Sobey’s event hints at grocery store competition

You don’t have to look hard to see the intense grocery store competition in South Bayview. It has been chronicled here before and this morning at a chilly 8 a.m. ceremony MP John Carmichael and John Parker (Ward 26) participated in the ribbon cutting at Sobey’s in the SmartCentre on Laird Drive. The store was having its Grand Opening. It follows by less than a week the Grand Opening of the refurbished Metro at Bayview Ave. and Eglinton Ave. E.  Both these food mammoths, as well as Loblaws, Valu mart, Longo’s and a gaggle of smaller operators have their eyes on the furious work going on at 1860 Bayview Ave at Broadway Ave. It is here that Whole Foods will open next year. Whole Foods Market, Inc is a dynamic Austin, Texas-based firm with stores in the US, Canada, and the UK.  It specializes in all-natural and organic foods. Some think the strategy is more directed toward the installation of its own brands. This is a growing phenomenon particularly at Loblaws. It is now necessary to visit independent operators to buy well-known brand names like Silk soy milk. In the case of Whole Foods, brand names like Coca Cola and Becel are missing from the shelves.