Loblaws and Metrolinx are about to change the definition of food on-the-go.

Beginning this spring, Canada’s largest retailer will allow commuters to order groceries online and pick them up at five GO Transit stations: Bronte, Oakville, Rouge Hill, Whitby and Clarkson.

Orders placed by midnight will be filled for next-day, homebound pick-up.

“Commuting is a big part of everybody’s lives,” said Jeremy Pee, senior vice-president, e-commerce, Loblaw Cos. Ltd.

“It seems to fit what people are thinking of on their way home from work: getting groceries and preparing a meal.”

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Pee said the new service is a natural extension of the grocer’s click-and-collect service, which allows people to shop online and pick-up in store, for a fee of between $3 and $5.

The program is the first of its kind in Canada, said Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikens, adding that the transit agency has been looking for ways to make stations more attractive to commuters in an effort to encourage ridership.

“The more convenient we make transit the more likely people are to use it,” she said.

Aikens said the Loblaws program expands on the success of Metrolinx partnerships with food retailers including Balzac’s and Mill St. Brewery at the UP Express hub at Union Station.

Loblaws was selected through a tendering process.

“We have a whole division working on setting up partnerships with the business community,” said Aikens, adding that Metrolinx is looking at ways to increase revenue without raising fares.

Construction at the stations is set to start Monday.

Customers will be able to place their orders online — the minimum is $30 — at loblaws.ca or fortinos.ca. The groceries will be picked from Loblaws and Fortinos stores near the stations, said Pee.

Shoppers will be able to pick up their orders the next day from staffed kiosks, lockers or refrigerated trucks located near the entrance to the stations so they can easily load their cars, said Pee.

The click-and-collect program at Loblaws has been rolled out to about 230 stores nationwide since it was launched in 2014, said Pee.

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. chairman and chief executive officer Galen Weston said this week that the company will continue rolling out the service at the rate of about one store a day this year.

Loblaws is focusing on investing in technology in 2018 as it rushes to compete with Amazon after the world’s largest e-commerce retailer signaled a deep interest in the sector with the purchase of Whole Foods last year.

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Canadian grocers have been laggards in moving into online grocery sales. While common in Europe, online grocery shopping in this country is in relative infancy, with the exception of family-owned Longos, which bought the Grocery Gateway delivery service in 2004.

Grocery pick-up at transit stations is available in the U.K., said Aikens.

Loblaws and other grocers began offering limited grocery home delivery last year.

Loblaw Companies Limited has nearly 2,500 stores nationwide, under banners including Shoppers Drug Mart.

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