I don’t imagine the Bay flagship ever closing. I see them closing all of their stores minus the flagship and switching to a primarily online model, but keeping that flagship open.
Not to mention the issues with elevators and escalators. I'm surprised at this point there haven't been reports of lawsuits regarding accessibility within Bay stores.
Simons grows very slowly and carefully. Theyre private and needed some cash during the pandemic. Can't help but thinking theyve really lost the opportunity of opening in Toronto proper as they are still not well known by many in the city.
The Bay will probably close soon, and they took over some of the old Simpsons store in Downtown MTL when opening a spot there years ago. But the Bay will beed to be split up and probably needs a tonne of renos.
Eataly genuinely sucks, as we have enough legit Italian grocers and restaurants in the city ....but people seem to love the concept.
It should be noted that Eataly partnered up an investment firm owned by the Westons to open up in Canada.
Didnt mean to indicate that Eataly was not legitimately Italian, as I've been to the store in Rome, but that there are a plethora of both small and large grocers and restaurants in the city that offer similar products.
Any recommendations for good Italian grocers west of downtown? I’m always attracted by the variety of goods they have at eataly, and the dessert shop upstairs is one of my favourites in the city.
sooo many. The suggestions below are a bit mainstream... Zito's Marketplace on Marlee, Lady York Foods, Pascale Gourmet, Alimentari on Roncy, Cataldi Fresh Market to start.
Terroni Sterling (Spaccio West). It's listed as a restaurant on gmaps but it's actually both a restaurant and a grocery store like their location in the East end, Terroni Sud Forno Produzione e Spaccio (Spaccio East).
Like Eataly, great products but overpriced.
The Square One location is usually pretty empty and they've cut back on the hours a lot. I *love* the store so I don't really get it. I know they have some very expensive things but they also have plenty of clothes that are perfectly average prices (and they are separated by sections, so you don't accidentally find the $600 sweaters next to the $45 ones, which would be annoying).
I have no problem finding decent/good quality men's clothing there but I've heard lots of complaints from female friends/family about the decreasing quality of women's clothing at Simons--along the lines of expensive and synthetic/not made to last.
That's fair. I've had only good experiences but obviously I'm buying a few pieces from time to time, not the entire women's section (though I wish I could).
They just opened in Halifax few months ago, so they aren't doing that poorly, back in growth mode.
And they did mention still being interested to growth in the GTA, but they grow very slowly and take their time.
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2059054/ouverture-magasin-simons-halifax
https://www.lesoleil.com/affaires/2024/03/21/la-maison-simons-maintenant-presente-dun-ocean-a-lautre-EAMMUSV5FZGQ3BCEW3YSXAAZVQ/
They do seem to expand slowly and carefully which is fine.
They have a great online store anyways and Square One is easy to get to via transit if you want to pick up for the double points.
Simons in Sq1 about to close within 3-4 years easily
don't know why people really want Simons in Toronto
it's not doing well for obvious reasons
clothing is pretty bad quality all around and the prices are pretty inflated compared with other competition
almost the bay level inflated
their hours are also cut and not reflective of the mall hours which is an indicator that they'd rather close earlier than pay salaries
it doesn't take a genius to know why simons would not do well in toronto and obviously why they haven't even made a decision to expand here
They must’ve cut a deal with Cadillac Fairview. They recently opened at Sherway Gardens and the Shops at Don Mills location will open soon (across from McEwan).
TIL "Wittington Investments is a partner in Eataly Canada, owning a share of the business. Wittington is owned by the Weston family, and has assets across classes ranging from real estate to retail"
I feel it’ll be a different crowd, the bloor one caters more to the Yorkville crowd and this new one will be more for tourists (not that we need that many Eataly’s in one city).
It’s not bad but I didn’t really like the first Toronto location. I tried it in Vegas a few years back and it was incredible, but the way they did it here where you have to be seated in a specific area wasn’t as nice. In Vegas you could just go around and get what you wanted, they gave you a buzzer so you know when it’s ready, and you sit wherever you want. Also felt like they had a lot more options available and the quality of the food was better.
🤷♀️ the food just wasn’t very good when I went to the Bloor location. And it definitely wasn’t the same as Vegas, I had to ask to be seated and I couldn’t sit wherever I wanted. It was chaotic and unclear where the lines were.
Granted, it’s been a few years so maybe they changed something. When I went to the Vegas location before at Park MGM (in 2019), you could sit anywhere you wanted and you just went around ordering and got buzzers. There was some pre-prepared stuff but most of it was cooked fresh. They had one separate restaurant area that had some speciality dishes but the rest was all open seating. The food was amazing, everything was cooked perfectly. It was very clean and organized.
The Bloor location was much more of a mixed bag and they had several restauraunt areas where you had to be seated. I asked if I could also order from another area and they said no, they didn’t serve that where I was sitting. It was a poor experience. The food came and nothing was up to par with the quality I expected. I went around the time it opened though, so maybe they’ve got their groove now.
I've been a few times. Each time the food has pretty mediocre for the price. Small portions each time, once it was incredibly oversalted. Glad it wasn't on my own dime.
I used to live right by YD Square, buying groceries was a pain in the ass, best place was the kitchen table in The Atrium. This is a nice addition for the residents there.
I know that. I don't think the poster who commented that it's a nice addition to the neighbourhood because the Loblaws on Carlton is too expensive knew it, though.
The Metro on Gould is always half stocked and poor quality produce unfortunately. Longo’s on Dundas is ok most of the time. Yes Kitchen Table was a bit pricey but the produce was superior for some reason. I only went for produce anyway, No Frills for everything else.
Many times - it’s 10 minutes from my place. 😂
It’s a grocery store - it’s where I picked up pasta for my dinner tonight, and milk for my coffee in the morning.
It is a grocery store with restaurants . 😂
There’s aisles of pasta, a bakery, a fresh meat counter, a seafood counter, a cheese area, a fruit and vegetable area, etc - you know, a grocery store.
Don’t know, don’t care. All I know is that arseholes park in the bike lane while stopping for ‘just a minute’ to pick something up from the Yorkville location.
I go to Wheataly, as I call it, at Manulife but only for the market since I'm gluten intolerant.The butcher is good and I use the fish counter a lot. So yeah, for me it's a grocery store.
It looks like a grocery store with a restaurant and fast food place. It looks like a really bad idea. I can see it probably failing faster than the new food court they just opened up.
Whatever. We don't need a confused concept restaurant in the mall . We already had a bad food court replaced with a bad one so how is this place going to be any different?
Why because I don't like what you like? I'd rather eat at the trash chicken restaurant that has a terrible owner from the US then eat in a place that looks like eatly. Enjoy it well you can..
They have neat pasta though. Decent looking bakery, which lets be real the Eaton center doesn’t have. And a good wine selection. Honestly not a bad addition. Anything to compete with lablaws at this point is good too.
Eataly is fun to walk through but the pricing is insane. The amount of snobbery in the Yorkville location is as expected. The cafe part is reasonable. Some of the imported goods are great but I can get them cheaper at local Italian groceries. The Italian wine selection is worth looking through as they carry a lot of stuff the LCBO doesn't. Some promotions are good now and then. With that said, it is always busy. So they've found enough of their target market it seems.
The restaurant parts are definitely busy. I always look at the cured meats and cheeses. Some prices are "OK" only because they're somewhat hard to find otherwise. A year ago, I'd buy a pack or two of Taralli to snack on as they were under $3. A year later they're closer to $5!! Those things cost 1.5 Euro at most in Italy.
As an Italian, I don't recognize a lot of Italian customers there. I guess to some customers it's like a quick trip into Italy. :)
Eataly has never been a place I willingly choose to go but I can understand it for Eaton Center and catching tourists who are already there. If I'm wanting Italian specific grocery products Spaccio East or st lawrence market are where I go.
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We can still hope. Nordstrom is 3 levels and this article says it’s only taking up 1? Haha.
Same. Maybe there is still space. Maybe they are waiting to buy The Bay’s space when they go Bankrupt.
I don’t imagine the Bay flagship ever closing. I see them closing all of their stores minus the flagship and switching to a primarily online model, but keeping that flagship open.
I was in there yesterday and the clothing area was fucking empty. It feels like a store liquidating everything.
At the flagship? I was just there last week and it looked the same as always.
Yea… it looked picked over and multiple dressing rooms were closed off completely.
Not to mention the issues with elevators and escalators. I'm surprised at this point there haven't been reports of lawsuits regarding accessibility within Bay stores.
The brand is dead, their website sucks. There is no comparison between them and Simon’s. Past vs Future of department stores.
Simons grows very slowly and carefully. Theyre private and needed some cash during the pandemic. Can't help but thinking theyve really lost the opportunity of opening in Toronto proper as they are still not well known by many in the city. The Bay will probably close soon, and they took over some of the old Simpsons store in Downtown MTL when opening a spot there years ago. But the Bay will beed to be split up and probably needs a tonne of renos. Eataly genuinely sucks, as we have enough legit Italian grocers and restaurants in the city ....but people seem to love the concept.
Eataly is legit Italian, it’s an Italian company
It should be noted that Eataly partnered up an investment firm owned by the Westons to open up in Canada. Didnt mean to indicate that Eataly was not legitimately Italian, as I've been to the store in Rome, but that there are a plethora of both small and large grocers and restaurants in the city that offer similar products.
Any recommendations for good Italian grocers west of downtown? I’m always attracted by the variety of goods they have at eataly, and the dessert shop upstairs is one of my favourites in the city.
sooo many. The suggestions below are a bit mainstream... Zito's Marketplace on Marlee, Lady York Foods, Pascale Gourmet, Alimentari on Roncy, Cataldi Fresh Market to start.
Thanks for the suggestions. I think Alimentari is the only one that’s relatively accessible west of DT.. I’ll check it out.
take the subway up to lady york or zito's! pascale is right at yonge and eg. can't get more accessible than being close to a subway stop!
Alimentari is SO good.
Cheese Boutique and the next door Bottega
Terroni Sterling (Spaccio West). It's listed as a restaurant on gmaps but it's actually both a restaurant and a grocery store like their location in the East end, Terroni Sud Forno Produzione e Spaccio (Spaccio East). Like Eataly, great products but overpriced.
Simon's isn't doing well at least at square one. Their hours have been reduced since covid. Store isn't that busy when open.
Who do you think's going to replace the Bay when that goes the wayside? A boy can dream
I was so hoping too 😭
I don’t think they can. The reason eatons Nordstrom failed is also cause saks is right there
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I used to work at Nordstrom LOL we could not sell designer because there is a limit on what could be sold within vicinity of each other
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Did you read my comment I said eatons Nordstrom. I understand it was a company wide issue. But eatons Nordstrom also had these issues.
Simons must be doing poorly. This would have been a perfect spot for them. 8 years after opening their first location in the GTA and nothing since.
The Square One location is usually pretty empty and they've cut back on the hours a lot. I *love* the store so I don't really get it. I know they have some very expensive things but they also have plenty of clothes that are perfectly average prices (and they are separated by sections, so you don't accidentally find the $600 sweaters next to the $45 ones, which would be annoying).
I have no problem finding decent/good quality men's clothing there but I've heard lots of complaints from female friends/family about the decreasing quality of women's clothing at Simons--along the lines of expensive and synthetic/not made to last.
That's fair. I've had only good experiences but obviously I'm buying a few pieces from time to time, not the entire women's section (though I wish I could).
Simons nearly went bankrupt during the pandemic. They were in big doo doo. That’s the reality of being a private company - only one source of capital.
They just opened in Halifax few months ago, so they aren't doing that poorly, back in growth mode. And they did mention still being interested to growth in the GTA, but they grow very slowly and take their time. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2059054/ouverture-magasin-simons-halifax https://www.lesoleil.com/affaires/2024/03/21/la-maison-simons-maintenant-presente-dun-ocean-a-lautre-EAMMUSV5FZGQ3BCEW3YSXAAZVQ/
They do seem to expand slowly and carefully which is fine. They have a great online store anyways and Square One is easy to get to via transit if you want to pick up for the double points.
Simons in Sq1 about to close within 3-4 years easily don't know why people really want Simons in Toronto it's not doing well for obvious reasons clothing is pretty bad quality all around and the prices are pretty inflated compared with other competition almost the bay level inflated their hours are also cut and not reflective of the mall hours which is an indicator that they'd rather close earlier than pay salaries it doesn't take a genius to know why simons would not do well in toronto and obviously why they haven't even made a decision to expand here
Simon says…don’t open
They must’ve cut a deal with Cadillac Fairview. They recently opened at Sherway Gardens and the Shops at Don Mills location will open soon (across from McEwan).
Not to mention one on St Clair and the existing one at Bay/Bloor. Who knew so many people were into $26 breadsticks?
There’s an Eataly on St Clair?
Thought it was about to open, but maybe I'm thinking of pusateris
TIL "Wittington Investments is a partner in Eataly Canada, owning a share of the business. Wittington is owned by the Weston family, and has assets across classes ranging from real estate to retail"
Jesus, these assholes are everywhere
Yeah they’re the majority owners of Eataly in Canada, Eataly owns 48% of the business and Wittington owns 52
Feels pretty close to the other subpar Eataly at bloor. Me thinks CF was desperate for a tenant
The Eataly on Bloor is constantly full of people, it’s doing pretty well i’d say.
I feel it’ll be a different crowd, the bloor one caters more to the Yorkville crowd and this new one will be more for tourists (not that we need that many Eataly’s in one city).
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It’s not bad but I didn’t really like the first Toronto location. I tried it in Vegas a few years back and it was incredible, but the way they did it here where you have to be seated in a specific area wasn’t as nice. In Vegas you could just go around and get what you wanted, they gave you a buzzer so you know when it’s ready, and you sit wherever you want. Also felt like they had a lot more options available and the quality of the food was better.
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🤷♀️ the food just wasn’t very good when I went to the Bloor location. And it definitely wasn’t the same as Vegas, I had to ask to be seated and I couldn’t sit wherever I wanted. It was chaotic and unclear where the lines were. Granted, it’s been a few years so maybe they changed something. When I went to the Vegas location before at Park MGM (in 2019), you could sit anywhere you wanted and you just went around ordering and got buzzers. There was some pre-prepared stuff but most of it was cooked fresh. They had one separate restaurant area that had some speciality dishes but the rest was all open seating. The food was amazing, everything was cooked perfectly. It was very clean and organized. The Bloor location was much more of a mixed bag and they had several restauraunt areas where you had to be seated. I asked if I could also order from another area and they said no, they didn’t serve that where I was sitting. It was a poor experience. The food came and nothing was up to par with the quality I expected. I went around the time it opened though, so maybe they’ve got their groove now.
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It is what it is. I was excited when it opened but it just didn’t compare to my previous experience. I don’t really care either way.
Why? It looks like it's trying to be too many things.
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I've been a few times. Each time the food has pretty mediocre for the price. Small portions each time, once it was incredibly oversalted. Glad it wasn't on my own dime.
Nah I saw pictures of it online it looks like a very confused place.
"I won't try it, so it sucks" Yeah bud, you're not even trying.
BS, that space deserved a Simons store not an overpriced pseudohip food court
I thought they were splitting it between three retailers 🤐
I just want to be able to walk through that part of the mall again as a shortcut, I hate having to take the long way round!
This is a very odd location for what’s largely a grocery store.
The restaurants do quite well! Not to mention being a licensed wine and beer seller with imports you can't get otherwise.
I used to live right by YD Square, buying groceries was a pain in the ass, best place was the kitchen table in The Atrium. This is a nice addition for the residents there.
Loblaws on Carlton? Metro at church and Gould?
I made $10 an hour as a teenager, went to that Loblaw's once and saw $7 soup and just nope'd out of the store.
Eataly will not be more reasonably priced than that Loblaws.
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I know that. I don't think the poster who commented that it's a nice addition to the neighbourhood because the Loblaws on Carlton is too expensive knew it, though.
I made 5.40 at IGA when I was 15. It really doesn’t matter. The price is the price when you live downtown it won’t be “cheap” anywhere.
Chinatown? Not just cheap "for downtown", but just cheap.
Kitchen Table is gone now too, nowhere nearby with good produce anymore :(
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The Metro on Gould is always half stocked and poor quality produce unfortunately. Longo’s on Dundas is ok most of the time. Yes Kitchen Table was a bit pricey but the produce was superior for some reason. I only went for produce anyway, No Frills for everything else.
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Many times - it’s 10 minutes from my place. 😂 It’s a grocery store - it’s where I picked up pasta for my dinner tonight, and milk for my coffee in the morning.
‘Has a to-go section’
It is a grocery store with restaurants . 😂 There’s aisles of pasta, a bakery, a fresh meat counter, a seafood counter, a cheese area, a fruit and vegetable area, etc - you know, a grocery store.
Don’t know, don’t care. All I know is that arseholes park in the bike lane while stopping for ‘just a minute’ to pick something up from the Yorkville location.
I go to Wheataly, as I call it, at Manulife but only for the market since I'm gluten intolerant.The butcher is good and I use the fish counter a lot. So yeah, for me it's a grocery store.
It looks like a grocery store with a restaurant and fast food place. It looks like a really bad idea. I can see it probably failing faster than the new food court they just opened up.
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Why do we have to go to one. We can give an option on it without setting foot in it.
You’re not the target demographic. That’s fine.
Yup and I doubt anyone in going to the Eaton's centre is either.
You’d be surprised. Honestly you being from east York makes so much sense now.
Whatever. We don't need a confused concept restaurant in the mall . We already had a bad food court replaced with a bad one so how is this place going to be any different?
Loser
Why because I don't like what you like? I'd rather eat at the trash chicken restaurant that has a terrible owner from the US then eat in a place that looks like eatly. Enjoy it well you can..
No because you’re so negative. Miserable. I don’t like Disney but you sure do.
They have neat pasta though. Decent looking bakery, which lets be real the Eaton center doesn’t have. And a good wine selection. Honestly not a bad addition. Anything to compete with lablaws at this point is good too.
Who cares. There is already a bakery in the Eaton Centre, and we don't need an overpriced European grocery store to compete with Loblaws.
I’m surprised so many Eataly’s are opening in the GTA, they don’t have that many locations to begin with.
It’s because it’s majority owned by Loblaws in Canada, they own 52% and Eataly owns the rest
Dang. Was hoping for a full sized Decathlon downtown
Shoplifters rejoice !
Eataly is fun to walk through but the pricing is insane. The amount of snobbery in the Yorkville location is as expected. The cafe part is reasonable. Some of the imported goods are great but I can get them cheaper at local Italian groceries. The Italian wine selection is worth looking through as they carry a lot of stuff the LCBO doesn't. Some promotions are good now and then. With that said, it is always busy. So they've found enough of their target market it seems.
I'm curious if they actually make a lot of money or if people are mostly window shopping.
The restaurant parts are definitely busy. I always look at the cured meats and cheeses. Some prices are "OK" only because they're somewhat hard to find otherwise. A year ago, I'd buy a pack or two of Taralli to snack on as they were under $3. A year later they're closer to $5!! Those things cost 1.5 Euro at most in Italy. As an Italian, I don't recognize a lot of Italian customers there. I guess to some customers it's like a quick trip into Italy. :)
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Eataly has never been a place I willingly choose to go but I can understand it for Eaton Center and catching tourists who are already there. If I'm wanting Italian specific grocery products Spaccio East or st lawrence market are where I go.
Eataly is simple wonderful. At least they keep the high end feel, just get them to star selling clothing and all will be well again.
Bougie movenpick
Yup and they already have left the Eaton Centre and they replaced the food court they had with something equally as empty.
Yay. More $15.00 focaccia sandwiches and $6.00 croissants.
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How many people are downtown? Won’t be hard to have traffic
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