Tag Archives | grocery store

Nico’s Market is Open

By on January 23, 2010 in Business, Cafes, City, FP

It seems like it has been a long time coming but the first store to open in the Centre Ice Plaza has now done so. Nico’s Market opened its doors to the public on Friday afternoon and the word quickly got out, as it was busy by the time I got around to going at noon on Saturday. I did not know what to expect from this store and for the longest time had no idea what it even going to be like. All I knew is that is was open and run by Chef Pierre, a local chef and owner of a couple restaurants and Le Stockpot a Deli/Bakery.

Walking in was literally like walking into a market down south, this may just be because this was the first time I walked into this store but it did remind me of similar stores I have been to in Ontario. I will first give you my impression of the store and then some of the details I know about the store.

When you walk in, you think “wow this is nice”. It isn’t like any other store we have here in Yellowknife. Everything is so close together and there were staff everywhere trying their best to help everyone. The selection of vegetables was decent and they all looked fresh, keep in mind I don’t often go to Co-op and can’t compare. The one thing I noticed right away was the rows and rows of spices and sauces along with many other jarred goods. The choice was there, which is something I think a lot of Yellowknifers will appreciate. At the back of the store is a cooler section which was empty at the moment, but I am guessing will be stocked with juices, milk and dairy products. Along one side is where you’ll find your meats and cheeses to choose from. Then there is the little café called Nico’s Cafe, which serves a variety of food and drinks including Specialty Drinks, Coffee, Panini’s and Sandwiches. On the other side you’ll find kitchen supplies, tons of them. I even saw cast iron pan, which I have been looking for. The selection of supplies was phenomenal and if you can’t find what you are looking for in there, then it probably doesn’t exist. In all I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the store. There are still some kinks that need to be worked out, such as the checking out processes. Many items in the store were not yet in the computer and slowed down the check out process drastically. I am also hoping that they price everything in the coming days, I find that is the one think that will put me off from buying at a store is not knowing the price. I think many would agree, especially since a Facebook Group devoted to the Cost of Living in Yellowknife has just been created.

On to what I know or rather what I was told. If you have at all been to Le Stockpot lately you will have noticed many items there are now gone. That is because the majority of kitchen supplies along with some jarred goods, which I mention earlier, are now available at Nico’s Market. They have now made or are making Le Stockpot more of a Sandwich Shop/Cafe with the addition of tables and chairs. This is all coming from Chef Pierre himself who I was able to talk to while in Nico’s Market. One of things I asked him was store hours as I could not find them posted anywhere. He told me, although he said he could be wrong, as of now they are Monday – Friday 7am-6pm and Saturday 9am-6pm. These seem a little early but he did say they are subject to change.

You have heard my thoughts on the store and now I want to hear yours. Do you think it will succeed? Will you shop there? Let us know.

First if you haven’t had time to make it over there here is a short video and photos.

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Comments { 23 }

The Ferry is out, now what?

By on January 22, 2010 in Discussion, Yk Life

Normally it is a twice a year occasion, where both the Merv Hardy Ferry and the Mackenzie River Ice Road are out of service. What does this mean for Yellowknife? Well we have no road access and when most of are amenities are trucked in, can be a bit of an issue.

If you are new to Yellowknife, you may be thinking “Oh know what are we going to do, everything is going to be really expensive”. Yes and no. You may notice that Wal-mart starts to collect trailers in their lot, which contains stock to keep them going through freeze-up/break-up season. Most big stores like Wal-Mart along with the Grocery Stores try to make sure they are stocked up before hand, but it is hard to guess when the access will be cut off and for how long. Co-op tries to ease the frustration by flying food and supplies over the river and although this costs more the store itself absorbs the cost. Therefore there is not price change on the customers end.

Gas Stations are another service that try to keep topped up as much as possible during these times. Although don’t we have a huge tank farm out behind the Sand Pits?

Since this has happened for many, many years. More like, the entire time Yellowknife has existed, the City has adapted to it and everyone is use to it and for the most part can continue on with there lives undisturbed. Unless of course you had plans to drive south of the Big River. If by chance you are paranoid and want to play it safe, go out to the store now and buy enough food for two weeks and fill up the car.

Actually I don’t think it will even be two week. What I don’t think many people know is that they have been building the Ice Bridge across the river for a couple weeks now. The Ice Bridge is built a KM or so up river which allows them to start construction on it, while also keep a path clear for the ferry. If you ever get a chance to see the ferry operating this time of year it is quite neat. On occasion they put a back hoe onto the ferry to move ice that may be in the path across the river.

Personal my life isn’t affected, sometimes when I’m not paying attention I will miss the occasion altogether, which isn’t a bad thing. Although I’m not affected doesn’t mean you aren’t. Does this inconvenience you in any way? Do you care? What tips would you suggest to people about Break-up/Freeze-up time?

Photo Credit: Geoff Fandrick

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Are you ready for $0.25 Plastic Bags

By on January 18, 2010 in Discussion, FP

Here is something worth discussing, the now $0.25 it will cost for a plastic bag from a grocery store, which started January 15, 2010. We all remember when both Extra Foods in town raised the price of these plastic bags from nothing to $0.10, but now all three grocery stores will be charging $0.25 for a bag. That is 1/4 a dollar.

I can understand why this might be done. It is an environmental move to persuade people to switch to tote bags which can be reusable. I can tell you here in my house with have about 15 floating around and probably more in the van if we forget the ones in the house. Over the past year we have collected them from businesses around town giving them away as promotional items. The 2009 Yellowknife Trade Show had them everywhere as well as the YK75 celebrations. I actually like these bags, they are useful in may ways. They are a lot stronger than plastic bags which allows them to be used for many more tasks.

Although there are many uses for the tote bags, I started to think about some of the uses of the plastic bags. Sometimes I don’t think we realize but most of us actually did/do reuse them. The one task that I can think of that will need a new solution is the cleaning of cat litter. I have actually talked to several people who also reused these plastic bags for this task among other things around there house. Another scenario that comes to mind when thinking about the cost of the bags, is how much will we end up paying for bags when we think of something we need at the store while were on our way home. Or when we need to pick up a few items unexpectedly and don’t have our tote bags with us. If I had a quarter every time that happened… well I guess I would be buying a bag with it.

The other thing that was unclear to me up until writing this post was where the money is going. Now that all three grocery stores in town have adapted this new price change you may be thinking that the Territorial Government is behind it, If you did then you are right. I have been told that the Bag Fee goes into ENR’s Environmental Fund. This is the same as the non-refundable part of the beverage container fee. You can find out more information about the Single-Use Retail Bag Program in this PDF, starting on page 32. If you know what the Environmental Fund is for we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Now over to you, Yellowknife, tote bags have been around for some time now and many use them. Will this transition effect you? If so how? Did you reuse the plastic bags, like many other people, how did you use them? Do you think this is a good thing to enforce over all?

We’d love to hear what others think about this change, leave your opinion in the comment section below.

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Yellowknife Food Prices

By on November 2, 2009 in City, Discussion, FP, Yk Life

A short while ago I had a couple of people, who stumbled upon YkOnline through Google, ask me about food prices here in Yellowknife, so I thought I would write up this post on the matter.

Having grown up here in Yellowknife, I wasn’t to sure as to how food prices actually compared to down south. I started to ask around to get an idea.

Without going into to much depth about it, yes Yellowknife food prices are slightly more than down south, but not as much as you might think. The areas you would see the biggest difference would be areas that are closest to where most foods are prepared. The one thing that I did hear a lot about was the variety and selection and the freshness of produce. Yellowknife is obviously a long way away from anything, being 1500km north of Edmonton, AB, so when it comes to trucking food up here not only does it take time. Which wastes the “fresh” period of certain foods, but it also means there can only be a certain amount of food because of limited space.

Many people have also told me that, no prices are not that much different and I would agree with them. It depends on where you are coming from. I know the prices and quality of food in Northern BC is very much the same as it is in Yellowknife, but most people who would normally ask the question wouldn’t be from that area. They would generally be from bigger places where quality and quantity are taken for granted.

So what I have done to help those wondering about prices here in Yellowknife is taken photos of basic food items from our 3 grocery stores. This is not to compare the prices between the 3, just to compare with prices south of Yellowknife. If enough people request it, I will go back and get the prices of some fruits and vegetables.

Bread

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Cheese

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Margarine

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4L Jug Milk

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Eggs

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Case of Pop

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UPDATE:

There have been a couple questions about vegetables in the north and their prices so while out at the Grocery Store today I took a few more photos. Remember you can click on them to see a large image.

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Readers it is your turn. How do you find the price of food in Yellowknife, compared to when you’ve gone shopping in a southern city. Did you even notice the difference? And to those currently south of Yellowknife, do you see a difference? Could you manage with the above prices? Keep in mind Yellowknife(NWT) doesn’t have a territorial/provincial sales tax.

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Yk Food Price Prep Video

By on October 27, 2009 in Video

Hey Yellowknifers, I shot this video while going grocery store to grocery store. I was not comparing the prices, I was only collecting prices to give those people from the south who are thinking of moving up an idea as to our food prices. The post should be up with in a couple days.

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