McEwan is quite nice. Lots of prepared foods.
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It does look underwhelming. Will this survive once Eataly opens? I can see maybe locals using this store but with the cheaper Longos to the right and Eataly and others to the left, will there be any reason to go here?
 
alklay said:
It does look underwhelming. Will this survive once Eataly opens? I can see maybe locals using this store but with the cheaper Longos to the right and Eataly and others to the left, will there be any reason to go here?
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The store is too small and the selection suffers; having to go to two or three places to get what you need is annoying. It might be useful for some ingredients; for example, I saw kewpie mayo there, something that BSM doesn't have (and I'm sure the tiny Longo's doesn't either). But then again there is an H Mart less than a block south.
 
alklay said:
It does look underwhelming. Will this survive once Eataly opens? I can see maybe locals using this store but with the cheaper Longos to the right and Eataly and others to the left, will there be any reason to go here?
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As a longtime resident of the area, former fine dining cook at a McEwan-owned restaurant, and wonk who's done a stupidly aggregious amount of research into grocery trends for someone who isn't in the business, I offer my take:

I've speculated in the Manulife Centre thread that I think Bloor Street Market is going to be the big one to suffer. The current money-maker in the grocery game is prepared food, to-go and meal kits. There's little margin left on ingredients (whole produce, etc.), but lots of room for markup on prepared/half-prepared stuff. McEwan's shrewd and knows this; it's why barely ¼ of this new store is produce/grocery and the rest is prepared food and food to go. Eataly, likewise, is all about on prepared/to-go foods; it's their thing. Bloor Street Market's last renovation put a lot more focus on prepared/to-go foods as well, but the reality is they're a good (albeit small) grocery store that offers middle-of-the-road prepared/to-go foods. McEwan and Eataly easily have BSM beat on this angle, and Eataly will be in the same damn building.

The small size of the produce section in McEwan tells me that they're bringing in fresh for nearly the entirety of the to-go product they're selling. Combine that with a background in fine dining and it's guaranteed the product is better (even if it's about 20% more expensive) than BSM–who like most grocery chains, likely uses prepared/to-go as a means to avoid wasting product that's aging-out. A trip to McEwan at lunchtime today tells me it was quite busy. They're offering samples and making sure that the novelty of being the new guy in town doesn't wear off. I think that it'll be the favourite of the local office jockeys.

Eataly will have some customer crossover with McEwan, for sure. But Eataly is a bit of a different beast. It's more experience-driven and is more likely to be a draw for Yorkville tourists as much as lunch-seeking locals. I certainly think there's room for both McEwan and Eataly. I also think that due to location, and guaranteed better quality of food, that they will combined be the nail in the coffin for BSM and will do some damage to Pusateri's.

BSM will survive for a while—it could probably coast for a year or two on the seniors living in the building above. But merely slowing the blood loss of customers and relying on a population nearing the end of their independent years isn't a good longterm strategy, unless they back down on the prepared/to-go angle and focus on grocery and produce within a reasonable price. Aiming their sights at the Asian student market—a growing demographic in the area—might be the best bet, even with the competition of the nearby Galleria or H-Mart, as they have many more square feet and have the established Loblaws backbone. And with the overall growing density, we need more than just bodega-sized "grocery" stores in the Bloor-Yonge area. BSM'd do well to try and be as close to a JIT outfit as possible (if that's at all possible with produce) and deal with running out of product to avoid losses, but if they try to compete on prepared foods and to-go, they're gonna lose.

Don't get me wrong, I love BSM. They're one of the few grocery stores around selling medium ground beef–almost always ground from chuck (not trim) and at a good price to boot. I'm there a couple of times a week. I don't want them to go, but I don't see an easy road ahead for them.

Longo's will probably be just fine; they're not *as* focused on prepared food and offer the best produce in the area, but also have proximity to the subway entrance that gives them a traffic flow edge for those getting groceries and food on the way home. Especially with the nearby Rogers/Manulife crowd.

Pusateri's is a bit of a wild card. I see Pusateri's will compete more with McEwan than Eataly; but I also see them as a location for the well-to-dos not looking to mingle with the commoners. So who knows how they'll fare.
 
Interesting analysis. Thanks for sharing. Personally I hope these new offerings finally kill Pusateris or make it suffer enough to change significantly. Although I like some things about Pusateris, their store at Bay & Yorkville is just so egregiously cramped and overstocked and poorly laid out. It is such a rotten experience especially when it's busy.

Curious to know if you see McEwan's as being in the same location and "band" or "category" as Whole Foods Market and where WFM fits in this whole thing?

Ironically I wonder if BSM needs to re-embrace its role as the decent quality discount retailer in the area. Remember ValuMart?
 
RonThom said:
Curious to know if you see McEwan's as being in the same location and "band" or "category" as Whole Foods Market and where WFM fits in this whole thing?

Ironically I wonder if BSM needs to re-embrace its role as the decent quality discount retailer in the area. Remember ValuMart?
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I honestly don't know about Whole Foods; it's close enough to the Annex to attract some of that crowd, but a lot of the granolas have moved out of that area, too. McEwan carries a certain cachet that Whole Foods had but has since lost after the last decade of massive suburban NA expansion; and especially after they became an arm of Amazon.

Re: BSM, I don't think they need to go discount. There are a new(ish) No Frills and FreshCo nearby; I think they need to move to the middle area between discount and high-end. There are plenty of middle-income families in the area (we are one) and there'll be more in the coming years as millennials end their family-rearing delay and want to stay in the city. It's more that BSM needs to give up chasing the prepped food dragon and go back to grocery basics. McEwan and Eataly won't be where people think to go when they want to get everyday produce and incidentals; and even without BSM's presence in the area, something will eventually spring up to fill that need.
 
Thank you for great analysis. I just hope that BSM is not going to change very much. I like the new McEwan and appreciate all the prepared foods but I am not planing to have take outs everyday not only because of the markups but dietary/health considerations as well, and sometimes you just get tired of eating out and all added sodium and spices. I like my food the way I do it myself,and I am sure there are many customers like that. When I was at McEwans I thought it would be great and convenient for take outs but I would still prefer BSM for regular grocery shopping. I find it has much better choice than Longos and better in term of price and quality of everyday food. So I really hope BSM is not going discount or compete with take out places. Also the population of the area is growing tremendously and will continue to do so. May be there is room for all?
 
RonThom said:
Interesting analysis. Thanks for sharing. Personally I hope these new offerings finally kill Pusateris or make it suffer enough to change significantly. Although I like some things about Pusateris, their store at Bay & Yorkville is just so egregiously cramped and overstocked and poorly laid out. It is such a rotten experience especially when it's busy.

Curious to know if you see McEwan's as being in the same location and "band" or "category" as Whole Foods Market and where WFM fits in this whole thing?

Ironically I wonder if BSM needs to re-embrace its role as the decent quality discount retailer in the area. Remember ValuMart?
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So is the Pusateri's at Bayview Village. Just too cramped, but I like it. Reminds me of the small grocers in Montreal when I was a kid. I like both Pusateri's and McEwan's (the Shops on Don Mills version). Don't think McEwan's can replace Pusateri's right now. Pusateri's has a much bigger selection.
 
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