Vancouver’s Choices Markets has announced that it plans to open its 10th location in September – a 15,000-square-foot location in an Abbotsford strip mall in space that was formerly an IGA Marketplace.
The location is at 3033 Immel Street, near the intersection of Sumas Way and Old Clayburn Road.
The announcement comes six months after the chain announced that it had bought the Drive Organics at 1045 Commercial Drive and planned to rebrand the location to create its ninth location.
“There is a rich farming and food-producing culture in the Fraser Valley, so it seemed like a natural step for us to open a store in Abbotsford,” said Ishkander Ahmed, who is Choices’ CEO.
“We were getting requests from not just customers, but also local businesses, to expand into the Fraser Valley.”
Wayne and Lloyd Lockhart founded Choices on West 16th Avenue in Kitsilano in 1990.
Ahmed’s second cousin, Salim Ahmed, later became a principal and urged Ahmed, in 2013, to become CEO.
That was when the Choices’ previous CEO, Mark Vickars, decided to retire because his wife had won $25 million in a lottery.
Ahmed told Business in Vancouver in 2014 that he intended to open a new store in each of the next five years and eventually get to 15 stores.
The store will include many products from Abbotsford
Current Abbotsford products include fruit from Olera Organic Farm, vegetables from Myers Organic Farm and poultry from Thomas Reid Farm.•
