Toronto Ryerson's Mattamy Athletics Centre + Loblaws at the Gardens | ?m | ?s | Ryerson University | Turner Fleischer

[egotrippin]

Some of these comments remind me of what Ed the Sock always says..."If you don't have anything good to say, say it often"

Watch a bunch of miserable people.

Where's the fresh duck?!?

Sorry mom. Are you saying we shouldn't voice any opinion, or offer suggestion if it isn't all roses and sunshine? Some of the criticism may be harsh or misdirected, but that's a natural part of debate and discussion; especially on a development forum.

I don't see why you're mocking a member for questioning the lack of fresh duck, it's not really some fancy exotic ingredient unless you're a meat 'n' potatahs person from the sticks (guffaw). It's pretty fair to expect it from a grocer that touts its selection of fresh food.

Now, about that Bulk Barn at Yonge. Nothing will convince me that is a good idea. It isn't an 'urban concept' Bulk Barn — it's the regular tacky yellow suburban Bulk Barn they usually put in low-end neighbourhoods. Oh! What a downtown experience: Bulk Barn.

I think what you're forgetting is that not every business downtown needs to be an "experience" or "destination". Lots of people live downtown, and lots of people will benefit from a bulk food store. It fills a need, since there aren't many bulk food options in the area, and yes, affluent condo dwellers appreciate the value of buying bulk as much as people in "low-end neighbourhoods"; more so than a lot of people considering how expensive the psf of their condos, no doubt!

 

[CanadianNational]

I went today at about 11:30am. Somehow the line had vanished at that point, and my friend and I just walked in.

It was a madhouse inside, though. The place was packed! It looked good, as far as first impressions go. Airy, lofty. Some interesting structural bits kept at the entrance. I didn't much care for the maple leaf made out of blue chairs, though.
The bare concrete ceiling, the pillars and the lighting all seem to work better together in real life than they do in the photographs I've seen. I think the obvious plywood on the pillars could have been improved a notch, and there's a cheapo looking duct lining the ceiling here and there, but overall, they've done a good job.
The various massive food stations look great - announcing themselves well, and with good use of materials. It was just too crowded to see how they'll work with traffic flow under normal conditions, though. The displays were excellent.

The aisles are extremely wide, and there are generous open spaces throughout the space that let you breathe,turn around and get oriented easily.

The floors have all been covered in radiant oranges and reds, which really warms up the experience of walking through the place.

The amount of food is almost a bit overwhelming. This is a place I plan to go back to again and again - not just for convenience, but to actually take in, enjoy, and get used to. I suppose I'll have to. It's so large inside that it's not quite just a place you simply drop in to get a quart of milk.

My only real complaint about the place was the music, which was a glutinous mishmash of '80's MOR hits - and turned up a bit too loudly.

All in all, a very impressive retail experience. A decent architectural one, I suppose, simply for seeing the thrill of adaptive reuse, more than any outstanding details inside. What's happening with MLG is a great uplift for that corner.

On walking back out, looking across Church Street street at the two little crumbling buildings there, the parking lot - I couldn't help but feel that their days are numbered. Any vacant lots - and low-rise occupied lots - around Church and Carlton must have the eye of some serious speculation on them now.

I also can't imagine the 'marts' nearby - SuperFresh on Church, Little Bee on Carlton, or the nearby Fresh Mart are going to to be able to remain in their current condition.
Also, Pusateri's on Church, and Reither's. I can't imagine they won't be hit.
The thing I'm most interested in are the two Metro stores nearby. The one in College park is not a favourite shopping experience - but it might survive because of it's essentially captive audience linked around College Park environment. The one on Gould at Ryerson U...well, it will be interesting to see how this one fares.

 

[Dan416]

I can't wait to visit this Loblaws. I won't be making a trip down specifically to see it, but next time I'm in the Village will definitely check it out!

 

[Miscreant]

I admit I was a bit concerned about this years ago, but I'm really happy how it turned out. And I've always had good feelings toward Loblaws.

 

[Mississauga Slim]

On walking back out, looking across Church Street street at the two little crumbling buildings there, the parking lot - I couldn't help but feel that their days are numbered. Any vacant lots - and low-rise occupied lots - around Church and Carlton must have the eye of some serious speculation on them now.

I also can't imagine the 'marts' nearby - SuperFresh on Church, Little Bee on Carlton, or the nearby Fresh Mart are going to to be able to remain in their current condition.
Also, Pusateri's on Church

I was wondering about some of the same things. However, I noticed that the parking lot at Church & Wood was more full than usual for this time of night on a Wednesday. I have to assume that Loblaws is the reason. Loblaws, ironically, could be the new element that keeps that parking lot viable. It's one of the oldest surface parking lots in the city. It dates back at least to the 1940s. As far as I know MLG is what kept it going through the years. Now that MLG is back in play, so to speak, happy days may be here again for the lot owners.

As for Pusateri, I have to say their produce is generally so much better than anything else I've seen, that I'll keep buying my fruits & vegetables there regardless. Even of I have to be a contortionist to get past people in the aisles.

 

[Peepers]

My first impression - from visiting tonight - is that this may very well be the best supermarket in the city outdoing Whole Foods and Pusateri's. This is not just another Loblaws!

One of the best parts of the store is the on-site ACE Bakery (the only store to have one). They have a huge variety of breads all baked on site from scratch (not par-baked like all other supermarkets) and the prices are quite reasonable.

Also impressive was the huge selection of prepared meal items which I thought looked reasonably priced.

As for grocery items prices seemed reasonable. For instance I did see many things on sale and noticed that on some of the sale items prices were the same as what I have seen at no-frills for the same item which I thought was good, I don't think you will ever see at Metro prices matching their Freshco stores. My gut feeling is overall grocery prices are cheaper than Metro or Sobey's although it will still be much cheaper to do most of your shopping at No-Frills or Food Basics. This is a place to go for the quality goods the discount stores don't offer.

 

[Peepers]

I also can't imagine the 'marts' nearby - SuperFresh on Church, Little Bee on Carlton, or the nearby Fresh Mart are going to to be able to remain in their current condition.
Also, Pusateri's on Church, and Reither's. I can't imagine they won't be hit.
The thing I'm most interested in are the two Metro stores nearby. The one in College park is not a favourite shopping experience - but it might survive because of it's essentially captive audience linked around College Park environment. The one on Gould at Ryerson U...well, it will be interesting to see how this one fares.

I agree the "marts" you mentioned are going to take major hits. I hope that Reither's can survive because I enjoy sitting on their patio during nicer weather even if their food is hit and miss. As for the other marts mentioned I cannot imagine, for example, someone shopping at Little Bee when they can walk one block west and buy food that is not only much higher in quality but also cheaper! With Loblaws being open till 11:00PM these smaller marts have no competitive advantage.

 

[adma]

An interesting, flattering-to-Toronto thing to consider: the fate of MLG vs the fate of the Forum.

 

[Atlantis]

An interesting, flattering-to-Toronto thing to consider: the fate of MLG vs the fate of the Forum.

You can even go so far as to compare the fate of MLG to that of the other Original Six arenas. Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium, Detroit Olympia...all demolished, one to make way for the new stadium, another for a parking lot, while Madison Square Garden kept getting rebuilt.

Perhaps being the last of the Six to replace their old arena paid dividends in the form of learning from others mistakes when it came time to decide what to do with the old structure. I think time was definitely on our side with this one.

 

[kkgg7]

My gut feeling is overall grocery prices are cheaper than Metro or Sobey's although it will still be much cheaper to do most of your shopping at No-Frills or Food Basics. This is a place to go for the quality goods the discount stores don't offer.

For some fresh food, maybe, but how does a box of cereal charge $5.99 at these "quality markets" while the same product is sold at $4.49 at Nofrills. I can understand beef and salmon may have better quality (in theory but who knows) than discount stores, but for processed food?

I was surprised that, for example, eggplants are typically sold for $3.99 a pound at Metro etc, but $1.99 or lower than many Asian grocery stores. There is practically no difference. In the end, I surmise the premium we pay for shopping at Metro and Loblaws mostly goes to employee benefits and higher cost of maintenance. not quality of food.

 

[ladyscraper]

An interesting, flattering-to-Toronto thing to consider: the fate of MLG vs the fate of the Forum.

Yesterday, I was reminded just how little the average person appreciates history or knows the true value of it when a Montreal Canadiens fan had a huge argument with me about how they thought the Forum was a better tribute to the Habs than Maple Leaf Gardens is to the Leafs. I told her "but it looks NOTHING like the old Forum" to which she replied "but you can buy Montreal Canadiens merchandise there! That is better than a Loblaws! They even charge too much for milk!"

What a world we live in where "they charge too much for milk" is a valid comeback to the fact that one building was faithfully restored and the other was not.

 

[interchange42]

Well, she's a Habs fan after all. That should already tell you a lot.

Okay - just a joke troll. No-one bite please. Let's move back to debating the price of every item for sale there, as if the chains have never had price variations before…

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[Jonny5]

One of the best parts of the store is the on-site ACE Bakery (the only store to have one). They have a huge variety of breads all baked on site from scratch (not par-baked like all other supermarkets) and the prices are quite reasonable.

Also impressive was the huge selection of prepared meal items which I thought looked reasonably priced.

Fantastic news about the bakery! I can't stand the bastardized Premiere Moisson pre-baked and frozen slabs Metro dumped on this province after buying Dominion. Well, actually, I clearly can stand them, as I have bought many, and I do love my carbs! But it's nice to have an alternative to that.

I'm sure the prepared meals section is a shot across the bow of Longo's. Their store in FCP (and the Dundas store when I was there once) has insane lineups at lunch hour for the prepared foods, which they no doubt make great profits on. It's amazing how they spotted that market and seized it. A fantastic strategic move for such a small operation.

Did anyone notice if they have a good selection of President's Choice Black Label products? There are some I want to try but they are consistently sold out at the Loblaw's I have been to (Yonge/Yonge, QQ/Jarvis, Lake Shore/Leslie).

EDIT: That reminds me of a question that's been bugging me. Why is the store at Yonge and Yonge, and a few others, called "Loblaw", while others are called "Loblaws"? Identity crisis?

 

[wopchop]

As a Canadiens fan, I'm extremely jealous that this turned out as well as it did. The old forum was transformed into an atrocity, with zero regard for it's heritage. Sure, it's got that mercandise store, but it sucks. To respect of the history of hockey in the arena, it doesn't need anything like that. The transformation of MLG proves that. The new Maple Leaf Gardens was well executed; The Maple Leaf made out of old seats is really awesome, the interior signage is cool, and the exterior facade remained intact. All of that is infinitely better than some store dedicated to selling jerseys and buttons.

Very well done, overall.

 

[MetroMan]

... and a reminder: what we've seen so far is pretty much just the "basement" of the building. Maple Leafs Gardens will remain as an ice rink where the next generation of hockey players will be born.