Jonny5
Senior Member
I know there are a few old threads about various grocery stores, but this is kind of a new discussion.
We've got farmer's markets, speciality stores, fruit stands and foreign chains like Wal-Mart and Costco available to us, but I think the overwhelming majority of the city still visits one the big three chains (or their affiliates) on a regular basis.
Has anyone else noticed an overall decline in quality, selection and service at the grocery stores in the city? Constantly unstocked shelves (especially for sale items), rude or incompetent staff, long checkout lines, dirty stores and terrible layouts are the norm, not the exception. Brand selections are also very limited, often with stores carrying only their house brand and one other. Sometimes the problems are specific to a department.
Of course there are exceptions to this rule, which is another part of the problem. Our stores are all franchises and these issues are a symptom of terrible management. I've lived in five different neighbourhoods in the city and have tried the local stores in all of them. Some stores are clearly better than others, though none have ever wowed me.
My current local No Frills is on St.Clair, near Oakwood. This store is mess! It is home to several families of sparrows. I'm not sure what they do with the produce at night, but the birds must eat it, which makes me wonder where they poop afterwards? The staff are rude and lazy. They seem to think it's more about socializing than working. Recently, at the checkout someone walked up to the front and yells out "Guess what.... I'm on my break!" and all the checkout clerks stopped what they were doing and started yapping. One time the stcokboy was called out on the intercom. His response, yelled as loud as he could was "I'm right here! What the f*** do you want? The produce and meat are okay quality, which is what I expect from a place advertising "No Frills", but they are very slow to restock when they run out. You can forget about ever finding sale items unless you shop within a few hours of the store opening.
My local Loblaws (St. Clair and Bathurst) seems to have a much better staff and a much cleaner store. Their produce and meat are usually well stocked, but not the rest of the store. I frequently find the shelves almost barren, like a hurricane is coming and everyone has desperately bought everything in sight, even the last tin of Creamed Eel and bag of Hurricane Chow. I found the same problem with the Loblwas at Dundas and Bloor.
I wont even step into a Dominion anywhere anymore! They are universally terrible!
My only Sobeys experience is a Sobeys express which was very cramped and very expensive!
Does anyone else think are grocery stores suck?
Anyone have tips on which other stores in the city are good or bad?
We've got farmer's markets, speciality stores, fruit stands and foreign chains like Wal-Mart and Costco available to us, but I think the overwhelming majority of the city still visits one the big three chains (or their affiliates) on a regular basis.
Has anyone else noticed an overall decline in quality, selection and service at the grocery stores in the city? Constantly unstocked shelves (especially for sale items), rude or incompetent staff, long checkout lines, dirty stores and terrible layouts are the norm, not the exception. Brand selections are also very limited, often with stores carrying only their house brand and one other. Sometimes the problems are specific to a department.
Of course there are exceptions to this rule, which is another part of the problem. Our stores are all franchises and these issues are a symptom of terrible management. I've lived in five different neighbourhoods in the city and have tried the local stores in all of them. Some stores are clearly better than others, though none have ever wowed me.
My current local No Frills is on St.Clair, near Oakwood. This store is mess! It is home to several families of sparrows. I'm not sure what they do with the produce at night, but the birds must eat it, which makes me wonder where they poop afterwards? The staff are rude and lazy. They seem to think it's more about socializing than working. Recently, at the checkout someone walked up to the front and yells out "Guess what.... I'm on my break!" and all the checkout clerks stopped what they were doing and started yapping. One time the stcokboy was called out on the intercom. His response, yelled as loud as he could was "I'm right here! What the f*** do you want? The produce and meat are okay quality, which is what I expect from a place advertising "No Frills", but they are very slow to restock when they run out. You can forget about ever finding sale items unless you shop within a few hours of the store opening.
My local Loblaws (St. Clair and Bathurst) seems to have a much better staff and a much cleaner store. Their produce and meat are usually well stocked, but not the rest of the store. I frequently find the shelves almost barren, like a hurricane is coming and everyone has desperately bought everything in sight, even the last tin of Creamed Eel and bag of Hurricane Chow. I found the same problem with the Loblwas at Dundas and Bloor.
I wont even step into a Dominion anywhere anymore! They are universally terrible!
My only Sobeys experience is a Sobeys express which was very cramped and very expensive!
Does anyone else think are grocery stores suck?
Anyone have tips on which other stores in the city are good or bad?
