1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow – Downtown mall sold to Westfair Foods

OCTOBER 13, 1997—After 33 years of working overtime in the grocery business, Wally Penner will be taking some extra time off, a few days before his youngest daughter gets married.

The wedding just happens to be planned for the week Westfair Foods will take over as new owners of Economy Supermarket and Shoppers Plaza, Oct. 23.

Penner, who came to Steinbach from Winkler as a meat cutter at age 18, said he has no immediate plans for his retirement. He and his wife, Sylvia, will be staying in Steinbach where they have raised their family, the community they have called home for the past 33 years.

The store, which now occupies 18,000 square feet of a 32,000 sq. ft. mall, has gone through many changes over the years, Penner said.

Back in 1964, Codville Company had just bought Reimer Foods and renamed the familiar Main Street store the IGA Foodliner. Two years later, IGA sold the food store to Stylerite. A few years later, Stylerite Hardware was opened in the basement at the grocery store and Penner had become one of six partners in the business.

Stylerite Foods and Hardware bought Steinbach’s first mall and moved the stores across the hall from each other.

Economy Foods, now known as Economy Supermarket, has stayed there for the past 20 years, while other mall tenants have come and gone.

Since 1987, Penner has held a three-pronged job title. Penner is mall manager, store manager and store co-owner, along with Abe L. Friesen of Winkler. Currently, his daughter Jody works as head cashier and secretary and son Mike is the assistant store manager.

Penner said the sale to Westfair Foods will be a big boost to downtown Steinbach.

With Codville (IGA) having an option on another property in Steinbach, Penner said he feels the added competition will keep more people at home rather than going to Winnipeg. There will be great deals for the consumer coming up, Penner said.

For Penner, more than three decades of the long hours demanded in the grocery business is enough. It’s a lot of work with 55 employees and mall tenants to deal with, Penner said.

In the last few years it has been easier, but before that, taking a 40-hour week and doubling it would be a close estimate of the time needed to run the business, he said.

Westfair Foods officials have not indicated future plans for the Steinbach mall, other than opening an Extra Foods store and doubling the space.

In addition to the anchor grocery store, Shoppers Plaza also has The Dollar Store Plus, Southeast Travel, Bake World, Lindsay’s Flowers and More, Gold-N-Memories, Hairline and Magnolia Restaurant.

David Ryzebol, spokesman for Calgary-based Westfair Foods, said expansion plans for the store are being finalized and construction will begin as soon as the necessary Town of Steinbach approvals are granted.

The Extra Foods store will feature a wide range of products other than grocery items, but will primarily be a grocery store. There will also be an in-store pharmacy at the Steinbach location, Ryzebol added.