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Loblaws

But the green airport-like metallic structure by the door was practically a heritage structure! :)

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Did they remove those massive concrete footings?

Wow. I finally made it to the Leslie store this past weekend. The interiors are standard, but the exterior has been significantly transformed. And, yes, the concrete footings are gone.
 
Loblaw Companies Ltd. says it will build 50 new stores and renovate or improve more than 100 existing stores in 2015. The additions will be across the country, and Loblaw's estimates it will create about 5,000 jobs at its corporate and independently-owned stores.

Sounds like quite a lofty goal to do all that in 2015. I expect every Toronto store not recently done will now be renovated.
 
Looks like Loblaws is trying a new pilot program to revamp one of their Superstores in Mississauga. Sounds like a bold plan...and one of which could very well yield positive results.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/06/29/loblaws-superstore-rolls-out-a-diverse-approach.html

Loblaw’s Superstore rolls out a diverse approach
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. has launched a new pilot store in Mississauga, based on what they learned from T&T and Arz.

By: Francine Kopun Business reporter, Business Reporter, Published on Mon Jun 29 2015

When it comes to discount grocery stores, saving money often means a warehouse setting, indifferent lighting and a lackluster fresh-food offering.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. is challenging that idea with a newly renovated pilot store in Mississauga re-opening on Friday, bringing an elevated shopping experience to a Real Canadian Superstore.

“Retail is as much about evolution as anything. If you stay in any one place for too long, you’ll be overtaken,” said Andrew Iacobucci, president, discount division, Loblaw Cos. Ltd.

“We felt it was time to take the business up to another level.”

The new motto is fresh, value and global flavours.

Much of the inspiration for the renovation came from the Asian T&T grocery chain Loblaw purchased in 2009 and from Arz Fine Food, a Middle Eastern bakery and grocery retailer purchased by Loblaw last year.

The Real Canadian Superstore at 3050 Argentia Rd. in Mississauga, renovated over six months, adds many of the labels and foods carried by T&T and Arz, as well as some of the merchandising practices.

The new superstore has a roasted nut and dried fruit counter; a wider variety of ingredients used in Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine; an entire aisle of rice in large-format sizes; and it carries Parle-G, a popular cookie manufactured in India that is largely unavailable in regular grocery stores.

The move is meant to serve the area’s increasingly diverse population, and the growing number of people who are becoming more adventurous when it comes to food.

Whether or not the pilot is rolled out into other superstores will depend on how the store performs over the next year or so, said Chris Fisher, vice-president on the project.

“It is a pilot for us. We’re going to learn. You’ll know when you see them in other stores, what is working,” said Fisher.


Veggies on a stage

Fresh is the star of the newly renovated superstore, beginning with fragrant cilantro inside the main doors leading into an abundantly stocked produce section lit up like a stage, featuring bitter melon, durian and fresh curry leaves, along with more routine fare. More than 700 items have been added to the fresh selection, which includes fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat, baked goods, take-out meals and sushi. According to research from Nielsen, 63 per cent of Canadians are eating more fruits and vegetables in an attempt to minimize future health problems.


Seafood & fish

To the left of the main doors are 28 feet of fish and seafood on ice. Beside that, 18 clear tanks are filled with live sea food and fish, including Barramundi, jumbo lobster, Dungeness crab, mussels and clams. The tanks are digitally filtered and temperature controlled. Seafood is a popular ingredient in Asian cuisine, and the new store configuration adds 25 per cent more space to the category. The first day after the seafood section re-opened the store did a week’s worth of sales, said Iacobucci.


Pita bakery

Enclosed in glass, a 1,200-square-foot machine will bake pitas onsite daily, selling for $1 for a bag of six. Shoppers will be able to watch as the pitas wind through the production process before being bagged and sold.

Teppenyaki grill

Never shop on an empty stomach, personal finance advisors say. Now customers won’t have to. They can buy T&T sushi to eat in-store or at home, or watch as a chef puts together a hot meal at the Teppenyaki grill. They can pick veggies, a starch (noodles or rice), a protein (beef, chicken or shrimp), and then the chef will chop it all up and cook it on the spot. Customers who want to keep shopping will be given a buzzer to alert them when their bowl, priced starting at about $6.50, is ready.


Cosmetics

At a second store entrance, shoppers will find an entire section of Asian skin and hair care products, including hennas and the popular My Beauty Diary face masks. “These are very important customers to us. We are very excited about this area of the store,” said Fisher.


The full shop

The Real Canadian Superstore is a food-led one-stop shop; a place where customers can buy groceries but also buy wine, drop off dry-cleaning, fill a pharmacy prescriptions, see a doctor, buy a toy, or squeeze in a work out at the gym. The superstore at Argentia Rd. also offers an expanded Joe Fresh section and a baby and infant section that sells diapers, strollers and car seats and a variety of home wares and some electronic goods.
 
Hopefully they will make improvements to the Maple Leaf Gardens store, which is too white bread for my taste, and lacks variety despite its size. Inventory control also leaves to be desired. One day there is no mint; another, no parsley; another, no ginger or limes... those are not particularly exotic products. Doing the basics right might be more important than rolling out new concepts.
 
Inventory control also leaves to be desired. One day there is no mint; another, no parsley; another, no ginger or limes... those are not particularly exotic products.
Agreed -- they seem incapable of keeping Silk (soy milk) in stock. It's bizarre. I've complained multiple times and yet every other time I go there, the shelf is empty.
 
Tonight I was at the Queen and Portland Loblaws looking for Unsweetened Silk Coconut (yum - great on muesli!!!). It was on sale, but not in the cooler. I found a stock guy to ask if he could check if there was anything more in the back. Gone, over 10 minutes, no feedback. That was long enough to wait.

42
 
Hopefully they will make improvements to the Maple Leaf Gardens store, which is too white bread for my taste, and lacks variety despite its size. Inventory control also leaves to be desired. One day there is no mint; another, no parsley; another, no ginger or limes... those are not particularly exotic products. Doing the basics right might be more important than rolling out new concepts.
That's soooo frustrating. And who's buying those tiny packets of PC fresh herbs with, like, five bruised basil leaves in them?

But if you want iceberg lettuce, take your pick of three different varieties from local+organic to poison Chinese garbage.
 
But if you want iceberg lettuce, take your pick of three different varieties from local+organic to poison Chinese garbage.

Funny you should mention iceberg lettuce. They're completely sold out of it about 1 in every 4 trips I make to that store.
 
http://business.financialpost.com/n...fitable-52-stores-over-next-year-to-cut-costs

TORONTO — Loblaw Companies Ltd. will shutter 52 unprofitable stores over the next year as the retailer posted higher second quarter earnings on strong food and drug sales.

The closures would reduce sales by about $300 million, Loblaw said, but will add about $35 million-$40 million to its operating income annually.

Canada’s biggest food retailer and pharmacy chain said earnings after items spiked 15% in the second quarter due to solid sales. Adjusted net earnings per common share of 85 cents in the period ended June 20 compared with 74 cents in the same quarter last year.
 
Living where I can't throw a stone without hitting a grocery store, I find it so hard to believe that there are too many Loblaws stores in Toronto.
 
Not sure which, if any, stores in Toronto would close. Broadview Avenue?

It's across all brands, so Loblaws, Fortinos, Superstore, any corporate owned No Frills, or anyof the other regional names like Zehrs or Provigo. Maybe even T&T.

I suspect they will target un-renovated smaller stores in towns or the suburban frontier where new competitors like Wal-Mart or Sobey's have opened huge modern stores that sucked up all the business.
 
Yeah, don't disagree with that. But I'm less interested in the fate of stores in suburban Saskatoon, as I am wondering whether there are stores in Toronto that could be among the 52. Maybe there aren't.
 
Loblaws is also building and renovating other stores, especially its Shoppers Drug Mart division. (For example, the Bloor/Walmer store is about to to be expanded - that's why the other retail tenants were kicked out and their storefronts boarded up.)
 

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