Loblaws out and T&T in at Empress Walk

 

Things are changing fast in North York.   The changes have really sparked a lot of thoughts on where Toronto is going very soon.

There has been a drastic market shift in the past 3 or 4 years in this city.

Some of this may change again, but there's a lot of information on Social Media about the upcoming changes to the grocery store landscape around Yonge and Sheppard.

Another large retail grocery store in North York will be replaced in October.

From a post I read on Urban Toronto, it seems as though the Loblaws at Empress Walk will be closing in October and will be replaced by a T&T Supermarket sometime around 2026.

I saw on Social Media that T&T was going to open on the lower level of North York City Centre, but they seem to have bailed on this  because:

- It would be expensive to repair (water damage), retrofit (light retail/office to supermarket), and transfer goods from loading docks.
- lots of new mid-block retail space coming online (Ellie Condo & 90K-sqft at Pearl Place),...
- Loblaws & Shoppers Drug Mart across the street at Empress Walk - but this has now changed too, but at the time they thought  T&T would reduce market share from the Loblaws,... 

-  Food Basics also opened in October 2021 at Emerald Park, south of Sheppard 

-  Longos in the Yonge Sheppard Centre in July 2019) and 

-Whole Foods Market (Sept 2014) opened at Yonge & Sheppard but closed on August 22nd. 

I went to the opening of the T&T supermarket at Fairview Mall a couple of days after that opened a couple of years ago.  There was a tiny line-up when I went.  It's a massive store. What I like about the T&T markets is the large selection of reasonably priced vegetables and the massive choice of imported products from all over Asia.

The Loblaws Empress Walk is about 75,000-80,000 sq ft plus another 6,000 sq ft in P1 Parking level. 

T&T needs about 50,000sqft, so about 30,000sqft left over to divide/sublet for other retail usage.

I moved into this area in 2011, and at the time, there was the Loblaws, P.A.T. Market, the Metro, which I don't normally go to, and an M2M tiny market.

Galleria Supermarket opened in about 2024 at the Madison Centre.

When I moved here, it seemed there were fewer grocery stores but a more diverse array of restaurants in the area.

Now it seems everything has been changing to Asia North York with the Loblaws and Whole Foods going and being replaced by T&T supermarket.

This is what will be available in a year or so:

• Galleria Supermarket
• Food Basics
• Metro
• H Mart
• P.A.T. Mart
• Longos
• and T&T coming

I support diversity because I love to have different foods, but I am not happy about the area being totally been taken over by all Asian Foods.  

I want to be able to have Italian one day and Thai the next, and Greek after that, and so on.

I am finding the food in the area is mostly sub par with a lot of cheap ingredients, very heavy on the rice and noodles.

I am dying to see the following in this area:

• An Italian Deli/Bakery
• A Jewish Deli restaurant
• A fun Mexican restaurant
• A high-quality Greek restaurant
• A Gelato cafe
• A Montreal Bagel House
• A place to get great Banh Mi's
• A high-quality Chinese restaurant
• A Mediterranean restaurant
• A comfort food restaurant

All of the recent restaurant openings have been Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, and lots of bubble tea places.  That's fine, but there's an over-saturation of the same with about 3 or 4 Sushi places within the same block, and similar with some Korean places. 

I would prefer to see 1 or 2 of the highest quality that add value to the area and have this area become a destination to get great food, the way people flock to certain areas downtown just for the food.

Other than Street festivals and the odd concert at Lee Leifson Park and maybe seeing a movie at Empress Walk or some sort of show at Meridien, there's really only restaurants and grocery shopping in the area.  It's not even a fashion district.

I would like to see more great cafes and places to hang out and do fun things, more than just 2 months in the summer.

Don't get me started on the food vendors at some of the Mel Lastman Square festivals..  Some get it right, but some horribly wrong.  But that's a story for another blog post.

Will see if the pendulum swings back to where there was more diversity.  I moved here for the many options in the first place.