State of the big chain grocery stores

[urbandreamer]

^"Was Metro ever in the GTA?"

Yes, as in Metro Toronto.

Metro is an over-priced grocery chain in Quebec. I hope they lower prices to be more competitive with Wal-Mart and No Frills.

But the Annex location without Dominion's? Just ain't the same, is it?

 

[adma]

Metro is an over-priced grocery chain in Quebec.

So? Dominion is an over-priced grocery chain in Toronto. Even Steven.

But the Annex location without Dominion's? Just ain't the same, is it?

Though to be honest, it's a "Montreal-esque" enough location for Metro to fit in just nicely...

 

[Dan416]

I'll miss the Dominion name.

I wish the full name of canada was still the Dominion of Canada.

 

[ganjavih]

Damn Quebecers are destroying our Ontarian heritage.

 

[Jonny5]

The Barn is the A&P equivalent in the Hamilton region - it's an geo-specific name like Zehrs in Central-West Ontario.

For information purposes, The Barn, A&P and Ultra Mart (which was Miracle Mart at the time) all co-existed in Hamilton simultaneously for many years.

The Barn's first store was an actual Barn. As they started expanding by building traditional buildings, they were quite succesful. They were purchased by A&P for strategic reasons as many of their stores were side by side.

Shortly after, Loblaws finally got its act together and settled on The Fortinos brand for Hamilton, after famously rebranding four times in two years. They rolled out their first super-stores and at the same time opened some No-Frills locations. Price Club (now Costco) also arrived in the city at about the same time.

A&P stores were getting pretty dingy and old, so they renovated and rebranded most A&P and Ultra Mart locations as The Barn (there is still at least one A&P). Some were changed to Food Basics. I find the Barn to be Hamilton's equivalent to Dominion. A little more expensive with most stores open 24 hours.

 

[GraphicMatt]

There's a Barn in Oakville too. I think their slogan "...now that's Barn fresh!" is just ridiculous.

 

[Jonny5]

There's a Barn in Oakville too. I think their slogan "...now that's Barn fresh!" is just ridiculous.

Almost as ridiculous as the combined names of their parent company and it's next door neighbour on the QEW.
CUMIS ... GA Love Food... Many passing drivers (with dirty minds) got lots of laughs from that for years.

 

[Cast_Member]

A&P stores were getting pretty dingy and old, so they renovated and rebranded most A&P and Ultra Mart locations as The Barn (there is still at least one A&P). Some were changed to Food Basics. I find the Barn to be Hamilton's equivalent to Dominion. A little more expensive with most stores open 24 hours.

Some locations still looked like it was stuck in the 50's or 60's. Nice trip to the past.

 

[adma]

There's a Barn in Oakville too. I think their slogan "...now that's Barn fresh!" is just ridiculous.

Yeah, like they ought to be handing out SARS masks for those with hay fever problems or who simply hate the smell of stinky manure

 

[Urban Shocker]

Just like Medieval Times - food and steaming piles of horseshit happily co-existing. Mmmmm ...

 

[ShonTron]

Medieval Times! Where you must eat chicken with your hands, but suck back ye olde Canadian corporate beer or ye olde Pepsi.

I did that once when I was 13, I think. Kinda fun, if you're 13 years old.

 

[arvy]

<snip> On a curious note, is Longo's independent, or are they owned by one of the bigger companies? I'm looking forward to their return downtown.

Longo's is family owned as is Highland Farms.

 

[afransen]

Loblaw's is the worst for this, of course, because depending on where you are in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, your version can be a Loblaw's, Zehr's, Fortino's - so the article seems to be missing something when Metro says it wants the same cache as it and Wal-Mart(!).

Believe it or not, but Loblaw has, I believe, 22 different store banners across Canada.

"Dominion" is a word that has mostly been lost from the Canadian vernacular, save the grocery chain. Now that'll be gone too...not that I really care though.

There will still be some Dominion stores in Nfld., owned by Loblaws.


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Beyond that, some of you may be interested to hear that Loblaw's restructuring could probably be described as transplanting many UK grocery business practices to North America. That will mean a more just-in-time flow of product, and ultimately fresher food. The company is spending over a billion dollars on the restructuring by 2012, mostly on new warehouses and software.

The holes on the shelf are a big problem, but should see significant improvements with 6 months to a year.

 

[urbandreamer]

5SEPT2008 photo update

Dominion's in the Annex goes from urban grit to suburban chic. Ugly!

I get the feeling next time this store is renovated it goes highrise condo: about bloody time!

 

[299 bloor call control.]

When did the Sobeys Urban Fresh store open in the Annex? I walked by it on Saturday night and was thoroughly impressed of how well it fits into the community.. a much better execution than the one at Yonge and Maitland