Food Basics

Decent selection.buT, there's always going to be a 5-10 min line up, abysmal customer service. Also prices can vary a lot at checkout, beware.

This is a well stocked grocery store which makes for a fast and convenient shopping experience either on weekends or after work on the weekdays. Recommended

It's good they add more stuff, like everyday daily needs of neighborhood.but it's lack of cashier esp friday

Very little produce section, always under staffed.never have enough cash open, could use some cleaning. I like food basics but not this location.

Updated May 2022, if nothing this Food Basic is consistent coming out of COVID.

Smaller Food Basic so not as much inventory. Sale items are often quickly sold out. Lots of parking in a quiet mall. New shopping carts needed.

This place just keeps getting worst. I can never find what I need or if I do it's rotten, ripped open, dented, expired. Not worth the trip here. Go to FB at Bayview&John, or price match at NF at Don Mills& Finch or Freshco at Don Mills& Helen Lu.plus shop at the many other nearby grocery stores.

Great pricing and fresh food. Takes a load of stress off getting groceries for the family. Also in my opinion fresher produce and meats than NoFrills.

I was very disappointed in the laissez faire attitude towards the current risk presented by the COVID delta variant. They still require you to carry coins to unlock the carts in an environmnent where cash is being discouraged and the act of unlocking a cart means you are contaminating the cart in front of yours. I also found that they were not disinfecting the conveyor between customers and were allowing people to bunch up in line. All and all this place was ignoring every protocol that has been put in place. The current daily numbers are already higher than they were this time last year and irresponsible businesses such as this can take a large portion of the blame. I will not be back.ever! We all need to get back to work!

Interior Appeal:

Ugly looking store for the utter bare essentials.
This store needs a serious renovation.

Shelf selection:
Their selection is subpar; however given it's a small store, it's adequate for the bare essentials. Perhaps if you're trying to restrict yourself from buying those extra goodies in the groceries then this is the place to go, because you probably can't get them here.

Fresh fruits / Vegetables and bakery:
Very small selection. You may need to go else where to complete your shopping.

RATING:
Interior appeal: 0 out of 1
Shelf selection: 1 out of 1 (adjusted to small store)
Fresh Fruits / Vegetables: 1 out of 2
Fresh Bakery: 0 out of 1

TOTAL: 2 out of 5

Smaller store then the one near my place, so the selection isn't that great.

Had exactly what I wanted so no problem there.
Also not so crowded.

Store layout requires a lot of walking. The mall entrance is closed.

Good for meat, cheeses. Toiler paper always cheaper. Produce not so great IMHO. I like their European little section, although could be better.

One of the smaller Food Basics locations. Not a huge selection of items to chose from, but the store is clean and organized. Saw Michael Buble and his entourage here, I guess they were shopping before his concert later today.

**As someone who works here I wouldn’t recommend shopping here for starters. But for starters here are things to look at before shopping here or to answer anybody who has common issues such as low quality products, missing products and a few other things. **

Price matching is allowed, but it’s only for food basic flyers that are for different areas.

There is common confusion because we’re on the border of Toronto. But we correspond to Thornhill flyers. If you carry a physical version we go by version one on the top left of the corner of your flyers.

If you like sale items or come to shop for flyer specific items, **keep a flyer on hand or on your phone** different area food basics correspond to different flyers which is confusing, this is why we have products that are priced differently from your flyers. If you have it on hand and want the product for the price on your version show us and we can adjust it to match your food basics flyer. Definitely important to remember, if not we call the manager for approval for the price you viewed it for. Otherwise we cannot sell it at that price or like I said it needs to go through the manager.

Most sale items tend to run out either because not enough is ordered or they don’t deliver enough due to stock shortage.

Corporate doesn’t allow us to tell customers to wear a mask to avoid conflict and simply to avoid complaints. (Which can be frustrating)

The produce really depends, sometimes it can be a hit or a miss you can easily find some produce to be moldy and not taken off the shelves.

Most of the time we’re short staffed as well due to the lack of hours management of the area provides to the managers and supervisors. Making controlling lines, consistent carts and baskets and limiting people difficult when there may be only 2 people available in each department and sometimes only 1.

Many of us can agree that the store is poorly managed but the good thing about I guess is that it’s conveniently located and is a good stop for when you need to quickly grab something on the go.

The meat can also be really nice, such as the pork chops and chicken.

I like most of the staff members here since most of them are friendly which makes working here doable, aside from that hopefully this helps answer questions for people shopping here in the future.

I like shopping there.not so many people and they do have the stuff I needed to buy.although some of their produce is running low

This is an affordable grocery shop.
The fresh produces are not always the best and often turns bad after couple of days after purchase. Make sure you check the expiration date before purchasing.

This location is always really clean and well-stocked. People are respectful of the mask protocol. Lots of parking.

Convenient location to get groceries at the 404 and Steeles. Usually quite busy with a crammed parking lot. Real ones know to park on the east side of Food Basics

They didn't let me in even when I showed them my employee ID. I am a Frontline Healthcare worker during COVID19 pandemic.

Kudos to this location for taking every precaution during this dangerous time. I didn’t mind waiting outside 10-15 minutes to ensure everyone’s safety. We all remained far apart and the store wasn’t busy inside at all. For the lady who found the inconvenient. Get a life!

5 stars!

The cashier is so eager to show her new face job that she can’t even wear a mask?
Disgusting

Amazing location to shop at during this challenging time. I had to wait in a little line up and was very happy to be able to shop safety. I went to another grocery store last night and was shocked by the amount of people inside and nobody was cleaning the carts or baskets. I will only shop at this location from now on! Super impressed by the staff cleaning every cart and basket before the customers enter! Stay Safe!

I've been in your store many times during the last few months. Had to stand in a line up outside. I witnessed a person clean the baskets and carts. All for our safety. I am very impressed and happy to see such a high level of service by this grocery store. Truly caring for their customers. I honestly can't say that for other stores in the area. Keep up the great work! 2 thumbs up! Stay Safe!

Honesty is the best policy.

I recently stop by the Food Basic on The Shops on Steeles and 404. Accidental left my wallet on the way out. I drop by two days later to check if anybody had found my wallet and true enough it was safety put away by the staff who found it. Kudos to the staff and specially Tina the cashier who found my wallet and made sure it was safely stored to be re-united with it's owner!

Thank you folks!

KFlex

Its an OK Branch, unfortunately everything is old like 25 years ago, but since it is foodbasics they have same quality as the other branches.

Inexperienced cashiers unable to help you in product line, with exception of one helpful staff that checked availability of certain product.

Useful promotions and effective merchandise arrangement. They even have reasonable prices on hygienics.

It's quite decent, has most of what you need (but only packaged meat, no counter) and some great prices. Today I got cherries under $6/lb, was $10 at Longo's 2 days ago.

Staff friendly, store clean, with clean washroom, normally 3 to 5 people per checkout line. By Tim Hortons, Shoppers Drug Mart, two Chinese restaurants.

Produce is moldy on a regular basis! They even stock "fresh" produce on old products, watched them do it several visits. Every visit I end up returning something realizing to late it's past expiry or I was overcharged. Buggies are broken etc. This location is lacking big time with management! Canned goods seem ok tho.