PORT DOVER GROCERY

...as of the pm Monday June 23rd, the employees at the Port Dover Grocery store were given their notices. It will be closing. Dover will be without a grocery store for an indeterminate amount of time. It will not close immediately, but apparently by the end of the summer.

Sucks if you don't drive or are elderly.

Sobeys own it so if they close it and have no plans for a new store we know where not to shop

Wow, I'm shocked. I used to stop in there and shop if I was in Port Dover. Most of the time they didn't carry what I was looking for but I never left the store without buying some things. How sad for Port Dover.

Got to be more to this than just closing. Has the store lease ran out with the current tenant? I know Sobey's owns the chain but isn't it like a franchise? Maybe someone has purchased the franchise for the store?

I heard the lease ran out and President's Choice is taking over.

pattip wrote:

Got to be more to this than just closing. Has the store lease ran out with the current tenant? I know Sobey's owns the chain but isn't it like a franchise? Maybe someone has purchased the franchise for the store?

Sobeys running that store directly

I thought that a new grocery store was being built on the other end of Dover?

I am not sure what is up with that plaza either. I tried to rent some space there considering they have two empty store fronts already and the owner said that he wasn't currently renting out any space as he had plans for the plaza in the near future.

This was all that I had heard (from an employee)..the Sobey's on the other end of town hasn't started yet. I was hoping someone else may know more then this.

This store has been dying for years. It needed major capital investment from its franchisee, something which it has not received. The last 'owner', Wiggans, got the boot from the franchisor several months ago. They have been running it as a corporate store ever since, but the writing has been on the wall for some time for anyone who cares to read. The worst part of it is that a town this size should be able to support a decent grocery store - if it had one.

Typical in Port Dover, we are still having a population explosion but don't have the services needed to allow these folks medical care, groceries or much clothing for that matter, and how about our crappy inaccessable library,,our infastructure needs some serious aid. I would hope that we aren't without a grocery store for too long as so many elderly people as well as people who don't have vehicles depend on this store and simply can't get out of town to shop.

It's strange that nowadays Dover can't support one single grocery store because when I was growing up there was Lewis' Foodland that was downtown, and the Calbeck's that was where the current IGA is!

beatrice wrote:

Typical in Port Dover, we are still having a population explosion but don't have the services needed to allow these folks medical care, groceries or much clothing for that matter, and how about our crappy inaccessable library,,our infastructure needs some serious aid. I would hope that we aren't without a grocery store for too long as so many elderly people as well as people who don't have vehicles depend on this store and simply can't get out of town to shop.

Excellent points by everyone! I had hoped that when heading down to my summer spot that things would actually improve after the last "owner" left, but instead they were different but still mislabling shelves with non-existant sales and selling stale dated stock.

http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php?id=305&x=story&xid=329559

Here is the link to the story in the reformer from last August. Perhaps this will spur on the development, it was kind of strange that they went to all that trouble then never built.

Port Dover could definately support a grocery store but it has to be reasonably priced(not overinflated due to it being a tourist town). The store must be maintained with freezers that work properly and a bright and clean atmosphere. The food must be fresh and not outdated, the meat should be good quality and not look old and rotting sometimes. I have found that morale is low there also, so sometimes the staff appeared frustrated and not at all happy or helpful. I am sure this was due to the working situation there.

Doesn't sound like a place where I would shop, but you would think that with the new boom in Port Dover that they could support a thriving grocery business there.

beatrice wrote:

Port Dover could definately support a grocery store but it has to be reasonably priced(not overinflated due to it being a tourist town). The store must be maintained with freezers that work properly and a bright and clean atmosphere. The food must be fresh and not outdated, the meat should be good quality and not look old and rotting sometimes. I have found that morale is low there also, so sometimes the staff appeared frustrated and not at all happy or helpful. I am sure this was due to the working situation there.

What we need in Port Dover is a discount food store these days any top price store would not do well

only in Port Dover

close down the schools, the grocery store, tear out the tennis courts and playgrounds

as long as there's still The Beer Store, and speeds are maintained at 30 km/hr - all is well in Pour'd Over