GORE BAY—Gore Bay town officials are pleased that the new owner of the Loblaws Your Independent Grocer Store in Gore Bay will be continuing a long-time tradition of maintaining a grocery story in the town, which benefits residents from the entire Western Manitoulin and employees of the store.
“I have lived in Gore Bay most of my life and there has been a grocery store on this same lot for a long time,” said Gore Bay Mayor Ron Lane at the official grand opening of the store on December 5. “I remember as a kid coming to the IGA store with my parents.”
“More recently we were fortunate to have Dean’s Valu-Mart here,” said Mayor Lane. “We are pleased that a grocery store is going to continue in Gore Bay for local and area residents, and for the employees who work here at the store.”
“As a town we are very happy to have Unni (Ramachandran) and his wife Sree (Lakshmi) and their young son here in town,” continued Mayor Lane. “I think it is wonderful that they have chosen Gore Bay to live and work.”
Jason Quinlan, town manager and clerk said, “on behalf of the town we would like to welcome Unni and Sree and their son, and we look forward to working beside you for many years.”
“This grocery store is very important for all of Western Manitoulin and we want you to be here 60 years from now,” said Mr. Quinlan.
Mr. Ramachandran welcomed everyone to the gathering. “I would like to wish everyone a good morning and thank you for being here today for our official opening of the store, and for my family being welcomed by Mayor Lane and Mr. Quinlan and residents.”
“I am so proud to be able to open this store and want to thank the entire team here for all their efforts. For the past month-and-a-half staff have been very hard at work on the floor and making sure the store was ready to open,” said Mr. Ramachandran. He is very passionate about the community and finding ways to help and give back to the community. “I have mentioned previously I like to give back to the community, which is my motto going forward,” he said in presenting a donation of $500 to Linday Santerre, a member of the Manitoulin Family Resources (MFR) board of directors for the Food Bank.
As part of the official opening, local customers who had purchased items at the store last Friday morning were eligible to win a $100 gift certificate to be used at the store. Peter Flanagan of Gore Bay was the winner of the gift certificate.
