New ownership and new life for St. Charles grocery store

After a long search to sustain grocery store services for local residents of St. Charles, the board of directors and management team of Co-opérative Régionale de Nipissing Sudbury is proud to announce that they have put in place an agreement to sell the assets of its St. Charles Foodland grocery store to a local area grocer. The deal is expected to close on May 2.

Under this agreement, Edmund Jianyong will be the new owner of the St. Charles store. He is an experienced retailer and has owned and operated a Quick Way store in Bonfield for the past three years. He plans to bring fresh ideas that have been successful at his Bonfield location and also wants to expand the hardware product line as well as some of the existing services already offered. The new store will be operating under the name St-Charles Food Town.

“This transaction is not only a win-win for the community but also for our employees,” says Savage. Most employees will be able to keep their jobs under the new management or through their seniority rights. The remaining few were compensated fairly through an offer of retirement.

“A new owner with new ideas is probably exactly what this store needs to succeed,” says Raymond Brouillette, president of the board of directors of the co-operative. “It has been a long process that could not have been achieved without the support of the community.”