Same-store sales — a key metric for retailers that excludes fluctuations from store openings and closings — dropped 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter. Excluding fuel, same-store sales fell 6.1 per cent.
Yet while stockpiling and panic buying has subsided, Empire's sales continued to trend higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Compared with two years ago, the company's same-store sales were 10.4 per cent higher as Canadians shopped less frequently but bought more when they did go to the store.
Yet the grocer is also preparing for some normalization of shopping habits as vaccination rates increase and COVID-19 restrictions ease, Empire president and CEO
"We're bullish but we're realists too," he said during a conference call with analysts to discuss the company's results.
"We gained market share during the pandemic ... and we believe we'll retain a good portion of those new customers."
Still, Empire expects Canadians to start shifting some food spending back to restaurants and shop around a bit more for groceries, resulting in more frequent trips but smaller overall purchases, Medline said.
That shift might see some grocery spending move from full-service stores, which saw a boom in shoppers amid the pandemic's one-stop-shopping trend, to discount stores, he said.
Overall, Empire sales totalled
Meanwhile, Empire continued to pay front-line workers a premium during COVID-19 lockdowns in the 13-week period ended
Empire said it earned a profit attributable to its owners of
During the quarter, Empire announced it was buying a majority stake in Longo’s, a long-standing family-built network of specialty grocery stores in the
Empire also ramped up its expansion of Farm Boy. It acquired the grocer's 26-store network in
Empire is continuing to expand its
The company is also ramping up its e-commerce platform Voilà by
The company said a second fulfilment centre in
Empire said it plans to have four fulfilment centres across the country serving about 75 per cent of Canadian households.
The company also launched the Voilà Curbside Pickup service at 30 store locations in
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