Take the hassle out of the holidays by treating yourself and your loved ones to Essex County’s premium full-service grocery experience.
Have you been to Sobeys lately? While thousands of Windsor-Essex families already know Sobeys as an excellent, one-stop shop for picking up premium everyday staples, if you’re not a regular customer you may be surprised by the breadth and quality of its specialty products and services.
According to the people in charge of Sobeys’ Essex County franchisees, these advantages become more valuable as the year winds down and we enter December. Sobeys gets it: the holidays are hectic. So why not allow yourself to indulge in a bit of a break?
Are you not entertaining?
“This holiday season, Sobeys is an entertaining destination,” stresses Amherstburg franchisee Rick Truant. “To me, our ability to help our customers entertain is the one of the most important ways we distinguish ourselves over and above all the other grocers.”
Rick and his wife Krista have been running Canada’s southernmost Sobeys location since May 2023, following the retirement of its previous long-term franchisees.
“Whether you’re hosting a work function or gathering family and friends together,” continues Truant, “we have all the stuff you’re going to need for a party. Even if you’re just going to your mom’s and you have to bring something, we have you covered. A lot of people just don’t have time or don’t want to go through the hassle of making all the stuff for a holiday get-together themselves; our ability to solve that problem for them separates us from our competitors.”
To this end, Sobeys stocks a best-in-class variety of ready-to-go entertaining trays, including options like premade charcuterie boards and decadent dessert tasting platters. Krista is especially excited about Sobeys’ artfully arranged “sea-cuterie” platters, which feature crowd pleases from the sea like smoked salmon and trout pate.
Many of Sobeys’ holiday entertainment offerings are readily available in store—just drop in! —but they can also be ordered online. Most products can be premade by Sobeys’ talented staff with just 24 hours’ notice.
This includes, in the Truants’ words, hundreds of different themed gift and fruit basket options available through each Sobeys location’s full-service floral department. “We provide special floral services like centrepieces for weddings and arrangements for funerals throughout the year,” says St. Clair Beach store Operator Rob Hayes, who has served Essex County customers from that location for 20 years. “But our florists are especially busy around the holiday season. We do a tonne of stuff to help people decorate their homes indoors and outdoors.”
Chain convenience, local interest
Even if you don’t mind plating your own party platters, Sobeys’ cleverly curated selection of homegrown specialty products and small-batch goods delivers the sort of novelty and variety you might expect at a boutique independent market. We’re not suggesting you abandon your neighbourhood grocery store, but a special occasion Sobeys stock-up is worth the drive from Windsor, LaSalle, or elsewhere in Essex County.
Particularly noteworthy: Through the chain’s “So Local” program, which promises shoppers products “grown right here at home” in Ontario, Essex County’s Sobeys stores offer dozens of locally sourced product lines. “We’ve expanded our local section significantly,” says Rick. “We’re getting in as many local vendors as we possibly can.”
Specifically, in the Truants’ Amherstburg store, what was once an eight-foot, So Local display wall now occupies 48 feet of floor space.
This season, both Sobeys stores are well stocked with reliable local favourites including barbecue sauces from TBQ, Valerie’s, and JP Smitty; pickles and other preserves from Lakeside Packing; and specially selected products from popular brick-and-mortar institutions like European Market and Deda’s Meats & Deli.
Sobeys is also excited to carry some homegrown brands that have been exploding in popularity far beyond county lines, like Dragons’ Den-endorsed Cedar Valley Selections. The nine-year-old Oldcastle-based company makes “Canada’s favourite pita chips” using coconut oil and a special spice blend.
Keeping with a Middle Eastern theme, you can also find garlic sauce from Windsor’s Grape Leaves Food on Sobeys shelves. Founded in 1990, the lower-profile local favourite now enjoys international distribution.
At press time, Sobeys Amherstburg is rolling out the red carpet for GL Heritage Brewing Company, one of Essex County’s younger and fresher craft brewers. Here’s a good example of how Sobeys has embedded itself in the local craft economy: Both children belonging to the brewery’s owner currently work for the Truants at the Amherstburg store.
Across the board, our local Sobeys stores have built out their beer and wine sections significantly in recent years. “We’ve expanded on that a lot,” confirms Krista. “We’re trying to showcase our local wineries.”
If that’s not your speed, Sobeys also carries a surprising array of special-occasion-worthy non-alcoholic drinks, including premium zero- or low-alcohol beers from Sober Carpenter and Athletic Brewing Co. and premade mocktails from Clever.
Our local Sobeys managers also have nothing but praise for Daryl’s Hi-N-R-G Bars, a Tecumseh-based upstart supplying careful consumers with finely balanced protein, nutrition, and energy bars.
In the “inedible” division, Sobeys is proud to stock “natural,” hand-crafted biodegradable soaps from Ocean Bottom Soap Company. Based in Tecumseh, the boutique outfit got its start in large-scale chain retail at the St. Clair Beach store before going national. (The same is true of Daryl’s!)
“Our relationship with Sobeys has been fantastic,” raves Ocean Bottom owner Charmaine Gillis, “as they’ve been supportive partners in promoting local, high-quality products like ours. Being featured in their stores has significantly increased our visibility and helped us reach more customers who value natural, artisan skincare. We love being available at Sobeys because it connects us with a community that appreciates locally made, environmentally conscious products.”
Of course, Sobeys’ local supplier network extends beyond Essex County and into unexpected nooks and crannies of Ontario. Some of Hayes’ personal favourite brands include Mount Forest, Ontario’s Pebbles Frozen Favourites, a family-run line of pre-prepared meals; Dashwood’s Hayter’s Farm, a purveyor of premium turkey products; and St. Mary’s Wagler’s Maple Syrup.
The Truants point us in the direction of Muskoka Brand gourmet dips and sauces and Comeback Snacks, a southern Ontario purveyor of “popcorn so good it’s criminal.” Founded by the previously incarcerated entrepreneur and motivational speaker Emily O’Brien, the company advocates for improvements to the criminal justice system and help Ontarians reintegrate into society.
Your community marketplace
This small company’s commitment to conscious capitalism agrees nicely with Sobeys’ overall ethos, which is particularly evident at this time of year. “The holiday season is all about giving,” says Hayes, “so it’s a good time to focus on our core values and commitment to the community. We serve our community proudly, giving back where we can. We do a tonne of stuff throughout the year to raise funds for different community events.”
For example, according to Hayes, his store works regularly with Special Education students from nearby St. Anne’s and Belle River secondary schools. Moreover, throughout the month of September, Sobeys St. Clair Beach will play host to several food drives benefitting worthy local causes.
The Truants and their Amherstburg staff are also preparing for a substantial in-store local vendor fair on December 14, which will feature a live remote broadcast from Border City Radio. “We expect to welcome more than 30 vendors, many of whom will be providing free samples,” says Rick, who promises the experience will be like your favourite wholesale club “on steroids.”
Meanwhile, Krista is drawing up plans for Sobeys’ participation in Amherstburg’s annual Santa Claus Parade, scheduled for November 23 this year. Sobeys is sponsoring a showstopping 40-foot float to contribute to the community-building event, which will also feature major contributions by the Rivertown Times, Border City Radio, and GL Heritage.
Hassle-free dining for everyone
Back in the store, Sobeys has recently expanded its selection of ready-for-you, reheatable meals for two to four people. As the holidays approach, these pre-portioned, grab-and-go options include festive favourites like roast chicken dinners with stuffing and all the fixings. Krista recommends the Festive Dagwood, a formidable meal-sized sandwich loaded with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.
According to the Truants, these meals have become increasingly popular with Essex County’s growing senior community. “Amherstburg is becoming a destination for retirees, and we’re happy to cater to that demographic,” says Rick, who notes many customers enjoy the convenience of picking up three or four ready-for-you meals to stock a parent’s fridge at the beginning of the week.
Gourmet ready-to-cook meals from Ricardo are also popular.
A little something extra special
For those who like to spend a bit more time in the kitchen: This season, the Truants are especially excited about their store’s mouthwatering “12 Roasts of Christmas” program. Throughout December, Sobeys’ in-house butchers will help to make customers’ family dinner decisions by preparing and packaging a rotating series of specialty meat products, Including everything from stuffed salmon to porchetta.
Of course, once the holidays are over for another year, Sobeys will remain one of Essex County’s finest upscale grocers. In early January, both the Amherstburg and St. Clair Beach stores have scheduled comprehensive overhauls of their respective produce sections. In the new year, customers will be greeted by an upscale, “market-look” shopping experience reminiscent of high-end sister chain Farm Boy.
“The fresh side of the store is already and will continue to be what really resonates with people,” promises Truant. “That includes our bakery, produce, butchers on site, full-service deli. Nowadays, at a lot of grocers, products like meat are pre-packaged; there are no people for customers to interact with.”
Needless to say: not so at Sobeys.
“You’ll notice the difference when you step inside,” says Truant. “We call it the wow effect.”
Now a prominent national supermarket chain, Sobeys is a 117-year-old enterprise with roots in Atlantic Canada. More than 250 Sobeys-branded stores operate in Ontario, 92 of which are in Ontario.
Essex County’s Sobeys stores are located at 83 Sandwich St. S. in Amherstburg and 19 Amy Croft Drive in Lakeshore. For store details, further contact information, up-to-date hours of operation, and weekly flyers, consult sobeys.com/store-locator.
