AML Foods Ltd. broke ground on a new $15 million Cost Right store on the site of the former Cost Right and Solomon’s stores at Old Trail Road – on the anniversary of the complete destruction of both stores by fire.
AML’s CEO and President Gavin Watchorn said AML Foods hopes to have the new store opened by March 1, 2027.
Watchorn said despite the fire, the company will achieve another sales increase of three percent this year.
While the site held both a Solomon’s store and a Cost Right store, only a Cost Right store will return to the spot.
“The new store will be 30 percent larger than the former store, allowing us to offer an even broader assortment across all categories, including grocery, general merchandise and appliances, while enhancing our ability to serve our retail B2B [business-to-business] and food service customers,” said Watchorn.
He added: “The new Cost Right will set a new standard for our customers and stand alongside the leading clubs in our region.”
Watchorn explained that the demand at the Cost Right store before the fire convinced AML that it was worth using the entire footprint at the Old Trail Road location to built a larger Cost Right store.
“We knew it was going to outgrow its space at some point in time,” he said. “We’ve taken advantage of having clean slate, so we’re going to build a new store.”
Watchorn explained that no employees lost their job following the fire, as team members were redeployed to other AML locations.
Watchorn said while Solomon’s will not return to the Old Trail location, AML has settled on a new location and will make an announcement on plans for that store in the near future.
“Now you may have noticed I haven’t touched on our plans for Solomon’s this morning. Due to the size of the planned Cost Right store and the need to adhere to current regulations regarding spacing from adjoining properties, we simply do not have enough space to rebuild Solomon’s on this site. However, I’m very happy to report that we have secured a new location that will allow us to build a larger Solomon’s store to serve our customers and reach more communities.”
