A new Victoria-based grocery company, which for now does not have a Vancouver Island location, is about to wade into the Vancouver market as it takes the first step in what it says will be significant expansion.
Pomme Natural Market, which has operated a 16,000-square-foot store in Port Coquitlam since last January, will open its second location today on Davie Street in Vancouver’s West End. The 5,000-square-foot store near English Bay is expected to face competition from the likes of Whole Foods.
“We would like to have 10 stores in
10 years, throughout the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island,” said Pomme
co-owner Craig Hermanson. He said his company will set itself apart because it goes further, noting stores such as Whole Foods still sell some pesticide-sprayed products and conventional ingredients.
“Our thing is that a customer can come in and know it is all natural or organic,” Hermanson said.
Pomme may be a new name, but it has grocery and retail experience behind it.
The company is owned by Hermanson, who worked at Save-On-Foods and Planet Organic before opening Mother Nature’s Market and Deli in Cook Street Village. His partners are Rasool Rayani, president of Heart Pharmacy Group; Dave Arnsdorf, founder of Landmark Investment; and Ed Low, president of Western Foods.
All of the founders are from Victoria, and Hermanson said it won’t be long before they have stores in Greater Victoria and elsewhere on Vancouver Island.
“We are all Island guys and we very much want a store in Victoria. We all shop here and our wives all want that, but it comes down to opportunity and space,” he said.
Hermanson expects the company will have a store ready to go in the mid-Island in the first half of this year and it is continuing to look for space in Victoria.
“There is definitely a market for it here, but the location is key,” he said. “There’s nothing in the Western Communities and nothing in Oak Bay. Those are two areas we are interested in.”
