Longo’s Debuts 37th Toronto-Area Store
Longo Brothers Fruit Market has opened its 37th store, bringing its unique shopping experience to the Whitby, Ontario, community of Brooklin. Located at 5550 Baldwin Street S (Highway 7 and Baldwin Street S), the Brooklin store offers such features as the freshest produce and meat, sustainably sourced seafood, a market-style bakery and deli, hand-stretched mozzarella, an antipasto bar, a Starbucks location, ready-to-go meals from the Kitchen, a sushi and poké bar, and the grocer’s popular Loft Cooking School. Features exclusive to the Brooklin store include a fresh-squeezed orange juice bar and an Epic Cookie program.
Among the sustainability measures implemented at Longo’s Brooklin are LED lighting and the use of CO2 as the refrigerant for all refrigeration. Additionally, the store is involved in Longo’s partnership with Danish anti-food waste organization Too Good To Go.
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“We’ve never taken a one-size-fits-all approach to new store openings, and instead commit ourselves to ongoing and continual improvement with each and every location,” said Longo’s President Deb Craven. “Everything, from our unique activations, custom offerings, design, layout and decor – all have a custom touch to reflect the community we’re operating in.”
“Local matters at Longo’s, and we’ve carried a tradition of working with local communities and farmers since my family opened our first store in 1956,” noted Anthony Longo, CEO and chairman of Longo’s. “We want the community of Brooklin to know that we are proud to be here, and we are committed to making a positive impact in every way we can by being excellent employers and contributors to this vibrant neighborhood.”
To mark the opening of the new store on July 20, the first 250 customers received a mystery gift card with a value of up to CAD $500. Attendees had cake and, in a continuation of Longo’s long-standing tradition when opening a new store, witnessed company officials and local dignitaries take a bite of an apple. Managed by Vince Piligra, the store will be open Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
Whitby also recently became the site of the first Canadian brick-and-mortar location operated by Doral, Fla.-based e-commerce company Wild Fork, which specializes in frozen premium-cut meats and seafood.
Family-operated Longo’s has 37 stores in communities across Toronto and the greater Toronto area, and employs more than 5,000 team members across the province of Ontario. Its parent company, Stellarton, Nova Scotia-based Empire also owns Sobeys Inc. With approximately CAD $30.5 billion in annual sales and CAD $16.5 billion in assets, Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ approximately 131,000 people. The company is No. 19 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
