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Property Controls

Empire Company Limited’s comprehensive approach to property controls reflects its ongoing commitment to a competitive and accessible grocery market for Canadians.

Property controls, including restrictive covenants and exclusivity clauses, are widely used across various industries and can support investment, enable market entry and sustain developments, particularly in underserved communities.

While these arrangements are not inherently anti-competitive, we recognize the increased scrutiny in this area and the importance of ensuring they are used appropriately. We have engaged constructively with various stakeholders, including the Competition Bureau, and that dialogue has helped inform our ongoing practices in this area.

Our approach to grocery-related property controls includes the following long-term commitments:

Restrictive covenants:

  • Not enforcing restrictive covenant interests on any properties, including those previously sold.1
  • Not placing or registering restrictive covenants on any properties.

1 Also includes all restrictive covenants that were previously registered in Manitoba under Bill 31

Exclusivity clauses:

  • Not enforcing exclusivity clauses on the properties specifically identified in the June 2026 order obtained by the Competition Bureau.
  • Not enforcing exclusivity clauses re-registered in Manitoba following the passage of Bill 31.
  • Not enforcing or entering into any radius clauses to allow for increased retail activity surrounding our grocery store sites.
  • Not enforcing or entering into exclusivity clauses restricting specialty food retailers (e.g., butchers, bakeries) that sell only a subset of the products typically sold by a grocery store.

Governance and broader actions taken:

  • Maintaining a formal, consistent and principles-driven approach to reviewing and responding to property control waiver and removal requests, with affected parties encouraged to contact propertycontrols@sobeys.com. Empire considers all such requests with a view to removing restrictive covenants and limiting the enforcement of exclusivity provisions to only those that are justified.
  • Limiting the geography, product scope and duration of exclusivity provisions in all future grocery store leases across Canada.
  • Regularly reviewing existing property controls to identify opportunities to remove or modify those where an Empire banner is the only grocery store in a community.
  • Encouraging all grocery industry participants to adopt similar principles to support a consistent and balanced approach.
  • Continuing to work constructively with the Competition Bureau and all levels of government to advocate for a clear and consistent legislative and regulatory approach to property controls across grocery and all industries.

Customers remain at the centre of our focus. We are committed to ensuring they continue to benefit from choice, value and access.