In anticipation of today’s grand opening of the Save-On-Foods supermarket at Pine Centre Mall, the Langley-based company hosted a Friends and Family event Wednesday afternoon to showcase the 38,924 square-foot store, which included a surprise guest.
Store owner Jim Pattison made the trip from his home in Vancouver, along with Maureen Chant, his personal secretary for 59 years, and Save-On CEO Darrell Jones.
The 94-year-old founder of the Jim Pattison Group said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be there for the opening of the newest store in the Save-On-Foods chain.
“Well I never get tired of dealing with anything Darrell wants,” laughed Pattison.
“We’re very pleased with the way things are going.”
While invited guests checked out the new store and sampled a few goodies, Jones offered details about the Parkwood Mall store, which closed on Wednesday.
“We are in the process of working out a plan for a new concept store for the Parkwood Mall and it will be open next year,” said Jones. “It won’t be Save-On-Foods, it will likely be another banner, perhaps a discount (store).
“We haven’t confirmed or made definite plans, we’re working on it. It will be some kind of excellent supermarket for that part of Prince George.”
The closure of the Parkwood location leaves the downtown core without a large food store and Jones said the new store will not be ready until midway through 2024.
“We know the people in that community want to have a store nearby, and we’ll do that,” he said. “We just want to make sure we do the right thing for the people there. It’s a community that needs low prices and we will be there.”
Save-On has three other supermarkets in Prince George, at Hart Mall, Spruceland Mall and College Heights Shopping Centre. The company operates more than 300 food and drug stores in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Yukon.
“When I started with the company in ’76 , Prince George and Williams Lake were the keys to the company’s success at that particular stage, so this has always been a great town for us and we’re very proud to be here,” said Jones.
