As the Star first reported in January, it appears Yukoners are in for another major grocery shopping option – as early as the summer of 2017.

“Save-On-Foods is officially announcing its entry to the Yukon with a ground-breaking event in Yukon’s capital city on March 30,” the company said in a media advisory sent out Tuesday afternoon.

“The store will include a 42,000-square-foot Save-On-Foods store with the full Save-On-Foods offering, and an adjacent 12,000-square-foot wholesale store on the property.”

Construction of the grocery and wholesale stores is anticipated to begin later this year. It’s expected the Vancouver-based store would officially open its Whitehorse location in the summer of 2017.

As the Star reported two months ago, the Jim Pattison Group (which owns the Overwaitea Food Group under which Save-On falls) purchased two of the three remaining commercial lots at the Chilkoot Centre site at Quartz Road and Two Mile Hill.

The properties sit behind the Home Hardware store and include the former Ricky’s All Day Grill building.

The property with the former restaurant – at 1.4 hectares – had been listed at $4.1 million.

The other smaller property at 0.55 hectares was listed at $1.6 million.

The Chilkoot Centre site – which features stores like Walmart, Canadian Tire, Mark’s Work Wearhouse and two smaller multi-shop buildings – was purchased by Argus Properties Ltd. in the late 1990s, leading to the development of the retail centre.

This afternoon’s ground-breaking event was to include company president Darrell Jones, Mayor Dan Curtis and Rick Karp, the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce.