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This article was published 26/2/2015 (2032 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Canada Safeway warehouse/distribution centre on King Edward Street will close within the next year as part of the ongoing fallout from Sobeys’ June 2013 acquisition of the rival grocery store chain.

Sobeys West spokesperson Keri Scobie said today the 172 employees were informed Wednesday the company has decided to close the Safeway facility at 1000 King Edward St. and consolidate the bulk of its local warehousing operations at the Sobeys warehouse /distribution centre at 1800 Inkster Blvd.

Although the 172 Safeway workers will be losing their jobs, Scobie noted the Inkster Boulevard facility will need to hire more workers to handle the increasing volumes there.

She said the displaced Safeway workers can apply for those positions, although it’s not yet known how many additional jobs will be created or how soon they will become available.

She said a smaller Safeway freezer warehouse at 1285 Empress Street will remain open and will likely also be expanding its volumes in the coming months. So some additional jobs may become available there, as well.

The president of the union representing workers at both facilities — Unifor Local 468 — said there are about 20 unionized employees at the Empress Street facility. Mark Armstrong said Sobeys hasn’t said how many more jobs might be added there, or when.

Armstrong said although the Safeway workers knew one of the Winnipeg warehouses might be closing as part of the consolidation process, Wednesday’s announcement still came as a shock.