L'OCA Quality Market coming Spring 2024

You might have a hard time placing the store’s name, and that’s because it’s the first of its kind.

L’OCA Quality Market is in the midst of creating its flagship store in Sherwood Park within the old RONA location at 340 Baseline Road. With construction trailers having been set up on site for a while, the company has some big plans to transform the building into a grocery store with two dedicated restaurants.

“The location seemed like a great place, physically, it’s along a couple of main corridors, but it also gives us a chance to become directly involved in the community on a site that’s been vacant for a long time. We’re going to transform it into something great for the community. It’s not your typical grocery food market, it will be much more experiential,” explained Ben Cochrane, executive in charge of L’OCA Quality Market.

Currently, the company is expanding the footprint by 5,000 square feet, which will increase the overall store to 45,000 square feet. Inside, shoppers and restaurant goers will be able to enjoy a full-service grocery, which will include a butcher and meat cutters, a massive deli, fresh and daily pre-made to-go meals, a foundry with a full rotisserie and pizzeria, a licensed sitting area, and two restaurants — Pyro and Oro.

“Pyro will be a live fire concept. We literally have the largest wood burning grill in Canada going into that, it’s about 14 feet long. There will be a focus on fire cooked meats, and there will be a real interactive experience. You’ll be able to sit right at grill bar and talk to the chefs cooking your food,” Cochrane detailed. “Oro is a modern Italian dining experience. It will have an attractive architectural space and it will be very unique.”

“We think that the spaces that we’ve designed are literally unlike anything else in Sherwood Park. We thought that in Alberta with the province’s ranching culture that fire would be a fun concept, and then for Oro, who doesn’t like Italian food?”

Tofino chef Paul Moran, 2019 winner of Top Chef Canada and a former Michelin Star recipient, has already been brought on board by L’OCA.

“The food aspect is something that we take very seriously,” Cochrane said.

The estimated opening date is Spring 2024.

So, why Sherwood Park?

“It’s a great community and it’s close to the city,” the L’OCA executive stated. “It’s growing at a pretty fast pace and has everything from affluent dining to young families to more mature residents. It just makes sense across the board. What we’re trying to bring with our flagship, it will be a nice complement to the market itself and the building will be a nice architectural piece for the people of Sherwood Park.

The company is looking to hire more than 200 people to run all aspects of the business. Currently, it’s hiring top management positions, including a marketing manager, a chef de cuisine, a produce team leader, a meat and seafood department manager, a head butcher team lead, and an accounting controller. More general hirings are expected to be posted in late 2023. To apply, go to loca.ca.

“We’ll also be hosting some local job fairs to find staff who want to grow with us,” the executive noted.

If you’re interested in staying in the know on this project, you can also sign up for emails on the company’s website.

While the Sherwood Park location will be L’OCA’s first store, the company has plans to expand into Edmonton, but remained tight-lipped on that project for now.

“We’re already quite advanced on our second and third locations but stay tuned for that. Sherwood Park will be our flagship location,” Cochrane added.