VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) debuted its first enhanced convenience food section in British Columbia here last month.

Aiming to combine convenience with quality food, the improved offering includes about 750 new fresh items.
“With the close connection between food and wellness, the introduction of convenience fresh food items in Shoppers Drug Mart is a great fit,” says senior vice president of merchandising Chong Bang.

“We first introduced a limited selection of convenience food in Shoppers Drug Mart when we launched the large format store in 2002. Now as a division of Loblaw, we have been able to leverage food expertise to develop an enhanced convenience food offering, providing our customers with the ability to quickly pick up fresh and healthy items.”

In support of the upgraded offering, pharmacists in enhanced fresh food stores have been provided with additional nutrition training and health information, so they can better help customers and patients to shop well.

The fresh items include bulk and individual produce items, organic choices, prepared salads and cut fruits and vegetables. There are also specialty cheeses and deli meats, as well as packaged fresh meat including poultry, pork and beef.

Enhanced convenience food offerings will roll out in selected SDM stores across Vancouver and Richmond, B.C.

There are two formats for enhanced convenience food: fully enhanced and grab-and-go. Although both of the consumables models focus on convenience, fully enhanced locations offer a larger assortment of fresh offerings, while grab-and-go locations emphasize quick and convenient offerings for the urban customer. Openings will run until the end of July.