HUMBOLDT — None of Humboldt’s three grocery stores are thinking about expanding downtown, but home delivery could be an option.
A petition going around is asking the city to provide tax incentives to support a grocery store downtown because many living in the city’s core are unable to drive.
A grocery home delivery service could be one way to shop for groceries without having to drive.
Humboldt Co-op already has a delivery service set up.
“That’s something that we’ve been doing for well over a year,” said Brent Walker, the co-op’s general manager. “We have a program that’s offered that we do deliveries on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
There is a small fee for the service. On March 12, the co-op announced the fee wouldn’t apply to seniors or people with disabilities starting March 19.
“It is something that we’ve been doing and some people partake in it and it’s something that works good for them,” Walker said.
The general manager said uptake for the service hasn’t been that high yet but the Co-op has plans to continue to offer the service.
Sobeys doesn’t have a home delivery service but is open to having one.
“Since I’ve been out here, we’ve tried looking for somebody to partner with deliveries, and we had a couple interested, but nothing ever came from it,” said Dave Doepker, Sobeys’ manager.
The key sticking point for home delivery, said Doepker, is finding a contractor that would perform the service.
“If we’d be able to figure something out with that, absolutely. We’d be totally in favour of it,” he said.
No Frills is not considering home delivery. Terry Lehoux, No Frills’ manager, said such a service doesn’t fit the store’s business model.
“We’re a hard discount store,” he said. “By eliminating these expenses, we’re able to keep our prices as low as possible, affordable for our customers.”
