<p>Canadian grocer Metro has the number 1 market share in Quebec, and the number 2 share in Ontario.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">At the recent CIBC World Markets 17th annual Retail and Consumer Conference, CEO Eric la Flèche discussed the company's growth strategy moving forward in an environment of increasing competition for conventional grocery.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="https://webcasts.welcome2theshow.com/cibcretail2014/metro" target="_new"> Click Here to Listen to Metro CEO Eric la Flèche Discuss His Company's Strategy </a><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">In addition to slow and steady improvements and expansion, Metro has a pilot store in Quebec and one in Ontario, which are both called <b>"premium conventional" format.</b><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">In order to convert Quebec the store to its new format, it was doubled in size. La Flèche stressed that this store was not for only super-wealthy patrons, and middle-class customers have responded well.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"When you raise the bar, give a great customer experience, you get rewarded," he said. "We really <b>improved the food offering</b>, section by section, department by department."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">When asked about plans to expand the concept beyond the pilot store, possibly in Ontario as well as Quebec, la Flèche emphatically agreed that this is in the works.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"Clearly we want to do that. It's part of our strategy... The preliminary results are very encouraging. <b>So we want to accelerate that roll-out...</b> That's clearly our plan, to have a better, Premium Metro differentiation and great product offering... better pizza, better food throughout the store."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">With 567 grocery stores, 258 drug stores, and more than $11 billion in sales, business is good.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">It seems la Flèche's strategy is very simple: "try to be the best supermarket, market-by-market," he said. "We continue to invest every year.. we are steady in our investments... every year, we will replace a couple stores or we will enlarge a couple stores."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Will these new "premium conventional" stores continue to increase sales for Metro, while also making it more competitive against rivals like Loblaw and Target?<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.metro.ca/home.en.html" target="_new"> Metro </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
