Grocery giant Loblaw will be opening its new Loblaws CityMarket concept in Calgary this month — its fourth store in the country and first in Alberta.

The store is based on the design of the company’s Loblaws store at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, which is a full grocery store with a distinctive layout.

“I think Calgary is ready for this kind of concept. It’s a different concept than any other one that’s out there,” said Veronika Buckler, independent owner of the 43,000-square-foot store in Sage Hill Plaza N.W. which will open Jan. 29 and employ just over 200 people.

The store differs from other Loblaws stores, with several features — ready-to-eat restaurant quality food from the company’s From our Chefs’ line, a coffee shop, a patisserie with in-store made Montreal bagels, in-store made gelato, and a huge cheese wall.

“Calgary is the next logical move for us. We have a great business there today with our Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills business,” said Garry Senecal, president of the market division of Loblaw.

The CityMarket store takes the Maple Leaf Gardens store into a smaller format — the Toronto store occupies 85,000 square feet.

Senecal said the company will be opening a CityMarket store in Edmonton later this year and is looking at other sites across Alberta to expand the concept including in Calgary.

Buckler, who was previously manager of the Superstore for three years in Coventry Hills, was part of a diversity group with the company when she discovered the Maple Leaf Gardens store during a meeting in Toronto.

“It blew my mind . . . It was phenomenal. I’d never, ever seen anything like that,” she said, adding that she immediately wanted to know how to be involved in a store concept like that.

She said the Calgary store is ideally located in the city just off Stoney Trail and Shaganappi Trail.

“The northwest is just exploding as far as growth goes,” added Buckler.

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(Calgary Herald)