Loblaw cuts the ribbon on 300th No Frills store

Loblaw’s No Frills discount grocery chain opened its 300th store in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday.

The 40,000-square-foot store, Raman’s No Frills  offers rotisserie chicken, and has an in-store bakery and a range of organic and gluten-free options.

Earlier this year, Loblaw opened a smaller version of its No Frills discount store in Toronto. This store size is under 15,000 square feet—less than half the size of a traditional No Frills store.

Loblaw aims to open 40 stores this year.

“We know that many underserviced areas in the country are looking for discount grocers who can reduce prices for the community,” said Richard Dufresne, CFO of Loblaw. “These new stores, along with our increased investment in the hard-discount format, mark the next step in our commitment to delivering the best possible value.”

The store expansion is part of Loblaw’s $1.4 billion capital investment plan, which also includes remodeling and converting nearly 600 locations.

A key ongoing initiative for the grocer has been converting conventional grocery stores to discount formats like No Frills. In 2023, Loblaw planned to convert 20 market stores into discount locations.

Loblaw is also running a pilot program for a value-based “No Name” store in three Ontario markets.

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These stores cut operating costs in several ways, including offering a smaller product assortment (1,300 SKUs) and maintaining shorter operating hours.