"Does This Store...

...make me look fat?"

This odd version of a cliché phrase came to mind when I heard that  the Save-On-Food grocery store chain will be coming to Saskatchewan.  Save-On-Foods is part of the Overwaitea Food Group, which still includes 15 Overwaitea grocery stores in BC.  It's a name that seems a bit odd to still see in our weight obsessed era, given how close it sounds to overweight.  Not that there seems to be any intent to operate Overwaitea branded stores in Saskatchewan.

Where might Save-On-Foods set up shop in Saskatoon?  The new Brighton neighbourhood, which is just starting to be created on Saskatoon's east side is an obvious location.  Getting the first grocery store in the area could be a big advantage to a new to the city chain.  Another possibility is the Cumberland Square property on 8th Street, which is about to be demolished as part of a major redevelopment.  It would have the possible disadvantage of a Sobeys being across the street.  Existing Safeway stores would also be a potential problem for the other potential locations, the now empty Target spaces in the Centre Mall and Lawson Height Mall, and the old Zellers space in Market Mall.  Market Mall also has its ongoing demographic problem, being located in a neighbourhood with one of the oldest per capita populations in Canada.

Stores are also planned for Regina, Moose Jaw, and Yorkton.  I could see them building a store in Martensville or Warman at some point given the growing population of those towns and nearby Dalmeny, more that 15 thousand people between them at this point.

Whatever the case you aren't likely to be shopping in a Save-On-Foods store here anytime soon.  Even if construction were to begin in short order I doubt we'd see a store open before the Spring of 2016 at the earliest.