TORONTO, CANADA - Shoppers Drug Mart has announced that it will be adding fresh produce and grocery options in select stores as it tests the viability of selling groceries alongside its lines of pharmaceutical products. According to The Star, the pilot program is set to launch on September 20th in 6 select Toronto stores. When the launch day does come, Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer Mike Motz is confident Shoppers is up to the task of accustoming consumers to shopping for cherries alongside cough syrup.

“It took a while to build milk, eggs, butter. It took us a while to get to packaged meat, it took us a while to get to bacon,” said Motz. “We are going to learn a lot from the pilot.”

“The biggest hurdle is having customers believe that they can get fresh food at a pharmacy,” he continued. “I think they’re going to hold us to a higher standard than they would hold a conventional supermarket.”

Interestingly, Shoppers isn't counting on rock bottom prices to drive its sales numbers since its pricing structure is on par with a conventional retail option rather than discount stores. Instead Motz is hoping that the convenience of buying at Shoppers, with its well-lit parking lots and late hours, will drive customer sales decisions.

“Our core customer is about 76-78 per cent female, they’re moms, they’re time-pressed, they’re looking for convenience, and a natural extension of convenience, from beauty and health and wellness, is food,” Motz told The Star.

According to Motz, this latest move is simply a continuation of the slow evolution Shoppers has undergone over the last decade. The Star chronicles how Shoppers has grown in size since 2003, with a 5,000-10,000 square foot format being replaced by more 15,000 square foot formats. Later came small snack food aisles and an expanded beauty and cosmetics department. In 2008, Shoppers introduced more and more convenience foods for its customers to peruse. The success of each of these former initiatives spurred Shoppers to a later move and most recently its acquisition by Canada's largest retail chain, Loblaw. This history of growth and change is what has lead Shoppers to today's news that produce would be its newest initiative.

If this produce test meets with anything like the success of Shoppers Drug Mart's previous undertakings, it's likely that a full expansion could soon follow.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow to stay updated on this latest produce push by Shoppers Drug Mart.

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