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I looked into this because Jacked Up is usually top notch (in terms of Melbourne/Oslo standards). The truck that used to be parked outside the LV West Elm is the one that moved to Metro Hall about a year ago. The one now in Longos is a new third truck.

Maybe Melbourne/Oslo standards are also weak or not what they used to be? I don't know. I just know that it was....nothing special.
 
Maybe Melbourne/Oslo standards are also weak or not what they used to be? I don't know. I just know that it was....nothing special.
Sorry, I didn't flesh out that thought. The Longos location is new and probably staffed by a less experienced barista compared to the others. Anyway, I think Arvo might be reopening in one of the new office buildings on Atlantic some time in the future.
 
Sorry, I didn't flesh out that thought. The Longos location is new and probably staffed by a less experienced barista compared to the others. Anyway, I think Arvo might be reopening in one of the new office buildings on Atlantic some time in the future.

What's an Arvo? Sounds vaguely Oslo-related.

Maybe it's me who is the problem eh? hahahaaaaa...maybe I'm just not coffe conoisseur enough....no, but seriously, the espresso was underwhelming. It was good enough, just nothing to write home about.
 
Ok, so I got around to checking out Longo's Liberty Village location on Sunday..........I've been meaning to for awhile to see if @SunriseChampion 's excoriating review was merited. LOL

While I might not be quite as mean, I'm not going to be much kinder.

So, first off, when you walk in off King, the ass-end of the cash lanes are to one's right, and customer service and floral to one's left, with produce straight ahead.

Nothing intrinsically wrong w/that.

Except, Longo's went and got the store licensed (as in the entire store) so one could walk around the store with a drink in one's hand. I don't know that this is my particular thing.......but w/e, I can see some people going for it.

So what does this mean intuitively? That maybe, I should be able to clearly see where I can get a drink right as I walk in the store???? Just sayin. It's not impossible to see, but you have to know what you're looking for to see it from the front door; and you'd have to wander through or around the cash lanes, 2 rows of them, to get to the seating, with the actual bar at the rear of said space on the dead opposite end of the store.

That makes less than no sense to me as a layout choice if you want the whole store licensed. For that matter, forget that idea, you just want someone to grab a drink at the bar, sip it there, then go shop; you still need the bar to be visible and easy to access as customers enter.

No one should be stopping for drinks once they have perishable items in bags w/them; the person who thought up this layout had at least one too many.

Now.......next item.....produce is the first section in the layout.

Its fine'ish, as produce sections go.....though for an LV location, it seems remarkably insensitive to the idea of bulk purchases, there's way too many portions, larger portions of produce in plastic.

On top of which the entire produce area is covered by absolutely harsh lighting that is entirely unflattering to all of the product and would give anyone having a drink a serious headache.

They actually have nice warm lighting over the hot bar section and salad bar area as well as the alcohol-bar, all of which are the tail end of the layout.

I have no idea what possessed them to install such awful lighting over the produce area. Even perfectly fresh stuff looks palid and off-colour.

They chose not to offer a butcher counter and instead go all-in on packaged meat. I get that it's a small space and choices have to be made; not sure I agree w/this one though.

In the deli, everything is showcased covered in plastic, very few meats were uncovered, on a Sunday afternoon; makes some premium product look straight out of a Walmart.....

The Bakery was respectable, as Longo's usually is; though a bit small by their standards w/reduced selection.

Layout of product is less than intuitive.

The grab n'go and Hot Bar/Cold Bar options are among their better efforts, though someone please explain to me how anyone passes off that green pudding as cole slaw? Really, come on, slaw is suppose to have crunch.

If there was one clear upside, it was their fresh pasta bar; they had perhaps 10 offerings (I didn't count)....including two meat-stuff pastas, both with braised short-rib, one in a small ravioli and one in a large angliotti.

I sampled those. Not brilliant, but above-average and priced well for the quality delivered.

Overall, the market is fine'ish, its not a total fail; but for Longo's, with a much-hyped, long-planned, Liberty Village location; not their best showing.......
 
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I wasn't being mean....I was being honest. I know a lot of people confuse the two in our eggshell-walking, bubble boy, offended by the wind and all else culture....but make no mistake.

I shop there regularly. :p

I can't believe you rate the bakery. It's pretty shallow with the the whole grain offerings.
 
This concept, which I brought to UT's attention in posting about Quebec based grocer Avril has taken off faster than I anticipated.........


Look for vertical farming technology in Sobeys stores in the GTA by late 2020/early 2021

I expect this will spread.

The advantages are really substantial from an environmental, freshness/quality and product variety perspective.

Where I expect differentiation, and I'm not sure how Sobeys is tackling this yet, is whether the farming system itself will be accessible to the public (pick your own) or only to staff who put product out once a day.

Either way, lots of potential.

I'm inclined towards a public-facing model (it looks cool), but having either staff-only, or staff-supervised access, but I'm open to seeing what works.
 
Fresh City at the Livmore (Bay & Gerrard) is now open:

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Article and photos of the new Fresh City store:

Despite the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Toronto-based Fresh City, a leading provider of organic, sustainable, and seasonal fresh food, has expanded.

The company has opened a new store — its second Fresh City store — at the corner of Bay Street and Gerrard Street to serve the grocery needs of thousands of front-line workers at nearby hospitals. The store, which is located at the base of The Livmore residential rental building, has scaled back its offering in light of risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic, it said.

“Our purpose is to create a better life through food. At this unprecedented time, we want to make it easier for hospital workers and nearby residents to have safe access to food. This location is steps away from five iconic research hospitals and opening now is one way that we can thank the hospital staff for everything they are doing,” said Ran Goel, the company’s founder and CEO, who added that all hospital workers are being offered a 10 per cent discount on grab & go fresh prepared items and single beverages.

"It is the least we can do. They are the ones who are putting themselves at risk and working overtime during this crisis. They are our health care heroes."

 
City Market College & Spadina closed November 7. Rumours T&T will replace it.

"We made the difficult decision to close the City Market at College and Spadina, as the store had been underperforming for a number of years," said a PR rep for Loblaw

 

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