A new grocery store is coming to the island of Hull next spring — the first large supermarket to open in the downtown Gatineau, Que., neighbourhood in more than two decades.
The independent business, Saveurs, is set to open in May 2024, on the ground floor of a condominium building at the corner of Wellington and Eddy streets.
The last grocery store in the area closed its doors in 1999.
According to Hull-Wright Coun. Steve Moran, previous efforts to attract a grocery store to the community have failed due to concerns from big chains about the profitability of launching a business in the lower-income neighbourhood.
“It’s a big deal that we’re going to have a grocery store that’s willing to take the risk and say, ‘You know what? We believe in the local economy … and we’re going to serve the people of downtown Hull.'”
Concerns around affordability
The area has been labelled a “food desert” by residents, some of whom rely on convenience stores and restaurants for meals and have to travel far outside the community for everyday groceries.
“There’s a lot of poor people in the area, and having to pay [for a taxi to go grocery shopping] is very expensive,” said Réjean Laflamme, chair of community group Coopérative de solidarité de l’épicerie de l’Île-de-Hull.
Laflamme hopes the arrival of Saveurs will help reduce residents’ costs, but he adds he’s not sure whether the new grocery store’s prices will be affordable enough.
Still, he maintains that any new grocery store “in the neighbourhood will be good news,” to residents.
Moran said he understands the concerns around affordability.
“If we were to bring in a grocery store that only served the upper end of the spectrum then it would [still] be a food desert, but only for people who can’t afford to shop there,” he said.
But Moran says he’s confident that Dany Plante, the owner of the new store, is committed to working with the community.
“He’s already in discussions with local community groups,” Moran said.
“And the fact that it’s not a big chain [means] they also have the ability to adapt their offering to make sure it responds to the people who live downtown.”
CBC has tried to reach Plante but has not heard back.
Second store expected to open in 2025
Laflamme’s group has been trying to open an affordable grocery store in the area since 2006.
“Every time there was something wrong … but this time I think we have everything in place and we should be going to the construction phase in 2024,” Laflamme said.
In 2021, Gatineau’s city council voted to reserve city land for a grocery store in the neighbourhood. The land being allocated to the co-op is behind the Robert Guertin Centre on the corner of St-Rédempteur and Allard streets.
The co-op store will be located on the ground floor of a social housing building with 107 units and will include a pharmacy. It’s slated to open in 2025.