- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

When Bill Graham started as a buggy pusher at thirteen, the kind of store he is about to open tomorrow wasn't even in anyone's imagination.

For the last five years, the Foodland franchisee has been working on the transition to a new store on Owen Sound's west side, "So people can be serviced as they should be."

We are in the sitting area by the front windows as people continue to work around us, preparing for the 9 a.m. grand opening now less than 22 hours away, and Bill looks pretty pleased with what he and the Foodland banner have created together.
"We owe this to the west side – to the City," he says.

What's different? "Even a few years ago, sixty-percent of the sales of a grocery store was in dry goods," says Bill, who has been in the business for over 40 years and a store owner since 2000. "Today the focus of the store is fresh product – and you can see it all around." The sushi chefs were setting up the fresh sushi bar right behind us. Everything in the fresh salad bar is prepared in the store. There is a restaurant within the store, and you can take out or eat in.

Bill has hired a former executive chef to head the fresh meat department, and sent him for specialized training. Not only will you be able to have specialty cutting done right in the store, but you can get advice on the best way to prepare your dinner.

The huge health and wellness selection, including a frozen and cooler section, focuses on natural choices – organic, vegan, gluten-free.
And local? Foodland encourages its franchisees to buy as much locally as they can. Fresh produce of course, in season, and West Grey meats, and freezers full of everything Chapman's Ice Cream makes, but specialty items too. Creemore, Ashanti and Fuzion coffees, Miller Dairy milk and cream in returnable glass bottles, and Aunt Lena's Homemade Jam and Preserves.

Bill wants Foodland's traditional customers to find what they need, but he also wants to offer busy 20 to 40 year-olds, singles and families the kind of products, and shopping experience, they want.

You can shop here every day, or, if you're too busy or it's snowing – order from your phone at owensoundfoodlanddelivery.ca for pick up or delivery from Monday to Saturday.

But this is not just a grocery business for Bill and his wife Elizabeth, and it shows.
"Customer service is one hundred percent what all we do here," he said right off the top. This is a family business and that family is about to grow – from 78 employees, some of whom have been there forty years and have never worked anywhere else – to a staff of 168. Bill has worked to create a trustworthy working environment and a team that know he always has their backs.

Bill and Elizabeth live 30 seconds from their store. Owen Sound is their community, and giving back to this community matters to them.
From Thursday you'll have the chance to see for yourself.