Spence Neighbourhood Association welcomes new No Frills grocery store

New grocery stores are opening in two Winnipeg neighbourhoods that have been under-served for years, and it's great news for a group that helps West End residents with food hampers.

Loblaws is opening No Frills discount grocery stores in the 1400 block of Main Street and the 600 block of Notre Dame Avenue. The Main Street location will open March 27.

Both No Frills are opening in what used to be Extra Foods grocery stores.

While there is currently no word on when the Notre Dame location will open, the prospect of a new grocery store in the area is welcomed by Jamil Mahmood, executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association.

"We do have a lack of accessible healthy food in our neighbourhoods, so losing Extra Foods was a big loss for the community," Mahmood told CBC News on Monday.

"So having a grocery store that will be targeting lower-income people and providing healthy food options is super."

Mahmood said demand for his group's "good food" hamper program went up when the Extra Foods on Notre Dame closed down.

"We're providing good food boxes every second week to help people supplement their healthy foods — so a box of veggies, you know, different options every week to give them an opportunity to have vegetables they might not normally get," he said.

"It almost doubled once the store closed."