AMHERST – Highland Market’s Tony Wood says the grocery business isn’t over-saturated in Amherst.
“I don’t think there’s too many players in the game in Amherst,” said Wood. “I think when it comes to Sobey’s, they may have had too many players competing against themselves.”
Wood was responding to the closing of Foodland in downtown Amherst, which will happen July 5.
Sobey’s, which owns Foodland, also has a Sobey’s store located on South Albion Street in Amherst.
“I think it’s more of a head office thing than a local problem,” said Wood. “It can be tough competing against one another if you’re the same company competing in a small town.”
Highland Market is located about two kilometres away from Foodland. Asked if the closure will increase business at Highland Market, which is owned by Woods’ father, Wood said, “No.”
“We’ve got a lot of loyal customers who come here who probably go to Foodland too,” said Wood. “So we might get a little bit of spin back if they were going to come here and get something, and then go there and get something.”
Wood was surprised to hear of the closure and says he’s not happy about it.
“I shop at Foodland frequently because it’s close to my house,” he said. “It seemed like Foodland was busy whenever I was there. They had a lot of staff and the renovations looked really nice.
“It’s too bad. A lot of people have lost their job.”
