Vi’s No Frills

If this location weren’t so conveniently located for us, we would probably never shop here. As others have noted, it’s an especially frill-​free No Frills.
Some of the more interesting things about this location:
— for some months, they had a notice taped at their entrance doors pre-​apologizing for the quality of their produce due to supplier problems (strangely, I never actually noticed much of a quality difference, but maybe that’s because I didn’t buy whatever produce they were talking about — the notice was not specific, and I didn’t care enough to ask)
— they’ve recently started selling styrofoam trays of meat that are a «pork and beef blend» — I’ve seen this at other No Frills and other discount chains, and am not a fan — there are obviously no guarantees yet about what percentage of the tray is pork over beef, so watch for this, (out of curiousity, bought one, and as suspected, it tasted extremely porky) they still sell beef only and pork only trays — stick with these and help nip this practice in the bud
— there are occasionally «sketchy» people in the store, but considering the demographics of the area, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody, everyone needs to eat. I have never seen any egregious events or confrontations at this store, either between the customers and other customers or the staff
— they have a yellow cart way at the back southeast corner loaded with their discounted items. It’s always been a bit of a mystery to us how some of the items that appear there are selected (some are obviously near their expiry dates, or are products that are being phased out, but a good proportion of others don’t fall into either of those categories)
Given the fact that they have a smaller square footage than other No Frills locations, they actually have a decent selection. Being smaller, popular sale items sell out very quickly, but if you’re desperate there’s always the much larger location up by Lansdowne and Dundas (within 15 – 20 min walking distance, depending how fast a walker you are).

Ew.
This No Frills is surrounded by sketchy people; even the staff. They’re a bunch of no good nicks. I was in the parking lot with my mother one time, and I saw several «exchanges» take place. I also saw a dead pelican, or 2 dead seagulls; I couldn’t tell what exactly it was cuz it was too smushed up. That Jameson area is plagued by violence, but that’s how they keep the prices low I guess. Everything is gross, don’t get produce. There’s also some disheveled people wearing gravy-​stained shirts and winter mitts in the summer promoting their fabricated charities at the checkout. I donated once but it only increased the size of the gravy-​stains.
Ew.

I live around the corner from this No Frills, and would love to be able to do my grocery shopping here as it would be so convenient, but without fail, every single time I forget to check all the expiry dates of everything I purchase, I get it home, and it’s bad. Like sometimes MONTHS past expiry. Breads go moldy within a day or two of purchase, and the dismal produce is usually swarmed with fruit flies. They recently started carrying *fresh* wrapped fish in the meat section, which I was so excited to see until I actually took a closer look… past best before, very sloppily cut, and in the case of some salmon, already turning strange & unappetizing colours. Despite the extra cost and inconvenience, at this point I’m done wasting money on rotten food from this place, and I’ll just take my business from now on to the Loblaw’s on Roncy.

I shop here a lot. It’s right down the street from where I live so I am there almost every day. It’s not one of the good No Frills, but they have a pretty good selection of veggies, bread and meats. I know that the bread is stocked fresh every Monday morning, and just recently I found sourdough bread there, which they NEVER have. Always Italian or Portugese.
It’s a bit of an iffy sitch with some of the customers, some you may question… but they probably live in the neighbourhood at one of the Transition homes. No one will bother you, and it’s just part of living in the ‘hood. I think this location is probably one of the sketchiest ones, but I think the staff are nice and they put up with a lot of crap sometimes.
They offer cash-​back at checkout, and have a bunch of boxes at the front if you forget your bag. They also sell bags for now. Sometimes I’m surprised at what I can get here. for example, I needed queso fresco for tacos. They had it! Also, be sure to check the expiry date on some speciality cheeses. I bought buffalo mozzeralla (also surprised they had it) but it expired two months prior.
There is a private lot around back if you need parking. Drive down Springhurst and park behind Henry’s. It’s a small lot but if you need it, it’s there.

this no frills is so super close to where i live, making it where i go for groceries.
its a crappy no frills but it still supplies you with basic food. great! its job as a supermarket is apparently done.
but its crappy meaning not a super large selection of merch. pretty basic stuff here.
you can get cash back for buying something, which makes it way cheaper than any atm, buy a banana for .25 cents and get some cash too. great!
one time i bought two shampoos cos i thought one was a conditioner and i quickly exchanged it (i keep all my receipts) a couple of days later. great!

I’ve been living in the area for nearly the last 4 years, and this is my nearest grocery store.
It’s pretty well stocked for the most part, although sometimes when I’m looking for bottles water, it’s nowhere to be found at this location.
The type of people that go to this location can be very iffy, especially some of the people that are at the front of it that appear to be on drugs and/​or mentally ill. That’s the reason why I started going to the Dundas & Lansdowne location, which is way larger, it has live as well as frozen/​refrigerated fish unlike this one, and never an issue with the iffier type of people. Since I drive, it’s not much of an issue for me. If you had to walk/​bike, I’d recommend the Metro in Liberty Village as it’s not too far away yet they also have more selection that this smaller store. Sure some things might be pricier, but you have that much more selection all-​in-​all.
So over-​all, this location’s OK for stock and selection, however the type of people hanging around it have really turned me off of it, so I’ve recently started avoiding it unless I’m very quickly picking something up and/​or if I’m in a hurry.

When I used to live in Parkdale, I went to this place all the time. I became used to the No Frills style of «grab boxes or bring your own bags» style of grocery shopping and as soon as I locked eyes on this place, I figured, «Hey, can’t be bad.»
I’ve since moved back into the neighbourhood and gave it a run for the money once again. I had just gone to the No Frills on Bloor West (
) to pick up some things and maybe blended the two stores together in my mind. Maybe it’s the location of the Bloor West No Frills that tainted me, but this one does not stand out in the least. I’ve been to other No Frills across the city and in different towns as well. There is a reason they are called «No Frills» but there is some degrees of selection and cleanliness you’d expect. Admittedly, it’s found in one of the harsher areas of the city, but it would be nice to know that you can expect some degree to be found. It’s not bad, but it’s certainly not great. I’d not go if you’re looking for fresh produce. Canned goods? Yeah, you’re good.