Independent City Market

As someone who lives across the street, I appreciate the convenience of having a small grocery story so close by. However, I have to question who the intended market is for this store. With such limited store space, you’d think there would be a focus on the essentials. However, I often notice that I can buy 10 types of gourmet olive oils but only 5 types of pasta. These decisions make shopping here a less than ideal experience. And that is before you even factor in the prices.

Do you like Loblaws but don’t like the size of the big markets? Do you like sales that sell out of stuff really fast and never restock the shelves? Do you wonder why it is that they have so much stuff when all you’re looking for is peanut butter? Well look no further friends, enter the Independent City Market! Everything you want from a Loblaws and less.
If I could get serious for a moment, I’m not kidding when I say it’s nothing more than a small Loblaws considering the location it’s great for all the people living in condos nearby but it’s got it’s problems. Things like they’re not able to keep the shelves stocked.
More than once I’ve gone there for something either on sale or regular price and they literally have no more. It wouldn’t be bad if you came back the next day and they were stocked. No, when you come by they’re out again. Maybe it’s just the time. Nope, show up at different times and they’re still out. I waited for a week for them to get an item in stock, no luck. A few days later they got it but it again disappeared after maybe a few days. There’s got to be some kind of tracking going on as to what’s going out and what you have in stock.
Beyond that and the sometimes lack of service, it’s not my favorite place to shop when I’m in that area. It’s definitely the most convenient but for the price they’re charging on things I expect a little more.

Every time I come here the person at the cash is so unhelpful and rude. The customer service is absolutely atrocious considering the ridiculously high prices they charge. I have started going out of my way to go to the Freshco at Gladstone and queen. SO FRUSTRATED.

Not a fan of this place. Most of the staff doesn’t know where anything is and barely speaks English.
The hot bar is horrible. The food is usually burnt, or soggy. I tried the potatoes and couldn’t believe that they are allowed to sell this garbage!
It’s small and crammed. I only come here if it’s an emergency.

On the positive side the store is very bright and clean. Staff is very friendly and always willing to help.
Produce up at the front of the store is excellent, both fresh and a good variety. If the rest of the store was up to the same standard I would give a much higher rating. However it is not.
The meat department is a disaster and after work is largely sold out. There are not enough fresh cuts and too many with some form of preparation — seasoning or other adulterations.
Packaged good selection is very poor. Size and flavour varieties of commonly purchased items are very limited. For example there is one kind of Tabasco in only the small size. Cat food selection is limited to three or four varieties per type. (i.e. Friskies, Whiskas etc.) Packaged goods are more like a Macs Milk than a grocery store.
Baked goods and Dairy are another department that is very good. Selection is good. However, for more specialized items be sure to check the date. On one of my visits 2 litre 1% organic milk was expired.
The freezer area is large given the size of the store. Many of the PC frozen boxes are available. Prepared frozen meat, frozen fruit and deserts are well represented.
The final area is the «posh stuff». While there are perhaps six bottles of Tabasco, there are several marinades, dips sauces etc. along the wall by the window. My opinion is that these items are vastly overrepresented in a store this size. Perhaps there are more condo gourmet cooks than I think, but even if this is the case the sauce selection is not consistent with the lack of fresh meat. Sauces and marinades are not necessary when the roast is pre-​seasoned or pre-​sauced.
The shopping carts are yucky. They are the plastic baskets with small wheels and an extendable arm for pulling. When adding food it is necessary to stoop to floor level. In addition the ‘floor: area of each basket is quite small. Groceries have to be piled on top of each other and there is no separation between items that are not compatible. (i.e. bananas and frozen food). Shopping carts are sometimes dirty as well. The store would be much better served by offering Shoppers Drug Mart sized carts.

The store is a decent size, always nice and clean. Products and produce are organized well in the space they have, although selection is quite limited on certain items. Some prices are a bit high, but since it’s branded with PC, lots of sales on a weekly basis.
Definitely a convenient location for the condos in the area and they’re open from 7am until 10pm every day. I feel bad for the convenience store across the street, but it’s definitely a welcome to the area as Liberty Village is a bit of a hike and the convenience store prices were sky rocket.
This location is not quite in my neighbourhood, but on Saturday mornings after my workout at Liberty Village I would drop by since it’s really quiet which makes shopping a breeze if I’m picking up a couple of items. I have gone a few times during the weeknights while visiting friends in the neighbourhood and it’s never busy either.
Cashiers are pretty friendly most of the time, but sometimes you wonder if they’re actually there because they look spaced out at times and if there’s more than 2 –3 people in line, backup is called.

Still convenient for me but why does any supermarket need 100 types of olive oil and 100 kinds of other healthy crap.
The meat section is pathetic, they seem to run out of chicken breasts by the evening.
Worst of all what I originally thought were pies were actually Quiches! Who does that anymore?
I still can not find any butter in this place and they are so slow serving food during the lunch rush.
Hope that bridge from king to liberty comes soon.

Convenience is about the only thing this store has going for it. I went in yesterday and they had 2 boneless chicken breasts for 17.99! They don’t stock a lot of grocery staples, but they do carry a lot of fancy products. Rows and rows of useless overpriced condiments. Disappointing all around.

Very nice new grocery store. Very clean appearance and organized well. For a downtown grocery store the pricing is great and has amazing deals! Everyone who works here is very helpful and friendly. Selection of products is great, this is definitely my new fave grocery store.

I went at 8:00am as it was the Grand Opening and they were giving out something special for the first 100 customers!
The 10 minute wait in line up wasn’t too bad as it was luckily not as cold and they did serve hot apple cider which was a nice added touch. Upon entering, we were all given what seemed to be an equal amount of $ 10 gift cards.
There were samples of food given out. Yogurt parfait, juice, cheeses, pepperoni, breads — all items from their specialty areas. The store was set up quite nicely and was super clean and shiny. All the produce was all laid out in perfect order. Even the hot foods section looked better than most grocery stores! And the breads looked extremely fresh.
Price wise — other than the sale items. A tad pricier than some grocery stores. But they do have some more upscale products which is nice to see. Because it’s located on the ground floor of a large condo, I find it rather odd that grocery stores wouldn’t cater more to condo owners. For example, why have sales like «buy 2 for $X.XX» or «buy 3 for $X.XX»? Condos are small and have small amounts of storage and a small fridge. I’d rather see discounts on single items. Rather than having the bulk up. Also, being downstairs from condo units, it’s so easy for people to visit more often than to bulk up on items. Just a thought…
The staff was incredibly helpful and friendly. Especially the ones handing out the food. The lady who gave me a cheese sample that was infused with red wine (yep — red wine!) was definitely the nicest! There were however a number of what seemed to be upper management/​office staff standing around watching and talking. Which I must admit is a bit uncomfortable while you are shopping. There were camera people which is normal for any grand opening. They even hired a violinist near cashier #4 to play for everyone. Nice added touch. Lastly, they had a very happy girl giving away reusable tote bags.
I did use up my gift card upon leaving. The cashier was new and perhaps not that well trained. The manager, Mary (who was so nice and busy!) came over 3 times to help.
1. the coupon attached to my ricotta cheese didn’t scan through.
2. The gift card wasn’t working/​not scanning either. Which is odd as they gave away 100 of these. The cashier at first just asked me if I wanted to keep it since it wasn’t working. I guess assuming I could pay cash as opposed to using the gift card that they just gave me 20 minutes earlier. Anyways Mary was able to correct this for me.
3. lastly — when i checked my receipt after leaving, I was invoiced for a plastic bag ($ 0.05) but I had brought my own. Not a big deal but because it was their opening day, I thought they should know about the error and Mary did refund me and took note of it. And now that I think about it, why would they charge anyone for a plastic bag that day if they were giving out free tote bags? They maybe should have had the tote bags with the cashiers.
Also, upon leaving the hot apple cider guy was outside and still handing out free apple cider.
I give it a 3. Which is A-​OK. I’m sure that people’s reviews may be higher later when their systems are operating more regularly but for an opening day, not bad.
And thanks for the gift card!

Just opened and definitely serves a niche. On king, don’t wanna head around the bridge get to liberty village. Don’t wanna had to queen. Now there us a new grocer, operated by Marcello. Corner of king and Shaw. Though it’s a bit sneaky, dunno how it’s ‘independent’, definitely a loblaws.
They have cooked prepared foods. They have lots of black label stuff and gourmet items. But if you want PC decadent chocolate cookies or a bag of chips, for those too.
I like how the shelves against the window on king has the product facing the street.
Inside right now is clean. Easy to walkthrough. Staff seems to be friendly enough, but it was the first day.
And, they got a PC financial ATM.