Niverville to welcome Santa Lucia location

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This article was published 26/10/2021 (1287 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pizza lovers rejoice: A classic Winnipeg joint will be heading south of the city to Niverville after council passed a resolution welcoming Santa Lucia Pizza to town.

The delivery and take out location will be the newest franchise within the family-owned company to operate at 31 Main Street with a hopeful opening date in January, operator Dean Delorme said.

“We’re very excited to be here,” he told reporters after receiving unanimous approval from council on Oct. 19.

Santa Lucia, a popular pizza joint in Winnipeg, opened their first location in Thompson, a takeout pizzeria in 1971 by the Simeonidis family. Since then, it has expanded to include locations across Manitoba and into Saskatchewan serving up pizza and Greek food, boasting multiple awards for their food and business model.

The location will not be dine-in, but rather a to-go spot with a patio with room for 12. Developer and landlord of the building Ray Dowse said it will aim to become a lunch spot for takeout slices, but the hours of operation will be from morning until midnight seven days per week. Liquor will not be served on the premises.

Delorme said the town’s growth was appealing to the company’s expansion.

“We wanted to come into Niverville because the community is rapidly growing; they have this great community centre they just built, houses are sprouting up and we want to be ahead of the curve,” he said. He added with the move into Niverville the business will look to ingrain the Santa Lucia name into the community by sponsoring events and teams in town.

Coun. Nathan Dueck encouraged the applicants to join the Niverville Chamber of Commerce to aid in the introduction to the community.

Dueck, an outspoken supporter of economic development in town, said with the growth of the business community comes the growth of wealth within the town.

“The more commercial we bring in, the better it is for our residents,” he said. “That means more opportunities we have for our residents and jobs for our kids…we don’t have to go to other communities for jobs.”