Hello again,

It’s been a little more than two months since the COVID-19 crisis landed here in Canada. It was a frantic time and we were all scrambling a bit, figuring out what it meant for each of us and our families.

Since the beginning, I’ve tried to keep you up to date as quickly and directly as possible, sharing the changes we’ve been making to keep everyone safe in our stores. Lately though, it feels like we’re all holding our breath. Waiting for something to lift or ease up. Wondering when we can get back to normal, and what does that “normal” even mean?

Today, it is good to see governments at all levels are able to steadily loosen emergency measures. As that happens, we are also making adjustments in our stores. So, I wanted to make sure I shared those with you directly. In the coming days and weeks, you’ll start to see several positive changes, including:

• Reopening of supermarket service counters in meat, seafood, and bakery

• Reopening of beauty departments at Shoppers Drug Mart

• Reopening of President’s Choice Financial pavilions and our Mobile Shops

• Next-day pick-up at PC Express and the reintroduction of fees for some of the most popular slots

• Once again accepting product returns

• Selling lottery tickets

• Returning to regular store hours

Each of these changes reflect the encouraging prospect of our country slowly reopening. But it’s also important to know everything won’t be quite the same as it was. We continue to maintain our absolute commitment to the health and safety of our colleagues and customers. So, these expanded services will come back slowly and carefully one store at a time, with added procedures to properly protect everyone.

That means you will still see enhanced sanitization, plexiglass shields, and capacity limits. Our colleagues will maintain their commitment to social distancing, and we will count on you to do the same. If you are a senior or a healthcare worker, not to worry, you will still have priority access to our supermarkets just as before.

As the curve continues to flatten across the country, we’ll make further changes and share them with you as we go. We all remain thoughtful and careful about what we do, and I’m optimistic we can stay on this positive trajectory so that things will open up more and more.

Here’s hoping,

Galen Weston