Loblaws mum on where it's closing stores

Although Loblaws announced plans to close 52 unprofitable stores in Canada over the next year Thursday, the company isn't saying whether or not that includes locations in the Greater Sudbury region.

“Out of respect for our many stakeholders, including colleagues, vendors, landlords and others, we are not disclosing specific locations at this time,” said Bob Chant, senior vice-president, corporate affairs and communication, in an email statement to NorthernLife.ca.

Loblaw Companies said the closures will cut its annual sales by roughly $300 million a year, but will result in an improvement of $35 million to $40 million in its operating profits.

“In the year since our acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart, we have reviewed in detail all of our 2,300 locations,” the email statement said.

“Through the process, we identified 52 consistently underperforming and unprofitable stores that we will close. The list includes gas bars, Joe Fresh standalone stores and select pharmacies and grocery stores. With the previously announced plan of $1.2 billion in capital spending, we are on track to grow the number of jobs in our network of stores this year.”