The 22-location Vancouver wellness and natural products chain Saje Natural Wellness has inked 10 leases for new stores that will open in 2015 and is close to signing two more.
Principal and CEO Kate Ross-Leblanc took time out of attending the International Council of Shopping Centres’ Whistler conference to tell Business in Vancouver that she is confident that her chain will open a dozen stores this year.
The only B.C. store to open will be at Metropolis in Metrotown. Otherwise, there will be seven in Ontario and two in Alberta.
“Our next B.C. store to open will be in 2016 in Tsawwassen Mills,” Ross-Leblanc said.
Ross-Leblanc cofounded Saje in 1992 with husband Jean-Pierre LeBlanc.
They expanded outside B.C. for the first time, to Alberta, in 2004.
Their goal is to have 50 stores by 2018 and some of those may be outside Canada.
The company rebranded five years ago and the principals decided not to enter the U.S. market because it would be a “distraction.”
Ross-Leblanc told BIV that there is a good chance that, when Saje does expand internationally, it will be to Asia first.
The company employs about 250 staff across Canada and sells products such as natural remedies for colds and flu.
