Sobeys Inc. has reopened an IGA in west Edmonton at a grocery location with more than six decades of history, bringing a familiar banner back to the neighbourhood following the short-lived operation of L’OCA Quality Market.
The Valleyview IGA opened August 20 at 9106 142 Street NW in Edmonton’s Parkview neighbourhood. The site had been home to Andy’s Valleyview IGA for decades before longtime operator Andy Taschuk retired in 2024. L’OCA subsequently took over the space and operated there until the company closed its stores earlier this year.
The new IGA features fresh produce, a full-service bakery and deli, ready-to-eat meals and an assortment of local products. Sobeys said the offering reflects its commitment to supporting Alberta producers and serving the communities where it operates.
One particularly recognizable piece of the store’s history has survived the changes. The vintage horse that generations of customers have associated with the grocery store remains inside the location, and Sobeys confirmed to Retail Insider that it will stay.
A Familiar Horse Remains
The horse has remained through several changes to the store around it. When L’OCA took over the former Andy’s IGA, the company retained the fixture as part of its effort to acknowledge the location’s history.
Ben Cochrane, a partner at L’OCA Market, told Retail Insider in early 2025 that the horse had been at the store since the 1960s. He recalled riding it himself as a child while visiting his grandparents in the neighbourhood. L’OCA kept the horse when it converted the former IGA into its premium grocery concept, preserving a familiar link to the store’s past.
The location’s grocery history dates to at least the mid-1960s, with Andy’s Valleyview IGA becoming a longstanding fixture in west Edmonton. Taschuk operated the business for 59 years before retiring in 2024.
Taschuk returned to the location for the new IGA’s August 20 opening, joining customers welcoming the store back to the neighbourhood. Speaking to Global News, he described the surrounding community as highly supportive of its local grocer and expressed optimism that the reopened store would serve the area for years to come.
From Andy’s IGA to L’OCA
The recent changes began in 2024 when Taschuk announced his retirement and Andy’s Valleyview IGA closed at the end of July. The closure attracted attention beyond the immediate neighbourhood because of the store’s long history and its relationship with Edmonton’s Jewish community.
L’OCA Quality Market subsequently secured the location and opened there on January 31, 2025, less than a year after launching its first store in Sherwood Park. The Edmonton L’OCA was approximately 22,000 square feet, adapting the company’s culinary-focused grocery model to a considerably smaller footprint than its roughly 45,000-square-foot Sherwood Park flagship.
The store combined conventional grocery departments with prepared foods, a butcher, bakery, deli, café, pizza and sandwich offerings, and a range of house-made products. When Retail Insider toured the store following its opening, Cochrane said L’OCA had retained approximately 95 per cent of Andy’s former staff. The retailer also expanded the kosher assortment and preserved historical elements including the horse and old IGA materials.
At the time, the Edmonton opening formed part of a broader expansion strategy. L’OCA was planning a store in St. Albert and considering additional growth in Edmonton and potentially Calgary, although those plans would ultimately be abandoned.
L’OCA Closes After Ambitious Expansion
L’OCA announced in March 2026 that it would close its Edmonton and Sherwood Park stores, along with its restaurant operations, on March 12. The planned St. Albert location was also cancelled.
The company said it had been humbled by the difficulty of executing its locally focused, handcrafted business model and ultimately did not see a sustainable path forward. Retail Insider reported at the time, citing sources familiar with the business, that L’OCA’s operation had been losing approximately $1 million per month.
Its model involved extensive fresh-food production and prepared meals, while the larger Sherwood Park operation also incorporated full-service restaurant concepts. The Edmonton store ultimately operated for about 13 months.
The Valleyview site did not remain without a grocer for long. By June, signs of an IGA return had emerged, including approved signage for the property and Sobeys recruitment for a new management team. Five months after L’OCA closed, the site was operating under the IGA banner again.
IGA Returns Five Months After L’OCA Closure
The reopened store has hired approximately 45 to 50 employees, according to Edmonton city councillor Thu Parmar, with some former L’OCA employees joining the operation. L’OCA had similarly retained much of Andy’s staff when it entered the location in 2025, providing some workforce continuity through the changes in banners and operating models.
IGA’s return also underscores the continuing value of the Valleyview location as a neighbourhood grocery destination. The property has remained closely associated with food retail for more than 60 years despite the recent changes in operators and formats.
L’OCA brought a more elaborate model to the site, with a strong emphasis on culinary production, prepared foods and a premium shopping experience. The reopened IGA returns the property to a conventional neighbourhood supermarket format while maintaining fresh departments, prepared meals and local products.
The rapid turnaround highlights the value established grocery locations can retain within mature residential neighbourhoods. In Valleyview, Sobeys has returned a familiar banner to a site where generations of residents were already accustomed to shopping for groceries.
Longstanding Connection to Edmonton’s Jewish Community
The Valleyview store has also played a longstanding role within Edmonton’s Jewish community. For years, Andy’s Valleyview IGA was known for carrying kosher meat, groceries and Passover products.
Alberta Jewish News reported when Taschuk announced his retirement that Andy’s had been an important mainstream grocery source for kosher products in Edmonton and that Taschuk had supported Jewish community events. L’OCA recognized that history when it took over the store, retaining and expanding the kosher section as part of the conversion.
That relationship provides additional context for the August 20 reopening. Sobeys marked the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and presented a cheque to the Jewish Federation of Edmonton in support of its work in the community.
For residents who have watched the property change from Andy’s IGA to L’OCA and back to IGA in little more than two years, the reopening marks another chapter for one of Edmonton’s longest-standing grocery locations. The IGA banner is familiar once again, as is the horse that has remained through decades of change.
