Luciano’s No Frills

I haven’t been to this location for a while now, so I’m hoping that today’s lackluster experience was a one-​off and not the new standard.
I came here on a Sunday at around 5pm and although the place was full of people, it was rather lacking in groceries. The meat and produce selection left much to be desired — they were out of ¹⁄₃ of the stuff I came to buy (nothing crazy: pork tenderloin, zucchinis, garlic, peppers), which was frustrating. I almost had to fight someone over the last bag of onions. That being said, they had some good sales and checkout was extremely quick and efficient.
Honestly, excluding today’s experience, this is actually one of my favourite downtown grocery stores. It’s large, well-​organized, bright, clean, and usually has great prices/​sales. Hopefully they’ll be better stocked on my next visit.

it is ok
it seems they are always hiring new staff so that is not a good sign
their pricing is not always accurate
but let’s face in Corktown where else other than the St. Lawrence Market can you go?
sure wish Sobeys didn’t close that was a nice grocery store

This is one of the nicer no frills I’ve been to. It is very clean and we’ll organized. They have a wide variety of items and the produce and meat is always fresh. I work nearby so I frequently come to grab something for lunch or a quick snack.

3.5 Stars
No Frills locations are not always the best — they can be dirty and packed full of people.
This location is fairly good — it’s usually pretty clean and not overly busy. Even when it is busy, you can still get around no problem.
The Good:
1. Prices. You cannot beat prices at No Frills. You are getting the same thing for half the price a lot of the time.
2. Spacious. This location is quite big and has lots of room to move about.
3. Selection. I’ve never had a problem getting what I came for here.
The Bad:
1. Location. It’s out of the way for a lot of people including ourselves. It’s quite far east.
2. Produce. Like most No Frills, produce can be a bit shady.
Recommendation: examine your fruit before buying.

My experience with this No Frills has been very poor. I do not have much positive insight for this place and this place sadly deserves a no Star. where is the quality? The employee’s seems to have little to no training, there is lack of teamwork and support among the cashiers. The employees working the aisles are completely oblivious. This place could be so much more it’s in a great neighborhood. I agree with others from this review. Must check expiry date!
A lot of canned goods i. e taco beans, tuna are often busted I find myself looking at the back to find one that is not. The meats are often discolored.
Also the juice boxes are busted found myself arriving home with a few juice boxes leaking sadly did not notice until I got home. The bread selection is poor. Loblaws, yes it’s pricey but at least you have employee that take pride in stacking those fruits and veggies, the can goods are not all busted. I’ve had 3 experiences where the milk spoiled before it was done less than 5 days.

This No Frills lost my business today, as on a Monday afternoon at 3 p.m., I wasn’t going to wait for one of the few surface parking spaces. The sign for underground parking says that it’s monthly parking only, 6 a.m. to 6:45 p.m.
On a prior evening when I stopped by (and surface parking spots weren’t an issue), I actually liked the store. It’s larger than my usual No Frills, and seems to have inventory when other branches get stocked out.
So, this store will only be a place for car-​load shopping after dinner. For daytime shopping, we’ll have to stay with our regular No Frills branch (about the same distance the other direction) at Carlaw north of Gerrard.

Your everyday decent grocery store which is really a close by for easier convenience. For some reason it reminds me of a convenience store than a grocery store. I wouldn’t say the greatest it could be neatly tidied up; the cashiers there can be friendly — a hit or miss depending whom you get.
I have to agree with the previous reviewer better make sure to check you milk or yogurt expiration date. No frills is notorious for not checking their products!
Their pharmacy there is very conveniently located inside the grocery store; very friendly and knowledgable staff unlike your usually rude pharmacist at expensive Shoppers Drug Mart. The dispensing fee is not too bad either.
I can’t complain the service is above average and I would trust No Frills any day over Rabba.

Selection is ok. The fact that they make you bag your own groceries and have to pay .25 cents to use a shopping cart is somewhat annoying. I would also like to see a wider selection of pop near the frount of the store, so you dont have to carry it around the store while you shop.

I have to be fair in this review of the joint. There are parking issues. Its in the old Sun Building. The underground parking is only available to store customers AFTER 6PM M-​F, or wide open on Week-​ends.
The aisles are normally pretty clean, and shelves are stocked although sometimes ya can’t find something (I went looking for sesame oil, tag, but no stock, warehouse not shipped). I have seen the egg area a disaster. But realistically, after you have a few hundred people going through the store, it might not be 100%.
As for out-​of-​date or OOD. I’ve found that at Loblaws (Moore Park & Broadview). So sadly if you get out of date stuff it can be missed by anyone in any store. So shame on them, but if you can’t be bothered to check your dates before purchase, Shame on you. Having said that, get your receipt and item and take it back to the store, they will exchange it. If returning and exchanging it is a hassle, then maybe those 30 seconds to check it before purchase isn’t time wasted.
The difference between NO Frills, Zehrs, Loblaws, Loblaw, RCSC (Real Canadian Super Center), is square footage. Market Location. Variety of product. For example, there’s 3 grades to a lot of produce, Grade A (premium), Grade B and Grade C, not all the grades are used on all the produce. IF your in a Loblaws, or RCSC you’ll more likely find Grade A&B, in a No Frills B&C, What’s the difference in grades? A (premium) will look almost perfect, no blemish or peculiar growths. B may have blemish, or dents or a weird growth, and C will look more distorted growths. Like when you have a green pepper that’s 3.5 inches tall and 3″ wide, and it looks perfect, that’ll be an A, if its got a dent growth in one side, it’ll be a B, but those 2″ by 2″ squated weird shaped ones will be a C. (Now don’t kill me if I’m wrong, I’m just going by what I remember), but functionally and taste wise, their all the same. Its all about presentation. The A’s will have higher pricing because they look better, and will sell faster, than a C,
Last thing about produce. For everyone that goes to Kensington Market. Unless it specifically says, Ontario Grown (From a Farmer), there’s a very high probability that it comes from the Queensway Food Terminal, which imports, warehouses and distributes produce to various venders around the city. SO know what your buying before you buy it. Kensington may offer better produce, but only when its from an Ontario Farmer. Otherwise the produce will come from where everyone else gets its, down south. Also note: No Frills /​Zehrs /​RCSC /​Loblaws all share the SAME warehouse. Just as Sobey’s/FreshCo/Price Chopper/​Foodland (was IGA) shares the same warehouses.
So in closing, is this the best store for groceries, nope. but its not bad. I can get 90% of what I need here, without getting too annoyed.
Remember retail is 90% presentation, and 10% content. Most groceries stores will carry similar if not identical products. Read your labels and check your dates.

Clean and spacious. The produce is decent too. The only downside of this place is it’s pretty busy and there’s been long line ups every time I’ve gone.

No Frills is great! The shelves and freezers are always stocked, the fruits and veggies are usually quite fresh, and everything is well-​priced. When they have sales, I tend to buy more than I should (but it sure makes sense at the time)!
Why go to another grocery store if you can fill your pantry and get fresh items here? I think you can easily save at least 25% off your grocery bill (if not more) when comparing to places like Sobeys, Loblaws, or Metro. I will admit, I don’t normally pick up meats because they don’t have our preferred cuts. Sometimes we will get the ground beef though.
I don’t really like the parking situation since the underground lot isn’t always accessible. If you can come at an off-​peak time, you should be able to snag a spot above ground.

Impatient and frustrated with the construction along Queen East making my usual grocery shop of choice (Freshco at Leslie&Lakeshore) tough to get to via streetcar, I decided to venture slightly west today and visit this No Frills location.
I was pleasantly surprised. The store had everything I needed and was well laid out and spacious. I had heard bad things about the quality of No Frills’ meat and veg (perhaps from snobs who had never tried it…), so initially planned to do that part of my shop elsewhere, but the quality of No Frills’ produce — relative to the price– really won me over and I ended up doing my entire shop here!
It was only when I noticed No Frills’ labelling of best-​before dates on their perishable goods that I actually realised how few grocery stores bother to display such information on their products. This was a huge plus for me.
The staff were very pleasant, and there were no lines.
Prices were considerably lower in most cases than in many competitors, but I did notice one or two exceptions. Had I had my receipt from another grocery store with me, I would have shown the cashier and put their ‘show us a better price elsewhere and we’ll beat it’ ethos to the test.
Parts of the store were a bit messy and the floor looked like it needed a bit of a sweep. Other than that, I can safely say No Frills really won me over today. I was especially grateful for and happily surprised by the abundance of stock (nothing was sold out) and the easy to navigate, well-​posted nature of the store.
I’ll probably come back here again to do my groceries, especially while the darned TTC construction continues!

This No Frills is okay for your typical day to day grocery shopping needs. The store is reasonably clean and organized and the cashiers are quick and efficient. I never had to wait long in line to check out during any of my visits at this particular grocery store and shopping carts + baskets are always readily available although they still require a 25 cent deposit for a cart. The store is pretty big without too much congestion in the aisles and it is also very easy to navigate throughout the store.
The produce is decent at best. They don’t always carry the best quality of produce as it isn’t as fresh as the produce you can find at other nearby grocery store shelves but you can still find some okay fruits and veggies during your trip. Just don’t expect high quality freshness all the time. It’s really hit or miss for the most part.
Prices are always excellent at No Frills and I’ve never had any issues of essential items running low on stock. These guys seem pretty good and consistently on the ball with their inventory so I can always rely on this store for my everyday grocery items.

I am not a fan of No Frills in general, but this is the one exception to the rule.
the store is always clean, which is not true for most No Frills franchises. i like a clean grocery store. i’m always grossed out if a grocery store is unkempt (i’m looking at you, Food Basics!)
the produce is fresh, and i’ve never had an issue with any fruits or vegetables i bought from this No Frills.
the meat selection is fine for everyday cooking.
in general, they stock a much wider selection of products on the shelves than most other No Frills locations.
one complaint would be that not many things go on sale at this location. the prices are fair enough on a daily basis, but it would be nice to see more weekly specials. other than that, it’s my go-​to grocery store.
p. s.: avoid the Sobey’s across the road at all costs (literally and figuratively!)

This is a relatively clean No Frills, but I’m shocked at this:
Bought PC’s cream cheese yesterday (April 15, 2013). Got home and glanced at the expiry — December 2012!!! It expired four months ago! That too a dairy product.
What happened to quality control?

VIBE
This hidden location is a hidden gem! Honestly, it’s the nicest «No Frills» I’ve seen and at half the cost of items at Sobey’s across the street. It’s light, bright and everything is clearly marked. The cashiers could use a lesson in «customer service.» When did it become customary to rush customers and make them pack their own bags? (This is not just at No Frills.)
THE GOODS
The prices here are decent except for meat. You may as well go to St. Lawrence Market for that. I also wouldn’t buy my bread here. I also like getting my veggies from the SLM. But if you want the basics, this is the place. As stated in previous Unilocal reviews, there are no deli or bakery sections. But. Specials of the week I saw: 4 San Pellegrino or Perrier for $ 5; milk for under $ 5 (the three bag kind); big ass halloween candy boxes for around $ 8. 2 L pop for $ 1.25. Clearly, I never said I ate the healthiest but the price is definitely right here.
OBLIGATORY CATCHY REMARK
Good quality for value. Nothing frilly about that!

I can’t believe how CLEAN this No Frills location is.
Cheapest produce around.
Good quality.
People who work here are actually really helpful too
I come here for produce and typical canned goods. Don’t expect to find any bakery or deli items at No Frills– they just won’t have it– even if you see it– just say no.
stock up on the basics here!

I bought peameal bacon on jan 3^rd
i got home and saw that it expired dec 31…
CHECK THE EXPIRATION DATE

This place provides what was kind of missing in the neighborhood a reasonably priced and clean grocery store.
Since this place is somewhat new it is very clean with bright aisles and and neatly stocked items. I hope they keep it this way as other No Frills are usually not very inviting.
Everything is not perfect though the produce section is relatively small and one doesn’t have much choice there the staff though helpful is not well versed in pointing out the exact location of the item you want. Some of the items advertised in the fliers are not even carried by this location.
Other thing to point out it unless you have a Master Card you have to pay by interac/​bank card or cash.
All in all a good addition to grocery stores in this area as this completes the buying requirement s at all price points in downtown.

There’s no real reason for taking a star away as such. I just can’t give 5 stars for a discount grocery store. They never wow me. Let’s say 4.5!
This No Frills seems to be pretty new. Everything is bright and shiny and sparkling. The fruit and veg section is pretty large and everything looked appealing and fresh on both occasions I’ve been in over the past week. Prices were also good. There is a little fresh bread section with bagels etc to take individually but no huge diet-​ruining bakery. There is a pharmacy though. Handy!
Great bargains on a wide range of grocery items-​everything from dairy to tinned goods to the Woolite that was $ 3 cheaper than at Shopper’s Drug Mart. The President’s Choice items didn’t seem to be priced much differently to Loblaws or Bloorstreet Market but overall my bags of groceries were much cheaper than usual.
Aisles are wide and it seemed pretty calm in there on a weekday. It will probably get busier as more people find it-there’s a good catchment area and I’m sure people living in the area will be more than happy not to pay the crazy prices Metro seem to think they can charge. ($ 3.59 for a litre of milk. Seriously?!?).
Checkout was quick and pleasant. It seems counterintuitive that the discount arm of the Loblaws family of stores has better service than the supposedly high-​end Loblaws and Bloorstreet Market, but that was my experience this week. The girl didn’t recognise my parsnip and thought it was bok choi… but at least she was pleasant!
Definitely going back-​even if it means having to get one of those old woman shopping trollies to bring everything home. It’s worth it!