A senior executive of the American giant Costco is committed to working twice as hard to buy more Quebec products in the coming years.

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"We don't have a percentage target, but I can tell you that if we have an opportunity to buy local versus from another country or another region, we will buy local", assured the Journal Marc-André Bally, senior vice-president of Costco Canada.

“It won't be settled tomorrow morning. On the other hand, where we can, when we can, we will really make an effort to buy local”, he underlined.

Up for two years

Last Wednesday, Costco opened its second Quebec business store in Anjou, which should create more than 200 new jobs.

On the sidelines of the opening, its vice-president Marc-André Bally, who started at the bottom of the ladder as a part-time basket clerk before becoming one of the VPs, hammered home the importance local purchase.

“We have hundreds of Quebec suppliers. I can guarantee you that this is one of the places where we will put a lot of attention, ”he said.

Bakery, cheeses, charcuterie... the company has already said that it is betting on Quebec and on more and more fruits and vegetables from here for the past two years.

New Zealand apples

In July 2020, Le Journal told the story of Sylvain Pelletier, owner of Jardins d'Émilie, in Rougemont, who couldn't get over seeing New Zealand apples on the stalls of Costco in Saint-Bruno.

At the Journal, the v.-p. from Costco said he understood his reaction to seeing the apples that traveled 14,000 kilometers before arriving at our house.

“In the case of apples, obviously, if we are in Rougemont, or in that area, and we have a lot of apples, we wonder: “Why does Costco not buy our apples? I can easily understand the reaction, ”he reacted.

“We are making a lot of effort now to contact and communicate with these suppliers,” he continued.

Reached by Le Journal, Sylvain Pelletier, from Les Jardins d'Émilie orchard, confirmed that Costco had indeed contacted him after his public release.

" It's true. Costco contacted me, but the requested apple did not suit them,” he concluded.

Costco employs more than 300,000 people worldwide and has more than 117 million members. The multinational is present in the United States, Canada and countries such as Spain, Iceland, France and China.