Empire has broken ground on its first Mayrand Food Depot outside Greater Montreal, marking an early step in the grocery retailer’s expansion of the recently acquired Quebec banner.

The store is scheduled to open in summer 2027 at District 55, a mixed use development near 7100 Lucien-Laferté St. and the Laviolette Bridge in Trois-Rivières. The site also has access to highways 40 and 55 and is intended to serve customers across the Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec regions.

Groupe Robin, the developer behind District 55, is working with Mayrand on the project. About 50 jobs are expected to be created when the store opens.

The building will have contemporary architecture and be visible from the highway, forming one of the principal commercial gateways into District 55. The development includes housing, hotels, workplaces, restaurants, specialty retailers and entertainment venues. Groupe Robin also plans to bring additional neighbourhood services, including a pharmacy, to the area.

“Trois-Rivières is the first step in this development, and we are very pleased to take it here, in the heart of a dynamic and growing community,” Mayrand president Pierre Lapointe said in French.

The food warehouse will carry more than 8,000 products, including fresh food, bulk and professional formats, ready-to-cook items and kitchen supplies. It will also offer natural products and supplements from Empire’s Rachelle Béry banner.

Mayrand’s format targets households and food enthusiasts as well as restaurateurs and other business customers, combining the selection and efficiency of a warehouse store with the atmosphere of a neighbourhood market.

Empire acquired Mayrand through its Sobeys subsidiary earlier in 2026. The deal gave the Stellarton, N.S.-based company an entry into Quebec’s discount warehouse grocery segment and added four stores in Anjou, Brossard, Laval and Saint-Jérôme.

The Trois-Rivières project also advances Empire’s emphasis on its physical store network. The company previously paused a Vancouver online-grocery warehouse as it shifted investment toward bricks-and-mortar stores.

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