Sixteen-year-old Colin Jones and his grandmother, Gail Morsch, were among the first customers to walk into the new Foodland in the Garrison Village on Thursday, joining the small roster of grocery stores in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The pair, both neighbourhood residents, shopped together as part of the store’s opening moments, stopping at the bakery section and adding items like milk and flatbread pizza to their cart — possibly the first items purchased from the store’s shelves.
They said the store could become their regular grocery stop and will make it easier for Jones to pick up groceries for his mother and grandmother, something he already does every once in a while.
“We’ve been excited for this for a while because it’s such a close grocery store that we can walk to,” said Jones.
Foodland held its grand opening shortly before 7:30 a.m., with remarks from developers and owners John and Adam Hawley, store owner Lindsey Bridgeman and politicians including Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa, Coun. Erwin Wiens and MPP Wayne Gates.
There was great fanfare surrounding the occassion, with a ribbon-cutting, balloons, slices of vanilla cake for attendees, bagpipes played by Kelly Buckley and the Toronto Raptors’ mascot performing a handstand and energizing the crowd before the doors opened for customers at 8 a.m.
Inside, the left side of the entrance leads to cash registers and the bakery, while the right leads to the meat department. Straight ahead, shoppers can see food aisles and the fresh produce section.
Nancy Widdicombe, a Garrison Village resident who has lived in Niagara-on-the-Lake for more than 30 years, said she is looking forward to perusing the store’s variety of products.
She said she was hoping for “meats, fish, just something different.”
“Loblaws has the Independents, so you just have the same product in each, so we’re looking for different things.”
Foodland is the town’s third grocery store, following two Your Independent Grocers locations in Old Town and Virgil.
Those involved in running the store said preparations leading up to opening day went smoothly. Bridgeman told The Lake Report that “things were feeling pretty great.”
“We had a really good team here, great support from head office, and it just went very smoothly,” she said.
Bridgeman said she hired the management team, which then hired staff. Bakery manager Carrie Corfield said this was her fifth store opening, including a Sobeys re-opening in St. Catharines and new Sobeys stores in Oakville and Stoney Creek.
“This was probably the best, most smoothest opening that I’ve ever experienced,” she said.
For some employees, like full-time cake decorator Jasmine Fortin, the job has been both literally and figuratively “sweet.” Fortin said she has worked at Sobeys-Foodland for three months but has spent 10 years in baking.
She said she “applied to a job posting and liked what (she) had to offer.” On opening day, Fortin said staff were making vanilla and chocolate cakes with real cream and fresh fruit, which they produce about “every day or so.”
The Foodland store is part of a larger commercial development that will also include a luxury hotel and Clayfield Commons, a planned area for retail stores and restaurants. John Hawley told The Lake Report developers are aiming to complete the project by summer.
He said he was pleased with the opening and hopes the full vision meets expectations.
“It’s a very different concept than just building a strip mall,” he said. “It’s like you might find in Europe.”
