One of the only remaining grocery-store options for people living downtown and in the Exchange District is closing its doors.
Red notices on the windows at Giant Tiger’s Donald Street and Ellice Avenue location advised passersby the store will close on Nov. 7.
Chain spokesperson Jessica Charbonneau said in an email the decision to shutter stores is “not taken lightly and is made with careful consideration and thorough analysis.”
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Giant Tiger is closing its downtown location.
The store was busy Thursday afternoon.
Picking up his twice-weekly grocery haul, shopper Glen Sims says he may need to move from the area.
“This is really the only place in the area to get groceries, and I don’t plan on buying a car,” he said.
Prices at Downtown Family Foods, several blocks south at Broadway and Donald Street, are significantly higher than Giant Tiger and he can’t stay within his monthly budget there, he said.
Kyle Mason, the executive director of food security advocacy organization Food Matters Manitoba, said the loss of the store means residents in the area who can’t travel to other parts of the city may have to resort to relying on food banks and community organizations.
“The core of Winnipeg is already struggling with access to good, healthy food. And so having one of the very few options removed, it just makes things that much more difficult,” Mason said.
“This is really the only place in the area to get groceries.”
Convenience stores scattered throughout the area sell food items that may not be affordable or of high nutritional quality, he said.
There are several ethnic grocers in the area, including Dino’s Grocery, Young’s Trading and Sun Wah Supermarket.
Sims said it’s likely rampant theft is behind the decision to close the Giant Tiger.
He said he frequently sees people stealing but doesn’t report the shoplifting to management because “I don’t want to be beat up on the way home,” he said.
Wendy Sutherland, another shopper, said she has witnessed theft in the store, both in person and online.
“You see videos of it all over social media, on Facebook,” she said. “People have no shame when they do it.”
Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter
The company shuttered its locations at 1441 Main St. and 305 McPhillips St. in 2024. The stores were in locations “challenging for our business model,” spokesperson Alison Scarlett said at the time, adding theft wasn’t the sole reason for the closures.
The Canadian discount retail chain has eight locations in Winnipeg.
Charbonneau did not respond to questions about the reason behind the downtown store’s planned closure.
That location is in city councillor Cindy Gilroy’s Daniel McIntyre ward. She said Winnipeg’s mental-health and addictions crisis is having a trickle-down effect on retailers.
A representative from Giant Tiger told her several months ago that theft had become a big issue.
“These are not big stores and they don’t always have access to the security that they may need,” Gilroy said. “And when it’s happening people don’t want to (shop there), so there’s the impact there, too.”
“These are not big stores and they don’t always have access to the security that they may need.”
Winnipeg Police Service data for the year ending in March shows 106 reported shoplifting incidents on the downtown block that includes the Giant Tiger store, down from the total 170 the previous year.
Last month, Red River Co-Op announced plans to build a 22,500-square-foot store and pharmacy inside True North’s redevelopment of Portage Place mall, but that store isn’t expected to open until 2029.
The province’s grocery price study, released last month, said evidence suggests between nine and 15 per cent of Winnipeg residents live in neighbourhoods that experience characteristics consistent with food deserts.
Even in areas where grocery stores are present, affordability pressures limit lower-income households’ access to nutritious food, the report said.
Sims and Sutherland both said the downtown Giant Tiger is vital for them and their neighbours.
“This is a great location and it has everything you need,” Sims said.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.