Farm Boy to Bring their Fresh Shopping Concept to Kingston
Eastern Ontario-based Farm Boy Inc. (Farm Boy) has recently announced plans to open its newest fresh market store concept in Kingston, Ontario, bringing over 100 full and part-time jobs to the local economy.
The new 26,000 square-foot Farm Boy store, located at 940 Futures Gate, just off of Princess Street, promises to deliver the very best fresh shopping experience, built on their commitment to offering the best tasting foods, healthful, wholesome meals and best service, all in a clean, attractive store setting.
It’s a business model that has worked well for a company that started over 30 years ago with a small produce stand in Cornwall, Ontario. Classic values and a strong sense of community have earned Farm Boy legions of loyal shoppers and a reputation for being the leading fresh market retailer in the competitive Ottawa market.
“It’s very heartening to know that there are Kingston residents who have visited Farm Boy stores in the Ottawa region and would now like to welcome us into their community,” says Jeff York, CEO of Farm Boy. “For us, it’s all about the food and we want Kingston to experience the freshest, best-tasting foods in our store. We’ll be baking and cooking on site each day offering an array of fresh, wholesome and delicious foods, featuring local products from Ontario and Canadian producers.”
John-Paul Shearer, Director of Business Development with the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) stated “we are delighted to have worked with the clients during this development and excited to see the store utilize and expand an existing building. The jobs and investment created through the addition of another grocery store to serve our growing population is excellent. We look forward to continuing to support Farm Boy through our labour market initiatives during the hiring of their employees.”
The new store is slated for opening in the fall of 2012. Available positions will be posted on the Farm Boy website closer to the store opening.
Selected as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, Farm Boy Inc. provides a unique and friendly fresh shopping experience in comparison to big box retailers or traditional grocers. Recognized for their fresh produce, premium meats, chef prepared take home dishes and popular line of unique, private label items, the company’s success has enabled it to grow to 11 stores in the Greater Ottawa and Cornwall regions, with further expansion plans underway.
Haven't heard of this chain, unfortunately. Is this our version of Whole Foods? Thanks for any responses…
They're not affiliated with Whole Foods from what I can tell. Check their website for their background story.
We had one in our neighbourhood when I lived in Ottawa. Pretty good, similar to Produce Town, but there was also a bit of a deli/lunch bar if I remember correctly. Prices were pretty good, and there was a wide variety of produce.
I know they aren't affiliated — I did a search and checked their website prior to posting. I guess I was wondering if the ambiance and/or layout and/or products were reminiscent of Whole Foods. Or Trader Joes. I've never been to one, so that's what I'm wondering. And I wonder how this will affect the Freshco which will be literally just down the road from them…
Shopping at Farm Boy is one of the few good memories I have from a year of living in Cornwall. Quite happy to see one opening in Kingston!
This is great news for Kingston! Best grocery shopping experience ever! It's impossible to not fill your cart with massive amounts of fruits and veggies. Everything is super fresh. I believe they source regionally as much as possible. They also have excellent private label offerings. My only disappointment is that they didn't choose a downtown location. Students would flock to this store vs Metro (always out of stock on certain items: herbs etc.) and the painfully basic Food Basics. I'm thinking the old Blockbuster location for a smaller location downtown.
Blockbuster would be a bad location. Supermarkets tend to require loading docks. you would have to modify the rear of the building which would not make it feasible. Plus getting a truck in there would be a challenge
not everything revolves around queens univ and its students in Kingston. take a bus, ride a bike.
Come on its way to small and i have worked in shipping for 20 years and that blockbuster isnt big enough for there warehouse let alone a store!!
I love this idea and wish they were downtown too!!
Farm Boy is an excellent grocer, larger and of higher quality than the former Produce Town on Bath Road. We know the Cornwall store well, and wished on many occasions for Kingston to have its own store. Farm Boy developed many of its own labels, carries a good range of cheeses and meats,. Once it becomes known in Kingston, we predict Farm Boy will rapidly acquire a large and loyal following.
So it has opened up and I am far from impresses. A number of things are a straight copy of Loblaws but lower quality for example the sparkling beverages you can get from there. A copy of Loblaws' black label sparkling beverages. Same french style bottle and even copied some of the flavors like bloodorange etc. Only the Loblaws product is actually imported from France and uses water from sandstone giving it a more unique texture and taste. The Farm boy is just a cheap knock off and they were trying to sell it at the exact same price. Also there were more then a dozen fruit flies hanging around their products. The deli was mediocre no better then many other grocery store deli. It will probable last as long as Produce Town did. The aisles were compact but perhaps that was because of opening day. The only thing good it had going for it was the design of the building and a sit down area. If this is as good as Farm Boy get I really question the expectation of people's judgement of good quality.
One thing i really liked about Farm Boy was that you could buy single K-Cups which allows for testing without buying a box