Lakeview Storehouse

Lakeview Storehouse

On the same evening after our amazing meal at Enoteca Sociale for May's birthday, we decided to go for a walk because we were so full! I read about a new general store opened by the good people at the lakeview and thought we'd might check it out.

Having only opened for a few weeks, they are still running on transitional hours closing 11pm each evening. But as I suspected their goal is to have it open around the clock to match the Lakeview Restaurant's 24 hour day schedule. After a short walk, we arrived to find a store with an old school charm.







We were already super full from dinner, so we weren't going to buy anything. But its good to know that they will serve as the take out counter for the Lakeview Restaurant. Burgers, sandwiches, mac + cheese, breakfast whatever you want, whenever you want, you can get it on the go. Theres an assortment of snacks and drinks like any other corner store but you there is also a variety of specialty pantry items, unique condiments, canned soups, sauces, bulk goods and candies that only Markham/Richmond hill kids are familiar with. A select amount of refrigerated items such as prepared foods, milk and cheeses line the other side of the wall. The produce selection is fresh from the food terminal we were told, and the woman informed us that the restaurant uses the store's stock in their own cooking to ensure a constant fresh flow of goods. At first glance it seems like the perfect marriage to open up a specialty convenience store in conjunction with a 24 hour diner, and we wish them all the best! Check them out if you're in the area!

karma co-op

karma co-op

so we've actually lived steps away from karma co-op all this time, but we've never visited until now. It was pretty much what i expected. A co-operative grocery store, is essentially a membership community run business where people take part by contributing working hours to maintain the grocery store. It gives ownership to its members.


located in the annex, the building is hidden in an alleyway but has signage and an entrance off palmerston. see map


this buildign is suprisingly large with a lot of variety of food specializing in organic, local, vegetarian products and bulk foods.

its got a homestyle feel, even grains are just packed in re-used jars


seemed liek they had all kinds of grains and bulk foods, taking up as much space as the fresh produce


and speaking of, here are all the fresh produce.. including fiddleheads in season

Check out their website, or better yet, go visit the place. This co-op was essentially created by a bunch of hippies in the 70's who were interested in having ownership in the food they eat, and where they buy it. Having spoken to one of the workers it seems a lot of their success early on has now slowed down as they are trying harder to re-new memberships.

Which all makes very much sense as the organic, local or healthy food scene isn't very underground anymore. You can find selections from even larger big box grocery stores nowadays and i think this is simply a matter of remarketing rebranding their business model to stay competitive. Their prices are on the expensive side and i didn't notice a lot of local foods, and personally i'd rather support a local food movement before worrying about organics. Of course in a perfect world we'd like to have both, but the way i see it is if we eat more local foods, the less pesticides/perservatives/treatments are required to clean/perserve/protect our foods.

either way, i'm all in for supporting initiatives that bring healthier food to all