Sobeys parent company Empire shutters Voilà grocery delivery in Alberta

A Sobeys store in the St. John's, N.L. metro area is shown after a snowstorm in this file photo from Friday, March 8, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

Sobeys parent company Empire Co. Ltd. says it is closing its Voilà grocery delivery facilities in Alberta and pausing the online service’s expansion in the Vancouver area as it failed to meet the grocer’s financial expectations.

The company says it will take $750 million in writedown because of the “underperformance of its e-commerce network” in Western Canada.

Voilà will continue to operate in Ontario and Quebec, which is growing steadily, it says.

Empire says it has partnered with delivery app DoorDash for same-day deliveries, which will begin rolling out in the coming months.

Chief executive Pierre St-Laurent says the move is a part of reshaping the e-commerce strategy as the grocer responds to changing customer needs and expectations.

Empire shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange were up as much as eight per cent Thursday morning before paring some of those gains to four per cent at $45.40.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2026.