416-306-1881
Brookfield Place,
181 Bay St
“The number one thing is that it’s fresh and it’s clean,” Gabe tells me. I suppose it should really come as no surprise to someone surrounded by the freshest spring fashions, just now coming into bloom among the neat lines drawn by clean-cut suits. Stepping into this unlikely branch of the food court in Brookfield Place, I can see that all the PATH regulars are accounted for. The commuter crowd is, as always, making their presence known, and as I battle past the tides of men and women, my pace almost as hurried as their own, something begins to catch my attention. I’m used to seeing people with their smart phones in hand, usually accompanied by a morning coffee, or perhaps a somewhat ill-conceived fast food breakfast. But today I see something different. Today, no one bustling through the PATH, whether rushing to get to work, or meet a friend, or write an exam, is without a ripe piece of fruit, or a fresh salad. Today, rather than sitting at their desks and nibbling at a box of french fries, or reconsidering the toppings on their hotdog, I see that people will be making their way through a package of plump raspberries, or a hearty roast beef sandwich. To understand just why, I begin to explore Longo’s, a charming shop standing among the growing ranks of vendors quietly serving the health-conscious members of the PATH community.
But it seems an unlikely relationship, a grocery store tailored to the needs of the people of the PATH, people in a hurry. However, as Gabe, Longo’s store front manager explains, the shop’s fresh produce and quick and easy meal options are a perfect fit for the thousands that crowd the city’s underground corridors each day. “Healthy salads, fresh fruits, it’s all what you’d call ‘grab and go’” he says, offering a refreshing view on what it takes to make something “fast food”. And he’s right. It shows in the dozens of people lining up to nab themselves a meal to get them through the busy day. “About 80% of our business comes from our salad bars, and people just grabbing a quick lunch,” he explains, and I can believe it. With a wealth of meal and snack combinations, enough to suit just about anybody’s taste, it’s no wonder that so many people on the go are so willing to forego the usual lunch culprits for a taste of something a little more real.
That seems to be what everyone is looking for nowadays, isn’t it? Something real. Something whose authenticity you can feel and taste and smell. With so much of our lives tied up in our Blackberries and email accounts, I suppose it comes as no surprise that people are so hungry for something as genuine as newly ripened produce or freshly baked pastries. “Nobody else around here really carries fresh fruit, it’s what we’re known for,” Gabe says, and again, I believe him. It stands out as much in the neatly organized aisles as it does in the hands of the people hurrying to their jobs, or their condos, or towards any edge of the city. And I say, if it’s a crisp apple or a tasty pasta salad that gets these people through the day, rather than a burger or a hotdog or a box of fries, all the more power to them.
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This is a great store, I wish they had one closer to my work though up in the Eaton Centre.