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Downtown Grocery Store List (current + proposed)

Fresh City Farms is opening at the base of The Livmore at Bay/Gerrard:

176806
 
Organic Garage has a new store near downtown on tap, in Bayside.


Due open 4th quarter 2019.

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New store in Leaside follows; 2nd quarter 2020
 
Anybody in the King/Spadina area? I order all my non perishables from Amazon and pick up things on the go at Shoppers. For fresh produce, I used to go to Fresh and Wild but it’s heavily overpriced. Loblaws on Portland isn’t much better. I could go to Chinatown but the quality of produce drops dramatically. Any middle ground? How is Sobey’s in City Place? Any independent shops with reasonable pricing around here?

I used to be in the Danforth every couple of weeks and there’s an independent grocer at Pape with quality produce for reasonable prices. I wish I could find something like that somewhere close by.
 
I haven't been for a while, but produce at the Sobey's in City Place was hit and miss and generally expensive. I used to hit up the farmers' markets during season and Longo's at Maple Leaf Square otherwise -- more expensive than Loblaws but better quality. I also had organic food delivery from Mama Earth which was amazing.
 
There should be a Whole Foods going in at The Well that will take care of the downtown population surge.

I’d still like to see smaller good quality grocers sprinkled around downtown.

There’s been indications that a Grocery Gateway wants to expand quickly with their brick and mortar stores downtown. I used to subscribe to their deliveries but I’d have no use for the random stuff they’d send and a lot of the food spoiled quickly. I’d go to their store to pick up some produce for the next couple of days.
 
There’s been indications that a Grocery Gateway wants to expand quickly with their brick and mortar stores downtown. I used to subscribe to their deliveries but I’d have no use for the random stuff they’d send and a lot of the food spoiled quickly. I’d go to their store to pick up some produce for the next couple of days.
Grocery Gateway? Isn't that just Longos?
 
Has Whole Foods confirmed? Years ago they were slated for Minto Westside but pulled out.

I suspect they pulled out because The Well came on the scene. Front and Spadina within walking distance of dozens of condos, at the door step to City Place and inside the largest retail centre in Downtown Toronto outside of the Eaton Centre... that's much more attractive to Whole Foods than Front and Bathurst.

Whole Foods reiterated recently that they still plan to come to Downtown Toronto and knowing that there have been talks about a large grocer being an anchor tenant at The Well and know that Whole Foods pulled out of their original plan a couple of blocks away on the same street, I say the odds are pretty good that that's where they're going.
 
They pulled out because the development was taking too long. This was years ago.
 
I visited Organic Garage in Liberty Village for the first time and was blown away. They had a lot of items that I can normally only find at the St Lawrence / Kensington markets and most prices were on par with or better than my local No Frills. Bulk kombucha and cold brew coffee on tap. It's like grocery shopping 15 years in the future. Very impressed.
 
I visited Organic Garage in Liberty Village for the first time and was blown away. They had a lot of items that I can normally only find at the St Lawrence / Kensington markets and most prices were on par with or better than my local No Frills. Bulk kombucha and cold brew coffee on tap. It's like grocery shopping 15 years in the future. Very impressed.

Sounds like their getting their stuff together. I'm encouraged. I visiting their junction outlet a couple of year's back, and you could see the promise, and selectively competitive pricing.

But they had some real issues w/regards to produce quality and were a little more steeply priced on some goods than I thought they needed to be.

Sounds like their upping their game and reaching their potential. I'll have to check it out.

PS....that's to OG and the impending Longos arrival....................I understand the Metro Liberty village is going to get more investment. I'm surprised, as the current iteration isn't that old.... but I gather it's a top performing
store for Metro and they intend to defend their market share.
 
Yeah, I paid close attention to the produce section and found no problems on my first visit. Good expiry dates on bins of baby greens, no wilty scallions or dark leafy greens, garlic bulbs were firm and healthy; things I typically look for. They seem to be high on the pecking order at the Food Terminal versus most chains, who have absolutely no shame in selling fruits and veg in advanced states of decomposition.

I really like that it’s an urban format store that doesn’t lean heavily on normie prepared foods like those PC Independent stores and Sobeys Urban Fresh (I despise them so much).
 
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Sounds like their getting their stuff together. I'm encouraged. I visiting their junction outlet a couple of year's back, and you could see the promise, and selectively competitive pricing.

But they had some real issues w/regards to produce quality and were a little more steeply priced on some goods than I thought they needed to be.

Sounds like their upping their game and reaching their potential. I'll have to check it out.

PS....that's to OG and the impending Longos arrival....................I understand the Metro Liberty village is going to get more investment. I'm surprised, as the current iteration isn't that old.... but I gather it's a top performing
store for Metro and they intend to defend their market share.

That Metro store is for sure probably one of the busiest out there. Everytime I'd go when I lived in that area, it was always crazy busy.
 

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