{"id":852075,"date":"2026-08-09T18:18:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T18:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/852075\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T18:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T18:18:24","slug":"the-pas-giant-tiger-location-closes-leaving-local-gap-for-essentials-on-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/852075\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pas Giant Tiger location closes, leaving local gap for essentials on a budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 5 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

The Giant Tiger in The Pas has shut its doors for good.<\/p>\n

The discount retailer closed its location in the northern Manitoba community July 31. Signage from the building has already been removed, the doors locked and the shelves left bare.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest in a long line of closures from the Ottawa-based grocery and clothing store chain, which has announced closures in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and other provinces. <\/p>\n

Several of the chain\u2019s over 260 stores have either closed this year or will close later this year, including their downtown Winnipeg location, which will close in November.<\/p>\n

\"GiantThe front sign on the Giant Tiger store in downtown Winnipeg. Like other stores owned by the chain, the store is slated to close later this year. (Kevin Nepitabo\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Closing the Giant Tiger will not create a food desert in The Pas or nearby Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Both have places to buy groceries \u2014 The Pas has the Grub Box and No Frills, while OCN has a Family Foods and Red Apple, each located in the Otineka Mall. The area also has several smaller convenience stores. <\/p>\n

Aurora House, a local women\u2019s shelter, used Giant Tiger for food and supplies, including clothing and toiletries for people fleeing abusive relationships without time to pack personal items. The store\u2019s management would sometimes donate items at end-of-season or offer discounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf clients came in and were needing clothing that we didn’t have in stock in our own bunch of clothing that we would have in the shelter, we would go to Giant Tiger and most of the time, they would have what it is that we needed,\u201d said Jean Clearwater, Aurora House\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

\"AJean Clearwater, the executive director of The Pas women’s shelter Aurora House, said Giant Tiger would often offer discounts or donations of food, clothing and essentials for the centre. (Eric Westhaver\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Clearwater said the store was important for people with fixed or low incomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a big void in our community to not have their presence. Their prices were good. If you were looking for some form of clothing that you needed, they always had it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that it does make a huge hole in the community not having their presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giant Tiger offered lower prices and frequent sales, which helped people needing food or essentials on a budget. The Pas does not currently have a full-time food bank to serve locals in need.<\/p>\n

Carmel Gray, the program manager for Aurora House, said it was a central location for people in need to find essentials.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people, you know, they’re coming from some sort of hardship and in order for us to provide services for them, it’s just an essential place where we can do it right,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if sometimes it comes out of our own pocket, we’re able to help the community because it’s affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my go-to. Like a lot of the community members, not even just the community members, but also the people from the surrounding communities here. That is where they would go when it was shopping day,\u201d said Lorraine Packo, the shelter\u2019s Indigenous counsellor.<\/p>\n

\"CarsVehicles are parked at the Otineka Mall on Opaskwayak Cree Nation. The mall contains two of the area’s four remaining grocery stores after the Giant Tiger shut down in The Pas. (Eric Westhaver\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Lisa Ballantyne comes to The Pas regularly from Grand Rapids, around 150 km and a nearly three-hour drive away. She says there\u2019s only one grocery store in her home community and nowhere to buy clothes, so the Giant Tiger in The Pas was a useful, cheap place to pick up essentials. <\/p>\n

Even though she didn\u2019t know it was closing, Ballantyne said she noticed the store running low on supplies earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a month ago, I came to shop and there was only the front of the store left with items. I was kind of shocked to see that. I was unaware that they were closing down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Abdulmalik Nuhu, president of The Pas\/OCN Chamber of Commerce, said the community has been impacted by the closure, but that other businesses will keep on operating and new ones will come into town. A new Dollarama store will open in the near future and he\u2019s optimistic the Giant Tiger building will be sold to new operators.<\/p>\n

\"AAbdulmalik Nuhu, the president of The Pas\/OCN Chamber of Commerce, hopes a new store will move into the Giant Tiger building. (Eric Westhaver\/CBC)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne closure does not mean the end of the community. The community is still here and people are still here. The market is here. The fact that one business closed does not mean that the entire market has been wiped out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the town itself has been working tirelessly to see how the space doesn’t just remain vacant for a long period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever comes next for The Pas is unknown. In the present, people are preparing to spend more on food and to go without favourites that were only on Giant Tiger\u2019s shelves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know someone who has an autistic child and they were very specific to certain foods, to certain foods. Giant Tiger was the only place that she could find the one certain food that he had wanted,\u201d Packo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow what is she going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-852075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}