I know that David has mentioned this on the forum but this is the (abridged) T&T article about the new Sobeys on Elmwood....
New Sobeys is a one-stop shop
Published Monday November 14th, 2011
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/1455735
On-site chef and holistic nutritionist can help guide customers to new, healthy meals
By Shannon MacLeod
Times & Transcript staff
There was a shopping-cart traffic jam on Saturday as Moncton residents waited to go through the checkout during the grand opening of the newest Sobeys in the city, located at 77 Filles de Jesus Ave.
VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRANSCRIPT
shopper pushes a shopping cart in the parking lot of the new Moncton Sobeys on Saturday after the official opening at 8 a.m.
This newest Sobeys offers a variety of innovations. It has a full-time Red Seal chef, a holistic nutritionist and a pharmacist, and offers hand-made Ganong chocolates, ready-to-go meals, freshly roasted coffee beans and a community room for functions.
The community room is named the Filles de Jesus Community Room as an acknowledgement the long-standing home of the order of nuns whose convent stood on the new store's land for decades.
These innovations were a part of the master plan to bring a market feel to the 50,000 square foot grocery store, said store manager Todd Redmond.
"It's the fresh zone," he said. "When you walk in the door you want to be able to smell the fresh coffee."
And is it ever fresh. They bring in raw coffee beans and roast them on site, and they're the first store in the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island area to have an on-site roaster, said Redmond.
"It roasts them for seven minutes at 200 degrees to cook the beans, all high-end beans. We can bag them whole or we can grind them for you."
The hand-made Ganong chocolates are made on site at the store, said Redmond.
"They're actually rolled by an apprentice. They're hand dipped, not done by a machine."
On a daily basis, (chef Rob) Colpitts will be spearheading a new program called Butcher's Own, he said.
"Basically it's protein, ready to cook and in under 60 minutes, you can have a meal put together and that's why I'm here," the chef explained.
With this new Sobeys program, Colpitts will prepare beef, chicken, pork, seafood or any kind of protein so shoppers can take it home and throw it in the oven and it's ready to go, said Colpitts.
"It's all ready. Starting next week I'm going to be doing sauces. Everything in the store, whether it be a package or a bottle, I'll show how easy it is to create a meal, create a sauce, have a protein, take it home and it's ready to go in less than an hour."
This Sobeys is one of three in the Maritimes to have a full-time Red Seal-certified chef on staff, said Colpitts.
"Sobeys, they've always been about service and food," he said. "But they've never had the answers to questions people might ask, like how to cook something, so that's why they've hired (me)."
If people have questions about anything related to cooking, or creating in the kitchen, they can talk to Colpitts about it, he said.
Like Colpitts, Brittany Leeman, a registered holistic nutritional consultant, will be available to assist shoppers with anything dealing with well being and natural sources, she said.
"So we try to focus on vitamins, supplements, gluten-free products, alternatives to dairy and things like that."
Not only a resource, Leeman will also be offering classes on a variety of topics, depending on what kind of questions customers are asking, she said.
personal note - the new Lawton's Pharmacy next to the new Sobeys also opened on the weekend. It's really a zero sum gain for Elmwood Drive however, because the old Price Chopper closed with the opening of the new Sobeys and the old Lawtons further down Elmwood is also now closed. When the new NB Liquor location opens, the old store on Elmwood will also close. This will leave some significant vacancies on the street.....
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