Destroyed by fire, grocery store in Salisbury, N.B., to reopen ‘as soon as possible’

It appears people living in and around Salisbury, N.B., will be getting their grocery store back, but exactly when that will happen isn’t clear.

Walker’s Your Independent Grocer was destroyed by fire on Sept. 28, and the community has been without a grocery store ever since.

On Friday, Salisbury Mayor Rob Campbell said the town is collaborating with Loblaws and was expecting to see building plans that day.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say,” said Campbell about the possibility of the store being rebuilt.

A spokesperson from Loblaws provided an update to CTV News.

“We are working extremely hard to reopen the store as soon as possible in the new year, and our teams are fully committed to getting back up and running for the community,” read the statement.

“We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Mayor Rob Campbell and the entire community for their support during this difficult time.”

There’s been a lot of activity on site as of late.

What remained after the fire has been cleared away and the old foundation has been ripped up.

Since the fire, residents have had to travel to nearby communities like Petitcodiac, Riverview or Moncton for their groceries, which is an inconvenience for some.

Campbell said it’s only a short 15 to 20 minute drive, but many seniors don’t like driving that far or don’t have the means to do so.

“This is the familiarity. This is what they know so it’s a huge, huge inconvenience,” said Campbell.

Jason Wilson stopped in at the Dollar Store located in the same Main Street plaza where the grocery store was located.

He misses running into people in the aisles.

“Oh, it sucks. I mean, you run out of the basic necessities and you’ve got to drive to the city to get them,” said Wilson. “We’ve got an aging population here. A lot of seniors don’t have that luxury of being near a grocery store in the city daily.”

Salisbury resident Bonnie Lewis said losing their grocery store has created a void.

“All of the little convenience stores are overstocked to try and make up the difference for it. It’s missed a lot,” said Lewis.

Dollar Store manager Carol Ouellette said they’ve been extremely busy since the fire.

“Especially in our food sales,” said Ouellette. “We’re trying to double up our food aisle. We brought in a fridge and a freezer. We’re doing what we can to help out the community as much as possible.”

Business has also gone up just down the road at Trish and Henk’s Quality Produce and Market.

Hunter Patton, son of the owners, said the Independent was a staple in the community and the fire has had a big impact on the community and their business as well.

“We changed our inventory completely. We’re carrying more household items like soup. Cans of soup, mayo, Cheez Whiz, breakfast items, cereal. Main necessities that a lot of people go through,” said Patton. “We’re trying to do right by the community.”

Campbell said other stores have added to their inventory by stocking more dairy, meat and frozen foods.

“We live in an amazing community,” said Campbell. “This is a small area that really cares about people, and everybody’s chipped in to make a difference.”

Wilson gave the smaller local stores credit for stocking more items as a convenience to the community.

“But you can’t find everything. You can’t replace an entire grocery store, and it’s very much missed,” said Wilson. “You take it for granted when it’s right there.”

The cause of the fire is not known.

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