It’s been about a decade since the last time Sunripe’s store in Sarnia won best specialty independent grocer of the year, says Kysa Willemson.
The Sunripe marketing manager and daughter of business owners Will and Ingrid Willemson said she was with her mom in Vancouver late last month for the 2021 Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers annual conference and awards ceremony.
“Pretty well speechless,” she said about her reaction to hearing the store’s name called for the top award. “It was pretty exciting.”
The Lakeshore Road store with about 150 employees fits in the specialty category because it doesn’t sell boxes goods, cans or toilet paper, and competition can range from similar grocers to Asian or British specialty food markets, she said.
Judges noted the Sunripe store, which has moved various times and expanded since it began on Lakeshore in 1982, makes several things in-house and gets its produce at least twice weekly from the Toronto Wholesale Food Terminal, Willemson said.
“Those were kind of the two things I think they called out,” she said, recalling 2 am trips to Toronto have happened Mondays and either Wednesdays or Thursdays as long as she can remember.
“Our customers can be cooking with produce within 24 hours of it leaving the Toronto food terminal, which is kind of unique to Sunripe,” she said.
The business’s two London stores have also received awards in the category, she said, including a gold award one year for the Adelaide Street location.
Theoretically all three could be on the podium in a year, she said.
“Our team is working hard towards it, for sure.”
The award is for every employee at the store, she said.
Judging for the 2022 awards, which considers everything from bathroom appearance to customer service and innovation, is expected to happen again within the next two weeks, she said.
“Hopefully we shine through just as we did in the last judging.”