The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Extra Foods is pulling out of another northern Manitoba market. The store in Thompson will close its doors June 23, becoming the fourth national chain to exit the mining city since last September. Mayor Tim Johnston said he learned of the 'potential' of Extra Foods closing early last week. 'That did come as a surprise and I'm extremely concerned,' he said. The news comes after Extra Foods closed its Flin Flon store last October, citing poor finances. That move cost the community 45 jobs, 17 of them full-time. Loblaw Companies Ltd., which owns the grocery chain, has denied rumours the store in The Pas is set for closure. In Thompson, Extra Foods is the anchor store of Thompson Plaza, western Canada's oldest enclosed mall. The Thompson closure mark be the first time the Ontario-based Loblaw, a subsidiary of George Weston Ltd., has not operated in the city since the opening of Thompson Plaza in 1961. The very idea for Thompson Plaza, in fact, belonged to E.D. Cooper of Shop Easy Foods. Thompson took a major hit on the retail front when Staples and Rogers Plus both closed their doors last December. Staples did not consider leasing at any another location in Thompson after its initial five-year lease expired. The Rogers Plus store was closed because the company faced tough challenges and ample competition from multiple sources. Months earlier, in September 2011, the Blockbuster DVD rental chain also left Thompson. Blockbuster's Thompson store had good enough revenues that when 146 stores in Canada closed last June, it wasn't among them. But last August, Blockbuster announced that no buyer could be found for the remaining 253 Canadian stores that was acceptable to the court-appointed bankruptcy receiver. As a result, operations would wind down at the rest of the stores, the company said. _ With files from John Barker, Thompson Citizen
