Say goodbye to Thrifty's

What is it about grocery stores?

In New Westminster the Thrifty’s saga ilicited such a response that thousands of residents signed a petition to save the Sapperton store and city council even sent Coun. Lorri Williams to meet with bureaucrats in Ottawa to try to save the local grocer.

But it was all in vain, it seems, given that Thrifty’s in New Westminster closed its doors last night and will re-emerge in the coming days as yet-another Save-On-Foods in the city – now number 3, with another slated to open at Columbia Square in the summer.

Thrifty’s in Sapperton was ordered sold by the Competition Bureau. The agency told Sobeys to sell 23 grocery stores in Western Canada, including the local Thrifty Foods, before the company could purchase Canada Safeway Limited.

What’s had people scratching their heads is the fact that the decision actually means less choice for shoppers because it will remove a third large-scale grocery store from the mix, reducing the options to either Safeway or Save-On. (Though it might be good news for Donald’s Market at the River Market.)

Thrifty’s closure marks the end of a very short era. It was just here for a couple of years, but it certainly had an impact.

The good news is the former Thrifty’s staff will remain at the location and will be there to greet shoppers when Save-On opens on Saturday (or sooner, a spokesperson says they hope).

The whole Thrifty’s love-in reminded me of the grocery store that will always be close to my heart – the old uptown Woodward’s.

I spent the better part of my childhood either perched in a shopping cart as my mom skirted through the aisles or bumbling behind her.

I don’t have vivid recollections, but I can vaguely recall the layout, the white floors, the bright lights. I remember the ashtrays at the entrance, and my mom, who smoked at the time, butting out her cigarette on our way in. (Yes, you could smoke inside stores in the 1970s.)

That grocery store was such a part of our lives, and maybe that’s why they mean so much to working families – to people who get attached not just to the staff but to the products, to knowing where they are, knowing their family like that certain thing that that certain place sells for that certain price.

For some people it’s not even about price, it’s about atmosphere.

Whatever it’s about, the city lost a store that meant something to a lot of people, and that’s a drag.