Sobeys at CityPlace opening next Friday, June 26

So, the day you've all been waiting for is fast approaching. We're a little sad that there won't be more reasons to write about the Sobeys Urban Fresh at Fort York and Spadina, near Bremner. In fact, we're pretty happy we first reported on it in early January so it's been a long wait.

Today, we got this flyer from Sobeys and it announces June 26th as the opening day. Here are some details
Hours: 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
7 days a week
Number: 416-623-5111

And you will get a FREE cooler bag with every purchase (until they run out, that is).

So, who's going to go next Friday. If we don't make it out there, we expect you fine QQL readers who have been checking this site the past six months to report back. You will, won't you?

Reader tip! Sobeys at CityPlace opening on June 26th

Thanks so much to reader Stephanie for doing a little reporting in the neighbourhood. She saw our most recent post on the Sobeys at Fort York and Spadina and gave us this news:

My husband and I were doing our own investigation last week (June 5th) and when we went up to the entrance, the automatic doors opened to reveal a security guard. We asked her if she knew when they were opening and she said with real certainty in her voice, "June 26th". We are so excited!

Thanks Stephanie. So there you go, in three Fridays, expect the Sobeys to be open, which is only a week off from what we were guessing. Let the neighbourhood shopping begin!

(And by the way, we appreciate any tips, just send them down through the comments or to queensquaylife@gmail.com.)

Sobeys at CityPlace and Bremner/Fort York: Coming soon, but when exactly?

We strolled past the new venue for the Sobeys Urban Fresh at Fort York and Spadina today and noticed a few things that you could find interesting

• First, that despite the Coming Soon signs plastered all over it, we still don't know when it's opening. On a building permit we spotted back in April, it called for a building completion date of June 19 (which is in two Fridays).
• They've already stocked the non-perishable aisles (ie bottles, cans, packaged goods) and there are at least seven aisles in the store. From looking inside and comparing it to the location at York and Queens Quay, we think this new one is actually bigger.
  
• We see near the entrance work still needs to be done but it looks like they're ready to roll. There is either a salad bar or, maybe more likely, some sort of pick your own olives area. We see what looks like to be a bakery at the (which was confirmed since we know they were looking for people to work in their bakery department.)

So, who else is excited we're welcoming another grocery store to the neighbourhood? We predict very brisk business.

Cityplace in the dark: Power outage last weekend

Okay, we missed the boat on this one, but our neighbours to the north experienced a big power outage over the weekend. Recounts the Globe in a story this morning

The lights went out at several condos and an adjoining gymnasium near the Rogers Centre, some of them part of the massive Concord CityPlace development projects, shortly after 6 p.m. on Saturday. The blackout, which lasted almost 24 hours in some buildings, forced some residents to spend the night in hotels or with family.

While some backup lights immediately switched on at the gym and other areas, there were none at all for several hours in at least one of the condo buildings.

We've always wondered about the economies of scale when it comes to CityPlace. It shares gyms, garages and buildings are joined together to form complexes but it seems that there's more infrastructure shared.

More from the Globe:

In total, nine buildings suffered blackouts of varying lengths, from a couple of hours to almost a full day.

Several of the CityPlace towers are closely connected, sharing a sprawling underground garage. "The problem is this: Why is it when something affects one building it affects all the buildings?" asked Gary Pieters, a resident in one of the affected towers. "That's a development flaw."

 Anyone have any stories to share?

Sobeys at Cityplace: Jobs and services

No, this isn't Sobeys week at QQL, but we did find out a bit more about the new store opening up later this year. (June, the permit says, but who knows, it could be sooner).


We saw on jobloft.com that there are 10 positions opening for the '4 Spadina Avenue' which has been used as the address for the Sobeys store at Fort York. These jobs were posted in the last week (see them here)


From what we can see, it'll be very much like the Urban Fresh store at Queens Quay and York Street:


A deli
Deli clerk - Serve customers including slicing, cutting, weighing, packaging and pricing merchandise (eg. May include taking orders for nibbler trays and preparing trays). Prepare food for resale (pizzas, quiche, and meat and chicken pies, etc) and record cooking logs.

A salad bar 
Salad bar - Create salad trays. Assist in serving customers including slicing, cutting, weighing, packaging and pricing merchandise (eg. May include taking orders for nibbler trays and preparing trays).
 
A bakery
Bakery clerk - Greet all customers in a friendly, courteous manner and respond to customer requests and phone orders (eg. cake orders)
 
Produce and grocery (duh)
Grocery clerk - To assist in maintaining the grocery department which includes replenishing and rotating dry goods and frozen merchandise, ordering and receiving product, training new employees and assisting customers with their requests and inquiries.
 

Sobeys at Cityplace and the need for grocery stores

So, we get LOTS of traffic to this blog for people searching for, say "Sobeys at Bremner" or "Sobeys at Fort York" or "Sobeys at Spadina". In fact, we're seriously thinking of dedicating a week or series of posts just on Sobeys since you're all so interested.

We walked by the construction site last week and it looks like it'll really take up to the June 19th completion date we saw on a building permit a few months back.

Here's a shot of the front area we took.



But in all seriousness, we think it's just another sign that we really need more grocery stores in this area. For Cityplace alone, they're only really served by a Rabba at Blue Jays Way, an M&M Meat Shop across the street on Front, a Fresh & Wild at King Street, but even that's a little more than walking distance for condo dwellers.

On Queens Quay, we've also got a Rabba at Rees and the Sobeys at York Street. People with more adventurous streak can go to the Loblaws on Jarvis but hey, we feel bad for the poor people who have to carry bags for two kilometres!

Yes, there are smaller markets at Bathurst, York and a Kitchen Table at Yonge but people want to stock up with real selection of groceries.

For our dollar, the Sobeys at Queens Quay is doing a great job serving the neighbourhood -- it's big enough and has the traffic to have a good turnaround in produce and meat, although the fish selection, we'll we're not sure. The deli counter and hot food area is really big -- do we really need pre-prepared food? And a nice touch -- a bakery!

Sad memorial after death near CityPlace buildings

We were saddened to read about Soraya Nanji, a resident at condos near our neighbourhood. She was crossing Front Street earlier this week, reportedly talking on her cellphone, when she was struck and killed by a truck. Here's full coverage at the Star, Post, CBC, CTV.

On Friday night, we saw that a memorial of pictures and flowers were set up at the northwest corner of Front and Blue Jays Way.

From this CBC story, concerns that she was distracted while speaking on her phone.

"There's no way to say definitively yes or no, but it certainly didn't help that she was talking on the phone while trying to cross a relatively busy street," said police Sgt. Steve Burrows.

Burrows said there are pedestrian collisions involving some sort of distraction every couple of months in Toronto, "whether it's the use of an iPod … [or] the use of a cellphone — texting or talking.

"These are things we have been warning pedestrians about. You certainly cut off some of your sensory abilities when you're doing something like that," Burrows said.

It can't be denied that in condo land, there are lots of people on foot. And lots of downtown traffic. And yes, many of us are on cellphones, iPods or peering down at our BlackBerrys. All of this is to say that we should listen to what our parents taught us. Look before you cross, and perhaps use your ears as well. Sad story we don't want to read about again.

Confirmed: Sobeys Urban Fresh at CityPlace (Fort York)

We were walking by the CityPlace neighbourhood, west of Bremner, on Fort York beside Spadina. We can now confirm that work is just starting on the Sobey's Urban Fresh, just like we mentioned a little while back. According to a permit on the front door of the building, the project will take about 20 weeks to complete.

It started in late January and the estimated time for finishing is June 19, 2009. Interesting side note is that it says the costs will be $850,000.

Regardless, this will be a major addition to the neighourhood, and will likely be also used by Queens Quay residents. If you live on Spadina or west to Bathurst, the Sobeys at York and Queens Quay is a good kilometre to mile away. Meanwhile, if you live at CityPlace, you have a Rabba's, the Fresh & Wild on King Street and the M & M Meatshop. We think this new store will introduce a little more competition and variety.

Meanwhile you can admire the storefront of the Sobeys at Queens Quay.