Certain stores across Canada owned by Empire Company Ltd., including Sobeys, Safeway and affiliated pharmacy services, continue to experience disruptions due to an issue with information technology systems.
Empire, which owns Sobeys, Lawtons, IGA, Safeway, Farm Boy, Foodland and FreshCo, among other brands, announced Monday that a computer problem is preventing some of its pharmacies from filling prescriptions.
The problem has also caused some services to lag or work only intermittently.
A press release from the company said it is working to fix the problem, but could not estimate when all services will be restored.
“At Sobeys, exceeding the needs of our customers is always our top priority,” said Chief Operating Officer Pierre St-Laurent in the press release. “Our only focus right now is to fix this issue and we will provide further updates as relevant information becomes available.”
A sign at a Sobeys store in Halifax reflects one of the system outages the chain was experiencing Monday morning. (Craig Paisley/CBC)
The CBC reached out to the company with questions about the computer problem, but an emailed response simply pointed to the press release.
Over the weekend, some pharmacy staff told the CBC they were unable to access their computers, but could supply customers with medication for several days if customers presented their empty bottles.
Maple Leaf Announces ‘Cybersecurity Incident’
Meanwhile, Maple Leaf Foods announced in a press release Sunday night that a “cybersecurity incident” caused a system outage at the company.
Maple Leaf is working with cybersecurity and recovery experts, as well as information systems professionals and third-party specialists to investigate the outage and resolve the issue, the company said.
The press release said the company expects disruptions to service and operations while it works to resolve the outage.
The company declined an interview. In an emailed statement, Maple Leaf said the outages “vary by business unit, plant and location.”