Loblaw announced a hike in capital investments and more ways to make finding Canadian products easier.

In its Q4 earnings call on Thursday, Loblaw said it plans to invest $2.2 billion in 2025 to renovate existing stores, open new outlets and create approximately 8,000 jobs. Loblaw also reported that conventional stores are “performing well,” but that the performance of hard discount stores continues to outpace them.

Loblaw said it has a “unique opportunity to bring its NoFrills and Maxi stores to more communities and neighbourhoods,” and in 2025, the company plans to open approximately 80 new food and drug stores and 100 new clinics with an increased focus on its hard discount business.

Loblaw CEO Per Bank acknowledged affordability pressures faced by consumers and the company has a “cost management mindset,” promising more members-only pricing for its loyalty points program.

Loblaw also added swap-and-save / swap-and-shop feature in its PC Optimum app so customers can more easily find Canadian products, after reporting it has already seen “significant uplift” in products identified as “prepared in Canada.”

In its Q4 report, Loblaw also noted that food retail same-store sales growth was approximately 1.5%. Share gains were attributed to growing customer engagement of personalized PC Optimum loyalty offers, combined with “impactful in-store promotions” and more everyday value driving higher traffic: food retail traffic and also basket size increased. Drug retail (Shoppers Drug Mart) same-store sales increased by 1.3%, compared to 4.6% last year. And front store sales reflected growth across the beauty categories, led by prestige, offset by the impact from the exit from the sale of certain items in electronics, a low-margin category, which Bank called a “difficult decision.”

Loblaw Q4 profits came in at $462 million, down 14.6% from the $541 million reported during the same period, 2023. Revenue was $14.9 billion, up slightly from $14.5 billion, while e-commerce sales increased by 18.4%.