Toronto Manulife Centre Podium and Streetscape Renewal | 9.75m | 2s | Manulife Real Estate | MdeAS Architects

they've been doing it for a few months
 
Today.
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As a side note; does anyone know what the plans are for Bloor Street Market (nee Valu-Mart)? I don't expect that their owners took too kindly to Manulife taking another food retailer in who compete in the premium grocery arena, and giving them prime location street side.

As a plus though, Eataly will totally kill the annoying-as-hell premade/ready-to-go counter bottleneck that happens at BSM. But if they don't move, I don't see the novelty of Eataly, plus competition in the same space doing anything but killing them.
 
zang said:
As a side note; does anyone know what the plans are for Bloor Street Market (nee Valu-Mart)? I don't expect that their owners took too kindly to Manulife taking another food retailer in who compete in the premium grocery arena, and giving them prime location street side.

As a plus though, Eataly will totally kill the annoying-as-hell premade/ready-to-go counter bottleneck that happens at BSM. But if they don't move, I don't see the novelty of Eataly, plus competition in the same space doing anything but killing them.
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Eataly won't be a full grocery store, as far as I know. With the increase in population in the area, and considering how busy BSM is and how few options there are around, there is ample space for both retailers.
 
Bayer said:
Eataly won't be a full grocery store, as far as I know. With the increase in population in the area, and considering how busy BSM is and how few options there are around, there is ample space for both retailers.
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From my observations (and frustrations), BSM seems to get a lot of their foot traffic during lunch and shortly after 5pm, and it mostly seems to go towards the ready-to-eat stuff. The crowds are always at the hot counter, soup area and salad nook. That's my main concern; if that's as big a money maker for them as it appears to be, Eataly might have them for lunch.
 
zang said:
For those not familiar with Eataly and what they do, this is Business Insider's tour of their NYC location (same size as Manulife; 50,000sqft):

http://www.businessinsider.com/chef...-can-stop-for-a-coffee-at-the-espresso-bar-43
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Yeah, I used to eat frequently and shop for (some) groceries at the Flatiron location, and I absolutely agree with others here saying there's still room for BSM; Eataly is, at its core, three things that BSM is not: Italian, expensive, and niche.
 
All I know is, living at Manulife, BSM is essential - Wheataly won't get a lot of business from this celiac!
 
Bayer said:
All I know is, living at Manulife, BSM is essential - Wheataly won't get a lot of business from this celiac!
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Ironically, as someone who does a lot of home baking, BSM is awesome because their the only place I've found that carries Bob's Red Mill vital wheat gluten.
 
In Canada, the Westons are partners with Eataly's world-wide ownership. BSM is also affiliated with Weston's Loblaws empire, so whatever effect Eataly will have on BSM has been calculated internally.

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interchange42 said:
In Canada, the Westons are partners with Eataly's world-wide ownership. BSM is also affiliated with Weston's Loblaws empire, so whatever effect Eataly will have on BSM has been calculated internally.
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Possibly, though I believe BSM is just a specially-branded Valu-Mart, which are franchised and not Loblaws proper. With the announcement of McEwan going in at 1BE and the saturation of food retailers in the area, I still think BSM is boned. This coming from someone who wants it to remain as unboned as possible. The ready-to-go/convenience foods sections are the biggest growth and highest percentage of grocery profits these days. To have two retailers come in who specialize (and let's face it, produce better product), with more convenient locations, I just don't see it ending well for BSM. Grocery stores are low-profit margin (1-2%) and because BSM is positioned as semi-premium, it might be as high as 5-6%. But combined I can see Eataly and McEwan eroding at least 20-30% of their revenues.
 
Lucky for BSM, there are ever more people moving to the neighbourhood though, and as long as BSM keeps their prices below that of competing products at McEwan and Eataly, they'll still do fine. Besides, BSM sells Presdient's Choice, and there's a market for that stuff, typed the mod, chewing on some PC Organics™ Jumbo Thompson Raisins.

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zang said:
Possibly, though I believe BSM is just a specially-branded Valu-Mart, which are franchised and not Loblaws proper. With the announcement of McEwan going in at 1BE and the saturation of food retailers in the area, I still think BSM is boned. This coming from someone who wants it to remain as unboned as possible. The ready-to-go/convenience foods sections are the biggest growth and highest percentage of grocery profits these days. To have two retailers come in who specialize (and let's face it, produce better product), with more convenient locations, I just don't see it ending well for BSM. Grocery stores are low-profit margin (1-2%) and because BSM is positioned as semi-premium, it might be as high as 5-6%. But combined I can see Eataly and McEwan eroding at least 20-30% of their revenues.
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Take another consumer-focused sector, though, as comparison -- if a Ferrari dealership moves in next to a Maserati dealership, do you think the Kia dealership worries about anything more than 0% (let alone 20-30%) of their market share going away?

It's an extreme analogy, of course, and the price point is an important differentiator, but in the food retailer space, both Eataly and McEwan are Maseratis. A prosciutto sandwich and a coffee is like USD $18 at the NYC location, and the prices will be similarly scaled in TO.

CAD $18 at BSM buys out the store.
 
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