Alberta-based Sunterra Group has closed its Red Deer grocery store, marking the second Sunterra Market location to shut down in a matter of months as the company works through a court-supervised restructuring.
The Bower Place location closed on September 26, following the May closure of Sunterra’s downtown Edmonton store on Jasper Avenue, which had operated for three decades. In a Facebook post announcing the Red Deer closure, the company thanked customers and staff, noting the Bower Place market had served the community since 2021. Sunterra said it continues to operate five markets in Calgary and one in Edmonton, describing that remaining network as an active and important part of its business.
Restructuring Under Court Supervision
Sunterra recently completed a court-approved sale and investment solicitation process as part of restructuring proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. In April, the Court of King’s Bench approved the process covering Sunterra’s agriculture and food holdings, which include a pork production operation with more than 595,000 square feet of barn infrastructure across eight facilities, along with the grocery business that at the time operated seven “farm-to-fork” market locations.
Interested parties were given until June 25 to submit letters of intent to sale advisor KPMG Corporate Finance Inc., with the next phase involving review of those submissions. FTI Consulting Canada Inc. is serving as the court-appointed monitor overseeing the process, and no update on the sale had been posted to the monitor’s website as of the Red Deer closure.
Legal Troubles Add Pressure
The store closures follow a January ruling from the Court of King’s Bench in Calgary that found Sunterra engaged in cheque kiting on what the presiding justice described as an “astonishing scale.” The court held Sunterra liable to U.S. agricultural lender Compeer Financial for approximately $35 million and also held the company’s president personally responsible for the debt.
In his written decision, the justice compared the financial practices to a game of musical chairs in which there are not enough seats when the music stops, concluding that Sunterra’s Canadian entities misrepresented the availability of funds behind cheques sent to the United States, which induced Compeer to keep honouring payments not backed by actual cash balances. While the ruling centered on dealings between Canadian and U.S. affiliates and lenders, it added to the financial and legal strain on the broader Sunterra group, including its Market grocery banner.
A Company With Deep Alberta Roots
Sunterra traces its history to 1970, when the Price family founded Pig Improvement Canada, a hog-production business. The company launched both Sunterra Meats and Sunterra Market in 1990, with the Market concept debuting in downtown Calgary’s Bankers Hall as a European-style grocery emphasizing fresh, in-house and premium products.
Earlier in 2025, Sunterra filed a Notice of Intention to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, with Harris & Partners appointed as proposal trustee. Court documents showed the company had more than 200 creditors and liabilities of $18.9 million.
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