Sobeys Begins Conversion Of Its Shell Select Banner To Voisin & Boni-Soir

The familiar apple and sun logo as well as the name Select will no longer be part of the Quebec commercial landscape.

Indeed, the 100 Shell Select corporate gas stations acquired by Sobeys in 2011 will be converted from now on as a Voisin or Boni-Soir banner (Voisin being the banner most faithfully deployed according to company standards while Boni-Soir allows a greater emphasis on retailer entrepreneurship). The process will take place over several years and will mark the end of this banner in Quebec.

Sobeys made the announcement yesterday at a ceremony marking the official opening of the first conversion of a Shell Select convenience store into Voisin which is located at 3490 Boulevard Carrefour, near Carrefour Laval in the town of same name.

According to Mr. Luc Blais, Sobeys’ Vice President National Convenience Store and Fuel, who addressed the guests at the ceremony, some 20 of the 97 Select service stations in Quebec will be converted this year.

From convenience store to mini-caterer

The banner change is accompanied by major investments made not only to the interior design of the store as a whole but also and especially to its food offering which is now light years of the traditional formula of packaged food products prepared by a third party.

While the current Shell Select service stations offer the conventional packaged sandwiches and others, the upgraded one under the Voisin banner explodes in flavor, freshness, color and variety with ready-to-eat meals prepared on site and suitable for all meal occasions, in addition to being designed to be easy to eat in the car or on the go.

The cooking equipment added to the upgraded store allows the preparation of fresh hot meals such as croissants and chocolatines for breakfast, a perfect combination with the coffee station.

The store product selection, necessarily limited in such a small surface, favors ready-to-eat foods on other types of conventional categories such as canned foods for example.

In line with its new generation line of stores such as IGA Express, Voisin and latest Boni-Soirs, the converted Shell Select store features a high-quality design, greatly improved in terms of aesthetics (choice of colors, signage and style) and ergonomics in general (access to products, sections of coffee and beer and others) and this, despite a very small surface as is the case in the inaugurated store in Laval.

A very high standard of ready-to-eat offering

Despite the fact that it is quite difficult to achieve logistically and profitably because of the potential for losses, the ready-to-eat offering as envisioned and proposed by Sobeys in its new small surfaces seems quite well delivered. The chain visibly put all the weight of its food expertise in the balance to deliver a superior offer of freshness, variety and quality. The first Shell Select converted to Voisin has been chosen in particular because its operator, Mr. Vahit Kantar, is known as a disciplined and experienced manager, qualities highly valued within a company that takes absolute care of its brand and reputation, down to the smallest detail, from cleanliness to product facing.

Sobeys’ calculation is simple: by offering daily excellence, customers will eventually understand that they can rely on their on the go quality food offering and thus integrate it into their everyday habits. Knowing Quebeckers’ love for good eating, it makes a lot of sense.