.

“Most of our customers are downtown and they’re walking or they don’t have vehicles,” she said. “We know people depend on us.”

The building used to be the Prairie Oasis Senior Centre, and while it’s no longer a seniors’ centre, the store has decided to keep the name on the building, said Michelle Lemoine, executive director of the John Howard Society of Brandon.

“Prairie Oasis is very tied to the community and recognizable and people know what you’re talking about when you say, ‘We’re at Prairie Oasis,’” Lemoine said.

“It’s really important to have access to fresh, healthy, good food and locally made products and things like that in a cost-effective way (and) in a dignified way for member of our community,” she said.

Lemoine said having the store’s front door on the street — as opposed to in The Town Centre — will make it more accessible to the residential areas nearby.

Morrow said the store is also more accessible for shoppers.

“I love it so much, it’s not even done yet and it’s just more organized, it makes more sense, it’ll have better flow for customers (and) it’s more accessible,” Morrow said.

“The Town Centre was not safe, and that was a big motivation to (move) because it (felt) very unsafe,” she said.

The Food Rescue is extending its hours and will be open five days a week from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Long-term plans for the building include a community space for rent, a community kitchen and a café.

The John Howard Society anticipates holding a grand opening in a few weeks, but no date has been set yet.

The Manitoba Housing Renewal Corporation opened bids in 2025 for proposals to turn the former senior centre into a space to provide services for downtown Brandon residents.

The senior centre closed its doors in 2022 and had sat vacant since then.

The property owner, Manitoba Housing, said it aimed to turn the building into a space that would provide “enrichment to the quality of life for the tenants” in three nearby apartment buildings.

Manitoba Housing hosted a community engagement event in early May 2025 to hear ideas about what the future of the centre should be and what social services it should offer.

According to a letter from Manitoba Housing obtained by the Sun, about 30 per cent of the roughly 45 people who attended said some kind of food service was needed, which was a “clear” sign that it is important, according to the letter.

Other popular suggestions were affordable housing and a safe injection site.

» rgerrard@brandonsun.com, with files from Alex Lambert