MONTREAL -- A highly-trafficked Cote-St-Luc grocery store's decision to go online-only, citing the large amount of COVID-19 cases in the area, is drawing criticism for possibly making food shopping more challenging for seniors.
The IGA in the Cavendish Mall closed its doors to shoppers last week. IGA's parent company, Sobey's, said the decision was made to limit the number of people,especially seniors, leaving their homes.
Mayor Mitchell Brownstein applauded the move.
“Of course, what we want is more people to stay home so the more people that get food delivered from our volunteers or through online delivery, the better,” he said.
Per capita, Cote-St-Luc has the highest amount of COVID-19 cases on the island. Pam Kujavsky and her brother, city councillor Mitch Kujavsky organized a delivery service for those who can't do their shopping on their own.
“Our focus is to make sure all of the seniors in Cote-St-Luc are taken care of and they don't have to leave their homes,” she said. “We're going to be there for them.”
Volunteers have delivered more than 150 orders in three days. Starting Saturday, they'll expand their service to the Cavendish Mall's IGA.
Mitch Kujavsky said many customers are now going to the IGA on Cote-St-Luc Rd. instead, noting it's the only major grocery store left in the municipality.
“They've looked to this IGA, they've looked to the smaller grocery stores in the area, the little bakeries and fruit stores,” he said. “We've noticed in the last few days there has been an increase in orders to those retailers.”
