First Down.

Canadian grocery chain Sobeys acquired Safeway's Canadian assets last year.  Back in October it was announced they would be closing a number of stores as part of the approval process from the Competition Bureau..  It was revealed that the store at the Centre at Circle and 8th, on 8th Street,would be one of those stores.  However it wasn't hard to suspect the other Safeway on 8th Street, at Cumberland Square, might also be closing, given that it's directly across the street from a Sobeys.

Those suspicions were correct. Cumberland Safeway will be closing April 5, when the current lease runs out. John Graham of Sobeys even mentions one of the factors I thought might be a problem, the costs of renovation.  Supposedly no one will lose their jobs, but given that the Circle Centre Safeway will be sold  it seems there will be more employees than positions in their Saskatoon holdings.

Concorde Properties owns Cumberland Square.  Their rep, Kyle Chatterson, states there is interest in the soon to be empty retail space.  One possible tenant that immediately came to mind to me is the Dollar Tree discount store chain, which has entered the Saskatoon market over the last year.   They have two stores on Saskatoon's west side, so an east side store on one of Saskatoon's primary business streets would be an obvious move.

When the other Safeway on 8th Street closes 2 locations will remain on Saskatoon's east side, the Market Mall and MoOrmond Drive locations.  Of course we don't know if they will stay under the Safeway name, so it's possible the Cumberland closure is the beginning of the end for a long familiar name in Saskatoon.