You're more likely to see me very early mornings. Saturdays and Sundays, I'm usually up and out the door at 7-7:30am.
Early bird gets the photo...worm... err.
I'm up that early, but posting on UT and doing the NYT Crosword, and catching up on email, and having my very needed coffee.
Out the door is more 10'ish.
As someone who has walked by this location hundreds of times in the past year alone, the entire area is largely a dead zone for shopping foot traffic. People I always see going to this location are typically going into the LCBO. I don't shop at Farm Boy myself. The one and only time I walked into one of them years ago, I took a look at the prices and walked out. I've never gone back.
Maybe they are not overpriced and I'm just cheap but either way,
Farm Boy certainly isn't 'cheap' but its not luxury pricing either. As with any chain, it depends on what you're looking for...
For FB, they aggressively price on Parsley, Cilantro, Beans, Fennel and a few other produce items; up to 50% less than what you would pay at No Frills.
On Meat, they run a bit high.....not outrageously so, but about 10% higher than comparable stores; but they aggressively price pork products, particularly pork tenderloin with sales ever 4-6 weeks of $8.80 per kg for Pork Tenderloin which is a very good deal.
Centre store, (shelf stable items), their house branded vinegars are a pretty decent deal for quality to price ratio; but on pasta and canned tomatoes/beans they're a bit hefty.
Most other stuff is somewhere in the middle.
Their strongest suit is probably the variety of sausages they have. Something like a dozen types.
I only discovered this location by random chance. I think I saw a small sign for it as I walked by a few months ago. That's how invisible this location is and that's a huge problem, imo.
100%
This location for Farm Boy has two things going against it.1.) A Loblaws Megastore nearby in a prime, very visible, location that has visible and very accessible parking, while the Farm Boy has no visible presence at all. 2.) The area is not heavily populated with any sort of dense community (yet). I genuinely believe that people will travel to go to a Loblaws, I don't think they will travel to go to a Farm Boy.
I'm not sure I think this is key, so much as Loblaws as a store is far more visible, and so is its parking.
If they could hold out for a decade or more, I think the Pinnacle, Pinnacle Lakeside, and Quayside communities will help densify the immediate area. From a marketing perspective though, if they have the money and time, I would be hitting all the condos in a 3km radius with flyers showcasing their store, especially where it is, any sort of fresh food options they have there, and emphasizing any sort of positive "experience" a shopper would get there.
All that said, I believe the Loblaws there sucks up the grocery economy in that area, obviously.
I'm not going to print what I estimate their losses to be on this location, I don't know their lease terms, but I do know the industry...........and I will say the numbers as I imagine them make me wince.
