Bloor Mini Mart

I’ve recently moved around the block, so I started recently checking out all of the convenience stores in the area. I was very lucky that this store was the closest to my house, because it immediately became «my store».
The store is always clean, and the staff is very friendly. I’ve actually picked up some of the «high risk» items from there, and have been mostly lucky. I bought cereal, bacon, milk, eggs and french fries from there. Everything was good except for the fries, which were a bit stale. Not to worry, I had checked the expiration date on everything.
They do have a nice selection of everything you need but don’t want to trek out to Dufferin Mall for. Prices are reasonable for a convenience store (I/​E you shoud epect to pay more than Wal-​Mart, but not feel like they took advantage of you). They have a wall of nic-​nacs which seemingly has everything an apartment-​dweller could use. And, if I do say so myself, they have both a sweet rolling paper selection along with an impressive selection of candies for munchies!
On top of it all, they’ve been okay with my dog coming in with me, which makes them A-​OK in my book!

Easily the nicest looking convenience store in the area. The floors are clean and shiny, the lighting is good, and the products are well organized on the shelves. Also, the shelves don’t look like they came from five different convenience stores and were mashed together.
They have many of the American beverages you can’t normally get here like Cherry Coke (three varieties), Vanilla Coke, Pepsi Throwback, etc.

The Bloor Mini Mart located on Bloor at Symington is your run of the mill convenience store. Yes, it is as they say convenient for me because it is right by my house. I exclusively purchase only certain products from this store. They are the only providers of cherry coke zero that I know of in Toronto. Certain non perishables are fine. But you are really rolling the food poisoning dice with any dairy and meat items. The fluorescent lighting in the interior of the store is totally depressing. I went in last night for my basic staples (cherry coke zero, mini rolos and dirty kraft dinner) and I asked the male shop keep politely «how’s it going?» He snipped back «alright.» That was all. I paid for my merch and wished him a nice evening. No response from him. Really? Come on now. Where is the customer service? On the other hand, one of the last times I went in on a Friday night to get some cash out and again I asked the female shop keep «how’s it going?» She launched in a this crazy diatribe about how much she loathed working at the mini mart, how she just wants to go out Friday nights and how unhappy she is. I think I am fine with the «alright» response.
So, if you are a cherry coke zero fanatic than the Bloor Mini Mart will meet your needs. Otherwise be weary.

I lived around the corner from this place for about a year so I would frequent it often for «safe» items such as pop, chips, non-​perishable food items and cigarettes — items dodgy convenient stores move frequently and don’t sit on the shelves for years collecting dust.
I should have stuck to this rule but one day I guess I decided it would be alright to pick up a box of cereal. I figured that sort of thing takes a long time to expire so I grabbed Multigrain Cheerios and was on my way. When I had my first bowl I knew something was wrong — it was very stale and tasted like sawdust. To my surprise the front of the box was advertising the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney… I bought the cereal in 2002.
So even though this place is fine for your usual convenient store items I would highly suggest staying away from any food. And if you do find yourself browsing those items then make sure you check the expiration date because they likely have tins of beans from 1997.