At his first annual meeting as boss of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Galen G. Weston stood on a makeshift stage at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens, acknowledging the grocer’s troubles and pledging to “make Loblaw the best again.”
Four and a half years later, much of Loblaw’s turnaround is still riding on his promise. Today Mr. Weston will again stride through Maple Leaf Gardens to launch the retail chain’s flagship store at the former home of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. The heir to the wealthy Weston family, whose father built Loblaw in its heyday of the 1980s into an international food retailing icon, is counting on the landmark location to serve as a symbolic backdrop to re-establishing the grocer as a foodie’s haven.
But if Loblaw fails to carry out many of the improvements at the Maple Leaf Gardens store at its other outlets, Mr. Weston risks again disappointing his customers when they look for the changes at their local Loblaw store. In that case, the grocer stands to lose shoppers to the rising competition.
“The store is meant to symbolize Loblaw’s revitalization and return to its roots as a premium brand,” said Mark Satov, a retail strategist at Satov Consultants. “ If they execute well, then they’ll get that frequency” of drawing customers back to their neighbourhood Loblaw stores across Canada. “If they don’t execute well, then they won’t.”
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