When Sobeys franchise owners Rick and Krista Truant went to a recent company conference in Collingwood, they didn’t come home empty handed.
The conference ended with an awards gala and the Amherstburg store won a pair of awards – they won the Store of the Year for the southwestern Ontario district and the Food Safety Store of the Year award. The district includes about 18 Sobeys and Foodland stores.
“It’s important to us to make sure everything is right,” said Rick.
Getting the Store of the Year honour was something the Truants were proud of, as they just completed their first year as owners of the Amherstburg store.
“It’s exciting to win for our first year,” said Rick.
Their district manager Chris Boufford, who is from Amherstburg, was very congratulatory, Krista added.
“He said it was pretty neat to go back to his roots,” said Krista.
In addition to the work they do at the store, the Truants and the store as a whole were recognized for their community involvement.
“We’re trying to help as many people as we can,” said Rick. “We rely on the community. We want the community to know they can rely on us.”
“It’s important to give back to the community,” added Krista.
Krista is involved in promoting the store on social media and noted they love the community.
The staff is “fantastic,” said Rick, with Krista agreeing.
“They believe in us,” she said. “They took a chance on us.”
Krista said the staff was very happy when they learned of the two awards, adding they made a congratulatory banner for when the Truants return.
“It’s all them,” added Rick, noting the store employs about 120 people. “They do all the work.”
The Truants plan to continue on the course they are going and keep getting better.
“We take every customer comment to heart and try to fix it right away,” said Rick
The Amherstburg Sobeys store will eventually be undergoing a renovation both interior and exterior, but haven’t confirmed when that will begin. Rick predicted the final product will be have a good appearance.
“It looks really nice,” he said. “It will be a big change for sure.”
Rick added they plan to expand upon buying local goods, including fruits, vegetables and more.
“We’re going to buy from local people before we buy from our warehouse,” he said. Local Sobeys store takes two honours at company conference
By Ron Giofu
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