Co-op Atlantic is on the receiving end of Sobeys grocery and gas businesses after store delegates from around 60 co-ops voted last week.
Spokesperson for Co-op Atlantic, Mike Randall, told CBC News that more than 150 delegates from around atlantic Canada were involved in the vote.
“Member-owners voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting the board’s recommendation to exit from the food and gas business and to proceed with the proposed sale of assets to Sobeys,” he said.
“There are a number of factors that still have to be addressed. The deal has to be finalized, it has to be approved by the Competition Bureau, so until that’s done there is no final decision.”
Closing the deal could take up to two months owing to Compeitition Bureau’s approval of the deal.
Sobeys would gain control of the Co-op wholesale business as well as five unidentified corporately owned Co-op Atlantic grocery stores in the region. There are four other corporate stores that were not part of the deal.
Prince Edward Island has three corporate stores — two in Charlottetown and one in North Rustico — and it’s not clear how these stores will be affected.
Co-op Atlantic also supplies some independent grocers under the VillageMart and ValuFoods names and 60 independent stores under the Rite Stop banner.
Most Co-op grocery stores in the region are independently owned, and if the Sobeys deal is approved, those stores will have to find new wholesale suppliers.
