AL Premium: Huge new Asian & Middle Eastern grocery store at Eglinton & Warden

[James]

...
Very clean and well laid out. I think some of them are still getting the hang of things though, in terms of organization. It's kinda of annoying only a few checkout aisles take credit. If they're going to take credit, they may as well have it for all aisles. So what happens is you have the cash aisle with a few people, but there is a long line up at the 1 or 2 credit card aisles.
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I noticed this at other Asian supermarkets, like T&T, as well. There are a dozen checkout lines but only 2 which accept credit card. What ends up happening is exactly what you state above, there's a huge lineup at the 2 that accept credit while the other lines consist of just a few people. In this day and age, I'd really expect all checkout lines to accept credit cards.

 

[LordWanker]

I noticed this at other Asian supermarkets, like T&T, as well. There are a dozen checkout lines but only 2 which accept credit card. What ends up happening is exactly what you state above, there's a huge lineup at the 2 that accept credit while the other lines consist of just a few people. In this day and age, I'd really expect all checkout lines to accept credit cards.

Not surprising if you knew what the merchant charges were.

 

[samsonyuen]

Speaking of Adonis, it's owned 55% by Metro.

 

[ShonTron]

I noticed this at other Asian supermarkets, like T&T, as well. There are a dozen checkout lines but only 2 which accept credit card. What ends up happening is exactly what you state above, there's a huge lineup at the 2 that accept credit while the other lines consist of just a few people. In this day and age, I'd really expect all checkout lines to accept credit cards.

It's been a while since I've been to one of these supermarkets, but what's the deal with debit, which has a lower, fixed transaction fee? Can you use Interac at all checkouts?

It's funny that Amex likes to give double rewards points for transactions made at supermarkets, which are a low margin business.

 

[James]

It's been a while since I've been to one of these supermarkets, but what's the deal with debit, which has a lower, fixed transaction fee? Can you use Interac at all checkouts?

It's funny that Amex likes to give double rewards points for transactions made at supermarkets, which are a low margin business.

I believe the retailers treat debit like cash, meaning you could pay with your debit card at any checkout line. That said, I have seen other Asian supermarkets who only accept debit if you're buying more than $10 worth of items. I do recall some grocery stores, e.g. on Spadina Ave, that won't even accept credit card at all.

 

[balenciaga]

An "Asian" supermarket in the true sense of the word!

makes no sense to me.

east Asians, Indians and middle easterners eat completely different food.
additionally, Southern Asians and middle easterners are basically Caucasians. They are not even Asian.

The idea is like putting Greek food, Icelandic food and and Russian food together and call it "European Grocery store".

 

[Cast2]

Al Premium is actually own by Oriental Food Mart.

www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/new-grocer-al-premium-aims-to-be-muliticultural-tourist-hub-19863

 

[Eug]

makes no sense to me.

east Asians, Indians and middle easterners eat completely different food.
additionally, Southern Asians and middle easterners are basically Caucasians. They are not even Asian.

The idea is like putting Greek food, Icelandic food and and Russian food together and call it "European Grocery store".

I'd go there.

Seriously though, it makes sense because there is a huge Chinese, South Asian, and Middle Eastern population in the area.

BTW, although some ethnic classification schemes consider South Asians as Caucasians, most don't consider that definition of Caucasoid really meaningful these days. eg. If you were writing a paper for a medical journal they'd think you were an idiot if you included South Asians with Western Europeans in the same ethnic group.

And yes South Asians and Middle Easterners are Asians, as they live in Asia. Chinese and Japanese are East Asian. At many universities, it's not "Asian Studies" but "East Asian Studies", which makes more sense to me.

Al Premium is actually own by Oriental Food Mart.

www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/new-grocer-al-premium-aims-to-be-muliticultural-tourist-hub-19863

Thanks. Actually, I came to post that but you beat me to it by a week.

It is also getting decent reviews from Yelp readers:

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/al-premium-food-mart-toronto

Overall 4 stars, but the main criticism is the not-so-good training of their staff, and their lack of credit card support at all aisles.

Here's another article from Asian Connection (which needs a better web designer).

http://www.theasianconnectionsnewspaper.com/al-premium-redefines-shopping/

It says it's 75000 square feet.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Shopped there last weekend.

Umm I'm a little conflicted. It's a great place, fantastic selection of fruits and vegetables, very modern and clean, ample cashiers. Prices are fantastic! Banana's for example cost 55 cents, compared to 99 cents at Metro. However, while there was lots of selection, the selection offered doesn't really appeal to me (as a Latin-European individual born in Canada, for reference) and as the norm with Asian supermarket stores, selection of western products (like cereals) was limited to the usual mass-produced brands and at the end I didn't end up buying as great a variety of items as I thought I would. It is definitely more catered to East Asia, South Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Limited parking was also little of a concern.

 

[cruzin4u]

I went there a few weeks back and for an Asian supermarket, it is very clean. I generally shop there for my fruits/vegetables and meats/fish - find the prices much cheaper than most stores. Was amazed seeing the cow hooves and even turtles for sale . Really enjoy the "hot table" area (had a great shawarma there) - grab a meal, pay and sit down and enjoy it. Thought the store was nicely laid out and lit very well. Never had an issue with parking. I would say I had a good overall experience and would shop there again.

 

[Therion]

We've been here a few times since it has opened. We cook, Indian, Thai, Chinese and other Asian ethnic foods quite a bit and it is nice to be able to stock up on hard to find stuff like Thai basil, baby bok choy, Shaoxing cooking wine and others. It has enough specialty items that I don't have to make separate trips to T&T, Iqbal's or Trupti's. There's a good selection of veggies and fruit, and finally everything is properly labeled, unlike in the beginning when everything had a generic "vegetable" label on it. I could finally see in person the difference between 5 or 6 different kinds of bok choy.

On our first trip there soon after it opened we were quite impressed with the quality of the Indian hot food counter. Really good take-out at very reasonable prices. Unfortunately when we went a few weeks ago the food was far less flavourful and generally tasted like crap. Really disappointing. We haven't tried the Chinese takeout but it looks like pretty generic Canadianized stuff.