Discount grocer No Frills to open 2 locations on Vancouver Island

A customer shops in a new "small format" No Frills grocery store in Toronto, Thursday, May 30, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Discount grocery retailer No Frills will open a pair of stores on Vancouver Island in the coming months, including the brand’s first store in the Greater Victoria area.

A spokesperson for No Frills parent company Loblaw confirms the franchise is opening a location at the Victoria Public Market, a long-struggling food court and vendor space that is set to undergo redevelopment in the city’s downtown.

Property owner Townline announced last week it had signed an agreement to open a “full-service, urban-format Canadian grocery store” in the former market space in early 2026.

Read more: Victoria Public Market to close, making way for downtown grocery store

In the meantime, another No Frills franchise will open in the community of Chemainus, approximately 80 kilometres north of Victoria, by the end of this year.

Anthem Properties Group says a No Frills location will be the anchor tenant in its downtown Chemainus Marketplace development, a big-box retail centre that will replace the former Chemainus Public Market that shuttered at the beginning of the year.

There is currently only one No Frills location on Vancouver Island, in the city of Port Alberni.

The discount retailer carries Loblaw’s iconic No Name and President’s Choice product lines, and operates approximately 250 franchise locations across the country.

Last month, Loblaw announced it planned to spend $2.2 billion in 2025, opening 80 new grocery and pharmacy stores, with a particular focus on its No Frills and Maxi discount brands.

The parent company owns several other Canadian grocery store brands, including Real Canadian Superstore, Wholesale Club, Extra Foods, T&T Supermarket, Your Independent Grocer and Shoppers Drug Mart.