Loblaws to open 30 new stores in annual expansion

Grocer Loblaw Companies Ltd. plans to spend $1.3 billion renovating 500 stores and opening 30 new ones this year, in an expansion plan that will include more fresh food offering at its Shoppers Drug Mart unit.

The grocery giant has made similar expansion plans in each of the past two years, spending $1.2 billion and adding 50 stores in 2015, and another $1 billion last year to do the same while focusing on upgrading existing locations.

This year's expansion will include "the continued roll out of Click & Collect e-commerce, improved health and wellness services, and the inclusion of fresh food at select Shoppers Drug Mart locations," the company said in a release.

Acrossall of its retail brands, the company currently has 2,400 locations across Canada.

The company says the expansion could add up to10,000 retail, trade and construction jobs to its existing workforce of about 200,000 employees.