Winning the bronze 2008 Canadian Independent Grocer of the Year in the small surface category are (from left to right) Mike Abballe, Oak Ridges Food Markets director of purchasing; with Tim Berman, vice president of sales Kraft Canada; Joe Greco, Oak Ridges Food Markets owner, his son Anthony Greco; Rina Virgillio, director of operations; and Ben Dekker, Oak Ridges Food Markets grocery manager.
Richmond Hill
November 20, 2008 11:25 PM
Adam Mc Lean
In the world of independent grocers, wining an award at Grocery Innovations Canada 2008 — the country’s premier grocery conference tradeshow — is like taking home an academy award.
This year, it was Oak Ridges Food Markets leaving with a grocery ‘Oscar,’ awarded Bronze in the 2008 Canadian Independent Grocer of the Year - small surface category Oct. 27, before an audience of more than 500 leading grocers and distributors.
Each year, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers’ (CFIG) awards program recognizes the success of deserving independent retailers.
Across the country, independent grocers vie for the title of Independent Grocer of the Year in large, medium, small surface and specialty categories.
To decide the winners, stores are visited by a retail management expert, who evaluates stores according to retail excellence and innovation, store team performance, customer service, space usage, freshness and cleanliness.
Once finalists are identified, the stores with the most points are audited a second time and finalists go on to compete for the national title.
Though being placed in the top three independent grocers in Canada is quite the honour for the team at Oak Ridges Food Markets, the kudos are nothing new, as last year the sister store in Concord took bronze in the same category.
“It is nice to win, of course. We just try to keep up with the times and offer our customers the best grocery shopping experience possible,” said Rina Virgilio, director of operations at Oak Ridges/Concord Food Markets.
“For independent grocers like us, we also intend on maintaining a relationship with our customers as we are part of the same community,” Ms Virgilio added.
Oak Ridges Food Markets on Yonge Street in Oak Ridges has been an important and familiar part of the community since 1982.