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PinkLucy, well my husband was a fan of the veal bologna, and I have to say that I always felt that Valumart's produce was good. My personal guilty pleasure was the ocassional slice of white cake (sold in single slices), and I'll miss the salad bar (something St. Clair Market does not have). We've lived down on Bay Street and up here in the Yonge/St. Clair area for years and we're contemplating a move back down to Bay at the end of the year. So I'll enjoy what I hope will be a better prepared foods area/selection at the new Bloor Street Market (St. Clair's is really nice), and figure out how to compensate for some of the areas where St. Clair Market, and therefore the new Bloor Street Market, might be weak -- brand selection for cleaning supplies, pet supplies, and oh...for some reason St. Clair Market does not sell bags of ice, but I guess there is always Rabba for that.
 
It will be interesting to see ... no two stores are exactly the same because of customer mix. So if management knows that salad bars are a high sales item in one area, they may put one in even though St. Clair Market doesn't have one. Although they're a different company, the two Sobey's in the waterfront area (one right at Harbourfront, the other at City Place) are both small, urban concept stores but aren't identical so that may be the case here. Only time will tell! And if there's a particular product you're looking for, ask the manager -- if it's listed in the system, he/she can order it in even if you don't currently see it on the shelf.
 
A Bloor Street Market'd also be interesting in that it's more squarely targeting the "condo market"; whereas the Valu-Mart was, like many a 60s/70s grocery, more egalitarian in its positioning--an emblem of how grocery demographics have changed...
 
was chatting with people in the know at BIG L (Loblaws) seems that Loblaws has tried this concept in quebec they're calling them marche there, bloor street market (new name) will be a prototype of the current st.clair market format here....Westons finally got tired of complaints of how management was running the place, decided not to renew the franchisee lease, thus decided it was time to change the look of the store, so get ready for August....
 
Well St. Clair Market is an aesthetically pleasing place, so that will be an improvement to the dingier out-dated appearance that Valumart had. As I said earlier in the thread, there are a bunch of items that Valumart carried that St. Clair doesn't, but then again, St. Clair Market's space doesn't appear to me to be as big as what Valumart had to work with at the Manulife. So with all that added room, and a more appealing shopping experience, it should be good for the neighborhood. I wonder what happens to the Valumart staff that worked there for years though. Will they be the staff of the new Bloor Market, or do they get sent to other stores in the dwindling Valumart chain? There were some veteran staff that were really nice to deal with.
 
As a franchisee, the valu-mart owner was likely the employer so it will be up to Loblaw whether they hire the new staff or not. When buying out a franchisee, there is often an agree re hiring of existing staff. If staff has been hired by Loblaw, they may well already be working in other stores for the company (not just valu-marts) and may be brought back when this one re-opens.
 
urbandreamer said:
Which grocery store has more "painful" (meaning ripoff) pricing--valu mart or Longo's? That new Longo's may take all the customers from Casa, 1 Bloor, BSN. I'd probably be too lazy to cross Yonge St if I lived there.
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UMMMMMMMMMM....I live in CASA and there is a traffic light to cross Yonge St. right at Charles so what on earth is the issue? From the front door at CASA Manulife is probably a TOUCH closer than Longos...but you're probably splitting hairs and ppl will chose the one that suits their taste better. As for 1BE, that isn't called for completion until end of 2014 and I expect there to be a grocery as part of the retail space but we still have 4-5 more years before that opens it's doors. I'm sure the owner's of the new Longos took this into account as they seemed to plan well by making this a place to also attract the business crowd for lunch and coffee as they will likely lose a large share of business from whatever goes into 1BE, so differentiating themselves was wise. They also should get traffic from X1 and X2 residents.

As for the valu-mart, I guess there are people that have shopped there for years. But for someone new to the neighbourhood I found it extremely dingy and smelly. I don't really think it's good for a food business to ruin their customers appetite the minute they walk in. It will be nice to see the new store as RABA is convinent but not a place I want to buy produce from, Longo's Market is good but limited and Whole Foods is pricey to buy everyday things from. I particularly like WF in the winter though as I can go from indoor parking to indoor parking and not have to even take a jacket.

The new store is VERY timely as the closest condos will be Uptown and Crystal Blu, I'm sure this has a lot to do with the renovation. They want to ensure that they get business from all the new residents who may have otherwise looked for a nicer place to shop.
 
When Valumart closed I switched to Rabba. After a while I got tired of their poor quality produce and finally decided to check out Longo's.

Longo's is amazing. The prices are competitive if not better than No Frills for fruits and veggies and everything is always super fresh.

I'm kinda glad the Valumart closed. I'm curious if their makeover will win back a lot of ex customers who've now found much better places to shop...
 
Yep, from one (vertical) suburb to another. Parking is free is you spend money at WF.

I'd probably go to Longo's, and for cheaper food, maybe twice a month go to that No Frills on Sherbourne--it's not that far, I walk further weekly to get my groceries in High Park area. Just checked on google maps--it's less than 1km from Casa to No Frills--I'm jealous.:)
 
adHominem said:
Waitaminute. You drive from Casa to the Whole Foods?
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Have you tried to walk 8 blocks with 8-10 grocery bags? I have, and it hurts like hell. And I'm no pencil-neck. Grocery shopping is the only activity that I don't mind people driving to every time.
 
I think grocery stores in more urban areas should offer carts to use to take your groceries home on a deposit/return basis.
 
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