BURLINGTON, Ont. • Jean-Louis Bellemare, the founder of Farm Boy, was standing by the butcher case in his newest store, talking about the way certain light bulbs can pull a bright shade of red from a steak.
Bellemare doesn’t spend the same kind of time opening stores now. Three years ago, he would have spent 180 hours opening a store like this, he said. Farm Boy – York defines it as “Whole Foods but 25 per cent cheaper” though it’s more a cross between Whole Foods and the U.S. chain Trader Joe’s — has steadily gained popularity among urban shoppers, mostly for its private label products, produce and prepared meals.
“When you look at most retailers, they’re almost always stronger where they grew up,” Medline said in an interview, in addressing Sobeys’ struggles in Toronto. Farm Boy, with its loyal following in Eastern Ontario, hasn’t had that problem in its expansion south. “But if we feel, in any way, that we’re disappointing the customers … we’re going to slow down,” he said. “You can tell. When you’ve been in the business for 38 years, trust me you can tell when you walk through a store.”
“We have to be careful. We’re a such big company and we have a lot of people that want to help Farm Boy,” he said. “We want to keep them separate because we don’t want to overwhelm them.”
I will stick with buying my food from real farmers