'We've got to do something': Saskatoon woman launches campaign to save Extra Foods from closure

A longtime resident of Saskatoon's Broadway neighbourhood has launched a campaign to save Extra Foods from closure.

On Wednesday, Loblaw — the company that owns the store — confirmed it would be closing on April 23.

The decision to close this store was not an easy one, as we have a long history in the community and we value our customers and colleagues there," the company said in an emailed statement to CTV News.

"Unfortunately, the store has been unprofitable and we don’t expect that to turn around."

However, Terry Schwalm questions Loblaw's logic.

"The company says that the store is not profitable, I don't believe that," Schwalm said in a phone interview.

"It's busy all the time; it runs out of things periodically."

After she learned about the planned closure, Schwalm fired off an email to Loblaw customer service, and took to social media — asking others to do the same.

"I'm asking people to Google Loblaw, contact and fill in their email form and voice their concern about the closure of the store. And you can ask for an email response and I would ask them to respond," Schwalm said.

"I mean, I just don't think that they have taken the community's concerns into consideration."

Aside from limiting access to groceries in a core neighbourhood where many residents count on having a store within walking distance, Schalwm feels the move doesn't make good business sense for Loblaw — a grocery giant whose brands include Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills and Shopper's Drug Mart,

"I don't know if they have figured out that the closest grocery stores are Save On Foods and Sobeys and they don't own them," Schwalm said.

"Basically what they're doing is they are permanently losing all of the customers that were at that store, because those are the closest grocery stores people go to," Schwalm said.

On Wednesday, Ward 6 city councillor Cynthia Block said the closure would be "devastating" for the neighbourhood.

“It just kind of broke my heart today to talk to a resident that's lived in the Broadway district for 40 years and she doesn't know what she's going to do now,” Block said.

Block said she hopes another grocer might see an "opportunity" in the neighbourhood and step in to fill the gap.

Loblaw shuttered another small, neighbourhood grocery store in 2015 when it closed its Shop Easy location in City Park.