The Pembina West Co-op grocery store in Barrhead will have a new building to call home come late 2016 or early 2017.
Pembina West made the announcement at their annual information meeting in Mayerthorpe and at their AGM, in Barrhead on June 8 and 9, respectively.
Allan Cote, Pembina West Co-op general manager, said although the current Barrhead Co-op food store building has served them well, it is time for a new building.
“We definitely need more room in our store for more services and products that we want to sell,” he said. “As well a lot of our equipment is old and needs replacing, plus the building itself is 40 years old and it is time to go.”
The new store will be 43,000 square feet, which is 43 per cent larger than the current store, and will be located directly behind their current location.
After construction of the new building is completed, Cote said the plan is to demolish the old store to make room for additional parking.
Cote added the Co-op plans to make use of the extra building space by expanding their product lines, giving shoppers selections they haven’t had before.
In addition, the extra space will allow the store to expand both its restaurant and checkout areas.
“The restaurant will be the Bento Box, specializing in Asian cuisine,” he said, adding all the products in the 50-seat restaurant including the sushi will be made fresh in-store.
The other feature Co-op will introduce at its new store will be four self-checkouts for people who don’t want to wait in line.
However, Cote noted that does not mean the Co-op food store customers will not receive the same service they have come to expect.
“We will still have our regular tills where we will offer our full carryout service,” he said.
As for the timeline, Cote said currently the architects are putting the final touches on the blueprints, something he expects to be completed in the next two to three months. After that, construction of the store will be put out to tender and depending on who is awarded the contract, Cote expects the first shovel in the ground could happen as soon as this winter.
A video of the artist concept drawings can be seen at the Co-op food store and on their website and Facebook page.
The announcement follows the announcement of a new cardlock, oil warehouse and truck shop that will be built in Whitecourt.
“We will be breaking ground on that project sometime this summer so it is really an exciting time to be part of the Pembina West Co-op,” Cote said.
Co-op Dividends
On June 16 and 17 Pembina West Co-op handed out $1.9 million in dividend cheques to its members. As a co-operative every year the Co-op gives a percentage of its profits back to its members. This year it was five per cent.
“So whatever a member spent this year at any of our Co-op locations (Mayerthorpe foodstore and card lock, Barrhead’s food store, gas bar and cardlock) they received five per cent back,” Cote said. “When you think of it, we gave $1.9 million back to the residents, our members, in our communities. How many other businesses can you say that about?”
