Loblaws City Market

This is a first class grocery store. I was in North Van eating dinner and stopped by to check it out. Very impressed with all the colors, presentation, and cleanliness. They have everything you could want or need in a grocery store.
Because of the upscale nature, I expected the prices to be higher but they were pretty good. You could even find deals on some common items as cheap as No Frills.

I don’t know why I still go there, most likely because it’s convenient and the products are fine and fairly priced, but most of the staff seem to hate customers. I’ve been hit by one with a cart. I’ve been cursed at several times. The curtesy is absolutely zero at the register.
Perhaps if they properly selected and trained their staff I would like the place, but they don’t and consistently it has been terrible.

Mario’s Gelato (City Market’s Gelataria) is pretty fabulous! I’ve tried the pistachio and dark chocolate on a sugar cone. It’s tasty and not too sweet — good assortment of flavors and always chilled. I wish they were open in the evening hours!

Nice selection, lots of unique choices. Most staff friendly and helpful. One scrawny miserable cashier but otherwise good.

First time going into a City Market — Loblaws. Its very bright inside and yes its very spacious and clean. They have a big selection on organic produce. I didn’t end up getting anything here because of the prices and second of all, I have better produce in my hood where I live.
They have a large selection of interesting cakes. Guess you can pre-​order. I would rate this place as a higher-​end supermarket.

The place is clean and well organized. There is lots of selection, especially in the pastry department, however, here is where this falls flat with me. the prices. I know that the area is a tiny bit more upscale, however, I finding the prices at most Loblaws stores starting to get a little on the unreasonable side. It is a more upscale version of Extra Foods looking but still the prices need some evaluation. Customer service was okay. I tried getting some deli meats and the lady looked as though she wanted to be anywhere but in the store.

This place has contributed to numerous bad days of mine where I can’t find anything i need at numerous stores and I don’t like bad feels. I now am slightly avoidant of this store.
From the small selection of goods, the wilted and terrible looking produce, the overpriced PC brand items for no explicable reason, this place presents a pretty face, but severely disappoints. The last time I went was the worst and the last, as I had to run from home to squamish and my partner and I needed to grab something quick to eat on the car ride up. Since I’m off carbs we figured we could both be appeased here.
He grabbed a pulled pork sandwich with spiced slaw, and I grabbed a chicken breast from the hot deli and a spicy crab fresh Sushi wrap (like a lettuce wrap but cut like Sushi) and we both grabbed a bottle of «freshly» squeezed juice. It should have been fine, but everything went wrong.
First, my partners sandwich… he moaned the sandwich being very meh and dry but edible. I on the other hand, threw out both of my meals. The chicken from the deli was like condensed cardboard and burned on the bottom. I could not cut it with the plastic knife and fork. I bet some poor cougar is still trying to nosh on it somewhere off the sea to sky highway.
Then the Sushi wrap thing. First, I realized that it was misspriced as were our juices. It was 8.99 and was for the spice dynamite Sushi roll, and our juices were 500 mls and should have been 3.99 but were priced for the 1 litre 8.99. Normally I would have caught this, but we were rushed. Biting into the Sushi wrap was a taste sensation I would go back in time to erase. It appeared that someone put some kind of japanese sprinkle condiment on the inside of the rice wrap. The taste was like a combo of fish food, old banana skin, and instant ramen packet. It made everything taste off. Angrily, I ditched it out the window as we rounded a corner (kept the packaging. I environment!). I was now hungrier and considerably angry to have over paid, not eaten and checking the bill I realized I paid 35 $ for two drinks, a small sandwich, a tiny chicken breast and the worst Sushi wrap thing of my life.
Now I’m just going to go red every time I see all the orange coming up in my windshield mirror.

I dropped by this grocery store on the weekend and was so pleasantly surprised!
I’ve never heard of Loblaws City Market before but was looking forward to picking up some groceries on the way home at Superstore-​like prices. Once you get up the stairs you’re greeted by an open café area with some tables and chairs — perfect for a quick coffee, bakery good, or sandwich for on-​the-​go or quick bite.
I perused the aisles and was amazed at the at how clean, well-​put, and organized everything was. Even the lighting and décor felt new, modern, and fun. Totally an Urban Fare vibe. Friendly staff with even a few sample stations. Beautiful bakery and sweets department! Good prices. Like Rudolph P. has mentioned (and which I noticed at the time too) — diverse staff at different ages and nationalities which I can totally appreciate.
As this is a CITY market, I would say half of the stuff they have here are fresh products. It caters to an urban demographic so you won’t find a whole lot of variety in terms baby stuff, pharmacy stuff, etc. If you wanna look at clothing, you can conveniently go downstairs to the Joe Fresh store at ground level.
Can’t say much about the parking as I found parking on the street. Looking forward to seeing more City Markets from Loblaws.

I just love the wow factor! It’s not often that really happens at a supermarket, esp. when we’ve been spoiled by the Whole Foods, new Osaka/T&T in West Van, even the new Safeway lodgey-​like back a few years ago, but Loblaw’s — tons of orange! In fact, in terms of marketing, orange is the best colour, but I digress…
When you first walk into the lobby on ground level, it’s nothing special, unless you like pumpkins, which obviously, is the season for it now… but once you go up the escalators, that’s when you say ‘wow’!
High ceilings, orange everywhere, against a black background, well lit, makes you forget it’s a supermarket. Especially when they strategically place the deli and bakery right at the front, to inhale all these aromas ;)
I checked out the ice cream, which seemed a tad more but hey, since the Safeway down the road closed down, guess it is what it is.
Also has a great corner section, all glassed out, facing north and the mountains.

What a great store! fresh-​looking food in broad, well-​lighted isles, interesting people all over the store, staff and shoppers alike. Good coffee at the Granville Island coffee bar. Free WiFi that works. I was busy updating a device.
French jam on sale, $ 4.50, down from $ 5.99. Peanut butter, good deal.
Fresh made sushi at the back.
Lots of good alternative foods, as well as old standards. This is as good as Urban Fare, or better.
I particularly noticed the diverse selection of staff, all nationalities, ages and personality types. A family was sitting having a snack at tables near the entrance. Older folks stopping in for a drink and a chat.

Well, it’s been about a year since City Market opened and I have some constructive criticism, mainly centred around customer service.
A few things about City Market are really starting to wear on me. The most prominent:
I’m seriously tired of asking the clerks to properly bag my groceries!!! I always bring a minimum of three cloth bags with me, yet the person bagging groceries just loves to cram everything in one bag! Literally every time I shop at Loblaw’s, I have to ask the bagger to distribute my groceries. Without my «guidance», they’ll stuff $ 40 worth of groceries in one bag and give me back my extras. No! You’d think something like this would be common sense, but I guess common sense isn’t that common anymore. To top it off, most clerks give me some serious attitude when I ask them to distribute the groceries. And on occasion when they still don’t get it right, you can find me downstairs in their parking lot sorting it out in the trunk of my car. Not reasonable.
A few other annoyances:
~ They have one cart return in the middle of the parking lot, and one way back inside the store. They need one near the front entrance, because if you’re parked in a certain area of the garage, it’s quite the hike to either one. I’m guessing that’s why there are random shopping carts strewn everywhere near the front door.
~ The «cart escalator» and regular escalators are frequently out of order. This isn’t so much the store’s fault as it is the manufacturer of escalators. You’d think after over a century of building escalators, they could finally get it right! No matter whose fault it is, it’s an inconvenience.
I’ll keep shopping here due to its underground parking and proximity to my home. But when Whole Foods moves in down the street, City Marked had better look out… I know that’s where I’ll be shopping, since the staff have proper training and actually seem to *care* about their jobs.

On a bleak rainy day what could be nicer than walking into a supermarket to the swaying beat of a live Latin band? The Lou Marocco quartet put a poca salsa in my step as I steered my cart through the produce aisles. Hmmm… avocados, tomatoes, fresh tortillas perhaps.
Besides the shake your booty music, the first thing that struck me as I entered the new Loblaw City Market at Lonsdale and 17^th was the bright, glossy persimmon orange floor. You just can’t be in a bad mood when gliding through those spacious wide aisles, shelves stacked high with a massive array of choices from dragon fruit and pomegranate molasses to more standard fare.
The deli has great packaged meals like a curry dinner for $ 5.99 or wide slabs of freshly baked gourmet pizza for only $ 3.99
And when you’re tired, or just looking for an excuse to prolong your shopping excursion, sit down at their snack bar and gaze out the floor to ceiling windows at the spectacular view of Grouse mountain while nibbling on fresh sushi.
The cashiers all appear sincerely happy and helpful and remarkably there’s rarely a long lineup.
Hats off to franchise owner Hugh Ruckman, (his name is posted on the wall behind customer service desk) it’s obvious he and his staff are getting it right. This is my idea of grocery shopping heaven.

This is one slick upscale Superstore/​No Frills. Very slick.
This is actually a bit tough for me to rate since I found some plus’s and minus’s.
Plus’s:
— Clean
— None of the Superstore/​No Frills «branding’ and atmosphere.
Deli and bakery serving fresh pizza by the slice as well as baked goods such as desserts and macarons
–Some interesting meats, «game», such as crocodile and kangaroo.
–No Superstore crowds
–A «shopping cart escalator». Nice!
Minus’s:
–Higher prices, generally but some products are the same as Superstore pricing
–Product line is essentially the same as any Superstore, except they don’t carry certain things nor do they have as wide a variety of products. They didn’t carry my all natural minimum processed porridge oats of all things
–Parking is $ 6 an hour, but is reimbursed if you make a purchase
–It’s a drive across town for me.
Given that this is a pretty nice store, I doubt I would come here on any regular basis simply since it’s so far from where I live.

I felt I was transported back to Toronto when I stepped in here! I knew about this place being built but haven’t ventured to this part of town for a long while. We had to waste some time waiting for a restaurant to open and decided to visit this new supermarket. Loblaws, a name many will not know if you haven’t been in the east, and also the parent company to the big Superstore’s and No Frills that roam your neighbourhood, you’d think this one would be inline with their other establishments, instead you get a shot of chic and how grocery shopping can be bright, comfortable, high-​end.
This place is clearly competing with the Urban Fare’s, and the Whole Foods markets head on, when you come up the escalator your just greeted by a beautiful laid out supermarket. Every supermarket is the same, definitely not so, sometimes it’s hard for me to go to those other places, call me a grocery shopping snob, but if you just like the pretty bright lights, wide corridors, high end merchandise and don’t mind burning a hole in that pretty wallet or purse of yours, this place will do it!
When they designed this supermarket they thought of many things, one of them was people with shopping carts, where, if you have ever been into Target you will see, a seperate escalator for your cart, alleviates the elevator going to the parking lot, as that can be a drag, also not needing to do a long ramp and waste real-​estate (this is North Van afterall, it ain’t cheap here!) and the high ceilings, and sections being tiled with huge letters, like Butcher, Baker, Pharmacy, you know where you are, or if you’re looking, you know where your going, you just do not get lost in a place like this, but also how they did it, doesn’t give off the cheap look (you will see when you get in here). Everything here looks real fresh, from the starting point of all the cooked and prepared foods to make you salivate, to the vegetables and fruits, and the big baking area, everything just seems so comfortable.
We bought some items for our sandwich which we were going to make the next day. The prices are a little high, but I guess you have to pay to play in this supermarket wonderland. The parking is a plenty under the store, just remember to bring your ticket, cause it ain’t cheap, $ 6.00 for 60 minutes. thank goodness I bought something and I didn’t have to pay anything… just a warning to you all.
If you want to be in a nice supermarket, come here, you will know what I mean once you step foot in here, also, expect to spend a little more if your used to shopping at Loblaws lower chains!

I think a lot of Unilocalers who reviewed this place and I have reached the consensus that this Loblaws is pretty. It’s large, spacious, with bright lights, high ceilings, all the essential elements you need to make your grocery shopping experience that much more pleasant. I truly enjoyed each department and how they’re laid out. I find they’re kept clean and very organized.
I purchased something from the produce department and I was surprised to find their selection of produce on the small side, smaller than other grocery chains. Having said that the produce all looked very fresh. I bought a head of green leaf lettuce and it was crisp. I looked around, their red leaf lettuce, romaine etc were equally sharp looking.
I moved to the dairy section hoping to buy some organic or free range eggs but organic eggs were priced above $ 7 for a dozen. Holy smokes, and I thought $ 6 was steep. They carry free-​run eggs at $ 4.99 for a dozen which again I think it’s on the steep side and I would like to buy free-​range (chicken gets to exercise and gets to see some sun light) not free-​run (chicken gets some exercise but never gets to see sun light). I didn’t purchase eggs at Loblaws that day.
Staff was friendly and courteous.
Parking is $ 6.00 for 60 minutes but you can get it validated with purchase.

This is a beautiful new supermarket in North Vancouver. There is a fine selection of fresh goods and most things you would find at Great Canadian Superstore as well. I do have a few complaints about this particular building though.
It is confusing to figure out how to get upstairs for some people. With the automatic elevator for the carts. Secondly the underground parking can be a little bit of a nightmare if you are a short person. You have to place your ticket within the machine but I see a lot of people have to get out of the car to do so.
On the plus side, while there is not as much of a selection everything is very well laid out and I find what I wanted easy to locate.
However, for the parking reason alone it is easier for me to go to the Great Canadian location instead.

I’m so on the fence with the store. I want to like it, but there’s various things that are holding me back.
Note: My husband and I are living on a shoestring budget until I finish University next year. As a result, we typically shop at the Real Canadian Superstore down on Seymour and we track prices like hawks. No joke.
What I like about City Market:
— Free, underground parking that hardly ever seems to be very busy. It’s awesome on rainy days.
— The general décor and layout of the place is visually appealing and attractive. It’s so clean!
— The cheese selection and presentation is AWESOME.
— There is a cute little café over by the check out area that I could totally see myself enjoying a tea from if I ever had the time.
What’s not winning me over:
— Selection: Due to City Market being a smaller store, it doesn’t offer nearly as many brands or selection. Don’t go there expecting to find everything you could at Superstore.
— Prices: Everything generally seems to be slightly higher in cost than what we’re used to (sans a few items and things on sale). While City Market does offer the PC/​no name brands, some of those were even more expensive than what you can find at Superstore. Considering they’re owned by the same parent company, this was super confusing to us.
Lastly, and while I’m pretty sure I can’t hold this against them, their shopping carts fail to work with the green shopping bins from Superstore. You can fit one of them in their carts. max. Furthermore, the few times we’ve asked the clerk to pack our groceries into the bins has been a confusing, hot mess for them. Perhaps we made the wrong assumption in thinking they’d be familiar and accommodating with the concept since they are practically the same company. Ah well.
Long story short, if you’ve got the dough, check it out. However, if you’re like us and shop at Superstore for the prices and selection, stick with that option.

If you shop at «Superstore» Loblaws is basically the same thing particularly since they both have presidents choice products. Therefore the prices are about the same compared to superstore or any other large chain store.
For this store I liked that it was clean, bright, and colourful. I came to the store in the morning so at the time is wasn’t very busy. They had this neat escalator that carries your shopping cart to/​from ground level.
I liked the hot entrée section. The products appeared fresh and it wasn’t your usual chicken and potato wedgies. They had pasta, pizza, curry, chicken, rice, salads, soup, and more. (I live by myself so pre-​made meals are a bit easier for me)
Parking is about $ 6 per hour. However if you spend min. $ 20 the cashier will validate your parking so it’s free!

Really excited this place opened and it’s close enough I can walk a few blocks and get whatever I need. The market type shops on Lonsdale are great but they do lack some of the necessities at reasonable prices. Home Hardware is ridiculous so if you need any home items this is the place to go.
I thought the entrance on street level was cute, some produce stands and the escalators to the main level. Once you step onto the main level a modern feel of bistro/​café meets european market (minus the orange floors). There is plenty of open space and it’s a sleek design. The café is really cute and the bakery and produce area is superb. Definitely more of an «experience» vs a trip to Superstore. This is a place you will likely linger.
Pricing is on par with other big box chains but the organic selection seemed to be more abundant. Overall, I thought they have done a great job and look forward to returning.
I dislike the awkward trolley style hand baskets though :(

I really, really wanted to like this store. I live on the North Shore, and we’ve been dealing with the mess and noise of City Market being built for quite some time, so I was excited to hear they were opening.
Today, we went to compare prices with Price Smart over by Capilano Mall — the place where we normally do our shopping — and to see how their prices and offerings stacked up against the smaller local shops. I can honestly say that while the prices for some things were comparable, or even better than Price Smart, I still have no real inclination to go back.
My first impression was that the whole place, aesthetically speaking, is very, very orange. The floors are a very vibrant shade of orange that casts up orange light onto everything, but I was soon able to ignore that pretty well (but it is a little overwhelming at first). Still orange floors or not, if you have what I need and your prices are good, I’m not fussy about floor colour.
The place was packed, of course, because it’s the opening weekend, so I expected there would be a lot of people milling around, not shopping, and scoping out free samples. I recommend against trying the free samples at the moment given the impossibility of eating anything that hasn’t already been previously mauled by non-​shoppers who are just grabbing up pepperoni stick pieces by the handful. Yes, I actually saw a guy doing that — he grabbed handful of the stuff, crammed them in his mouth, and was practically moaning with joy over it. It was pretty gross. So, give it some time before you sample the free stuff.
The prices aren’t too bad, no better and no worse really than Price Smart, or Thrifty’s — and there is some reasonable selection of organic meats which is nice. However, the selection of nearly everything else is shockingly poor (or appears so given the confusing as hell layout of things).
I was not able to find many of the things I regularly eat or drink here — and part of me thought maybe that was reasonable given my food allergies, but part of me thought, too, that the lack of dairy-​free food — and just more natural foods in general — means my business there will be limited at best.
We did buy a few things, and I found the «sample» offerings of the deli counter very interesting: apparently getting a sample means asking for what you want in the quantity you want it, the server prints out the sticker for the weight of the stuff, and then offers you a «sample» of the meat that you are going to pay for anyway. That’s not a sample — that’s me having a nibble of something on my own dime. I can do that a lot more comfortably in my own house, but thanks.
I also noticed, and this will not likely be a popular view, that a good deal of the food was pre-​packaged crap that your average Vancouverite isn’t likely to want. Let’s call as it is, shall we? Vancouver has a large Asian population, and the new neighbourhood that Loblaws just built in, also has a large population of Persians — there was almost no Asian or Persian foods to choose from. The selection that IS available would be right at home in Ontario, where most Loblaws stores seem to be located, but here, in Vancouver, the type of things they are selling do not cater to the majority of the population — which includes me given that I cannot eat anything with cow milk in it, and nearly everything they sell at City Market is coated in, or full of, the stuff.
The prices on meat and chicken (the non-​organic stuff) is good, and even the organic prices are decent, but overall, the produce was a little sickly looking, they cater to people who really, really like cow-​milk, and I worry about their refrigerated cases as many of the doors do not close properly (particularly the Fancy Cheeses case).
I don’t like Safeway prices, they are ridiculously over-​inflated, and Price Smart isn’t nearly as convenient, nor is going from small locally owned shop to small locally owned shop — but these are the places that I will be frequenting instead of the new City Market.
I will check in though. Maybe as they see what sells and what doesn’t — and the ZOMG! FREE SAMPLES! frenzy is over — things will settle in and shift to meet the needs of the people living here, but until then, sorry Loblaws, I’ll be giving my business to the local independent shops.