alenka said:
Also the population of the area is growing tremendously and will continue to do so. May be there is room for all?
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I think there'll be room for all, for all he reasons you've stated: people still want traditional grocery store products as well as the convenience/take out items, so a traditional grocery store will still be a draw here.

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McEwan's was really busy at lunch today. I hope that BSM will continue to do well as a mid market grocer which we still need in this neighborhood.
 
Benito said:
McEwan's was really busy at lunch today. I hope that BSM will continue to do well as a mid market grocer which we still need in this neighborhood.
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Me too. They just gotta fight the urge to compete on prepared food—a hard task when most of the industry has been rushing headlong in that direction.
 
zang said:
Me too. They just gotta fight the urge to compete on prepared food—a hard task when most of the industry has been rushing headlong in that direction.
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I used to live at Bay and College, and I had easy access to the huge MLG Loblaws and the College Park Metro and Sobeys stores. I can't count the times I actually had to go to those three stores to get what I needed. Invariably, one or the other had no celery, no heavy cream , no cilantro - and I'm not even talking about more exotic products. Then I moved to Manulife and I've been consistently impressed with BSM despite how busy they are and their weird layout, and I almost never have to go anywhere else. I sincerely believe they'll survive the changes that are coming.
 
Bayer said:
I used to live at Bay and College, and I had easy access to the huge MLG Loblaws and the College Park Metro and Sobeys stores. I can't count the times I actually had to go to those three stores to get what I needed. Invariably, one or the other had no celery, no heavy cream , no cilantro - and I'm not even talking about more exotic products. Then I moved to Manulife and I've been consistently impressed with BSM despite how busy they are and their weird layout, and I almost never have to go anywhere else. I sincerely believe they'll survive the changes that are coming.
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I’m continually surprised at how much variety that BSM has. I often find items there that the MLG Loblaw’s doens’t have.
 
zang said:
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.
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I appreciate your insight, but will beg to differ on BSM.

It's run by the best store manager in the Loblaws empire.

She's already set to go w/an expansion and gut job on the store (negotiations are under way w/Manulife)

Prepared Foods will be a focus of the expansion with a chef-driven kitchen.

The amount of space they get will depend on talks w/the landlord, but they are looking at a range btw 2000-8000 sq ft extra, I think.

Sales psf are solid.

***

I think WF has more of a problem. They've got Amazon's financial muscle behind them, but the Canadian stores remain an after thought, and the Ontario stores in particular are too influenced by poor management thinking coming out of midwest region in Chicago.
 
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TheKingEast said:
My wife got tired of having to go to a secondary store due to LoblAws MLG not having so many things that she just stopped shopping there. It’s crazy how they will be out of essential products you would expect to see at every grocer. That store has lost its lustre.
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As noted about WF above in a different context, it's amazing how grocers w/deep pockets and research teams don't stay invested in their great ideas.

In the case of MLG, when it started they not only had great ambitions, but a Loblaws VP who made the store its own 'region' with wide ranging flexibility not open to other stores in the chain to bring in off-list vendors and to fix things outside the normal rules.

That has has largely changed.

It doesn't help matters, in its own odd way, that the store is making money hand over fist no matter how little attention they pay to it.

When they started, their chef program was overseen by the executive chef to the Weston family who again had great ambitions.

He has moved on.......and the product is stagnating or sliding backwards, totally apart from the essentials question.

Of course, that is partly because of the phenomenal area growth, and relatively little competition.

Metro College Park is now mostly renovated I think, but last I saw had not undergone a desperately needed expansion.

Neither Sobeys, nor Longos have full-size stores nearby.

I have a good handle on where grocery is going in, and I haven't heard of anything full-size coming to the College/Carlton/Yonge zone anytime soon.

Suffice to say, for the time being, the capacity of grocery in downtown is almost fully taxed.

At current growth rates of population and jobs, you're looking at literally 10 more full-line super markets in DT over the next decade and a half.

Failures will be limited to very poor execution, and good spaces will be picked off by competitors if that happens.
 
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Northern Light said:
I appreciate your insight, but will beg to differ on BSM.

It's run by the best store manager in the Loblaws empire.

She's already set to go w/an expansion and gut job on the store (negotiations are under way w/Manulife)

Prepared Foods will be a focus of the expansion with a chef-driven kitchen.

The amount of space they get will depend on talks w/the landlord, but they are looking at a range btw 2000-8000 sq ft extra, I think.
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They could use the old Rexall location as well the old optician space behind it, and integrate the hallway and entrance/exit into the store.

It was speculated that the LCBO would expand into that space, but I couldn't find any call for tenders for such a project.
 
Bayer said:
They could use the old Rexall location as well the old optician space behind it, and integrate the hallway and entrance/exit into the store.

It was speculated that the LCBO would expand into that space, but I couldn't find any call for tenders for such a project.
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From what I understand, the Rexall space is under discussion, w/the hallway/exit posing some issue as I believe they require an exit at all times through that space, but there are ways to make that work.

Also under discussion is the space underneath the escalators.
 
I personally like the McEwan's but I see it as an alternative to Pusateri's not to BSM. Prepared foods are nice and great to have in the building, especially during the winter, but they just don't have the selection or the prices to compete with BSM in my opinion. The Longo's across the street is too small and frequently missing things. I, like the another poster's wife got too tired of having to go to multiple stores in the same trip. I truly think that McEwan's, Pusateri's and Eataly will be competing for the same customer market while BSM will remain steady for people who need to grocery shop. The only thing that is truly missing is a mid-market store (as mentioned above). I wince at the prices at BSM, but refuse to go Longo's and the other offerings just won't have what I need at a price point I can accept for regular shopping. A truly mid-market store with offerings like the Metro on Front Street would have me shopping there exclusively.
 
SammyLand said:
I personally like the McEwan's but I see it as an alternative to Pusateri's not to BSM. Prepared foods are nice and great to have in the building, especially during the winter, but they just don't have the selection or the prices to compete with BSM in my opinion. The Longo's across the street is too small and frequently missing things. I, like the another poster's wife got too tired of having to go to multiple stores in the same trip. I truly think that McEwan's, Pusateri's and Eataly will be competing for the same customer market while BSM will remain steady for people who need to grocery shop. The only thing that is truly missing is a mid-market store (as mentioned above). I wince at the prices at BSM, but refuse to go Longo's and the other offerings just won't have what I need at a price point I can accept for regular shopping. A truly mid-market store with offerings like the Metro on Front Street would have me shopping there exclusively.
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Love that Metro.
 
Northern Light said:
I appreciate your insight, but will beg to differ on BSM.

It's run by the best store manager in the Loblaws empire.
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That may be, but despite likely being considered an anchor at the Manulife Centre, her agreement with her landlord has seemingly allowed Galen Weston and Eataly to park themselves in the same building, selling overlapping, high margin wares, right in between her store and the feet on the street.

Northern Light said:
She's already set to go w/an expansion and gut job on the store (negotiations are under way w/Manulife)

Prepared Foods will be a focus of the expansion with a chef-driven kitchen.
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And that’s my fear.

Few business owners think they’re going to get taken out by new competition, but so many do. And the market here and now doesn’t need *more* prepared food, it needs more grocery. Several people here other than me have said as much.

And my question is; why weren’t her prepared foods “chef driven” before? Why now that McEwan and Eataly are in the game does quality become of greater import? Maisie’s playing a game of catch-up, with two companies known for the quality of their prepared/to-go. High margins make it tempting to chase, but it’s already too late, IMO. Eataly will be well established by the time her renos finish, and both McEwan and Eataly can (and do) get news coverage and have names strongly associated with quality food. Whereas few outside of the Yonge & Bloor area even know about BSM.

Think of it this way; BSM is the local family store that sells some hardware products as well as clothing, general housewares, etc. Suddenly, a Lee Valley opens up nearby, and Restoration Hardware decides to open up a flagship shop in the same building. Do you think, “oh man, I need to up my hardware game and focus even more so on that!” Or do you think, “I’ve gotta put my focus into the areas they’re weakest” (in this case, old-school grocery). I would certainly pick the latter, but it’s likely too tempting not to go after those prepped food margins.

I was with the McEwan Group and was told Mark’s focus was apparently less on actually being a grocer, and more on building a supply chain for his restaurants and a training ground for cooks (note the proximity of McEwan stores to Fabbrica, Bymark and now One). He’s a shrewd man. And Galen Weston is a ruthless man.

Unfortunately, McEwan and Eataly will now own the game in the area. They just stole it out from under BSM, and the chances of Maisie getting it back are, I think, pretty slim. I’m willing to bet that with just McEwan open, she’ll be seeing sales of prepped/togo down significantly by the end of May.
 
I so much agree with you that competing with prep foods places at this time, and particularly expanding in this area could be a very serious mistake for BSM, they should rather distinguish themselves from competitors in the area which is already their strength, i.e. groceries.

There is an unoccupied niche in the neighbourhood , however, and it is in the hours of operation. One thing I have noticed is the lack of casual dining/take out later in the evening. We very often work late during the week, and that is exactly the time when you do not want to cook or do dishes. Bloor street Diner was occupying this niche and was open until midnight and they had night time menu but now, even arround 8 pm BMS is the only place to go to. I already tried McEvan arround that time but they close at 8.30 and there was very little choice. I also noticed that about 8 pm many customers try to get to Scaccia (close to BMS) and they get turned away “we are closing” they say. Pusateri close their prep. foods even sooner, arround 7pm. It is surprising to me that in this area, which is praised for dining out there is nowhere to eat casually (or take out) between 8 and 11 pm.
 
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Eataly (or as I often call it, Wheataly) will bring competition, but there's only so much Italian food one can take. I go to BSM every day, and I don't see many people buying prepared foods. I never do, except for their roast chicken.
 
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