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Competition bureau brings down the hammer

The rumour mill was in overdrive this week as news of the impending closure of Shoppers Drug Mart in Sechelt made the rounds on the streets and on social media sites.

The rumour mill was in overdrive this week as news of the impending closure of Shoppers Drug Mart in Sechelt made the rounds on the streets and on social media sites.

One story had the store shutting down immediately, another claimed that customers would no longer be able to use their store points and all the staff would lose their jobs seemingly overnight.

And to top it off, Loblaw Companies Ltd. was a heartless company that pulled the rug out from under this community in closing the store.

Well, here are the facts.

The store is closing, but it could take months for a prospective sale to be completed.

The reason for the sale is that Loblaw is finalizing a deal to acquire the Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation, which means that several stores across the country will be sold. But here is the catch — the stores are required to be sold to a new owner and have to be run as a pharmacy and retail store, just not under the Shoppers Drug Mart banner.

But neither Loblaw nor Shoppers made that decision. In fact, according to Trail Bay Centre manager Bruce Morris, Shoppers Drug Mart head office loved our Sechelt store and wanted to keep it. It was the competition bureau that ruled, because Loblaw also owns Extra Foods, they would control too much of the market in Sechelt.

As for the staff, the Shoppers Drug Mart media spokesperson we talked to this week admitted that they do not know what will become of the staff, but it is their hope that they all will be retained, whoever the new owner is.

And that is our hope, too. We would never want to see 30-plus people lose their jobs, especially in a small community such as ours. And when a new owner does emerge, it probably wouldn’t be a very smart business decision to open up shop in a community by firing all those good employees.

If you want to lay the blame somewhere, lay the blame at the feet of the competition bureau and not Loblaw and certainly not the employees.

We can only imagine what a week it has been for them — a week of uncertainty as they try to go about doing their jobs, welcoming customers and providing service, all the while wondering if they would have a job to come back to in the coming days.

So while we wait to see who the new owner is, it is business as usual at Shoppers Drug Mart. Let them know that we appreciate them.