Fiesta Farms

Why We Love It: Fiesta Farms is Toronto’s largest independently owned grocery store and garden centre. What does that mean? It means they only have one store. But it’s a big one. “Largest” means they carry the range of products you’d expect from a chain. “Independent” means they can choose what those products are-who makes them, where they come from, what’s in them, their place in the local economy. Stuff like that. And they’re pretty choosy. Partly because being choosy is good, and partly because it’s good business. When they opened up over 20 years ago, they decided to focus on two things the big guys couldn’t compete with: serving their local ethnic communities and supporting their local economy. Now those things are popular. And so are they! A visit to the store will let you know pretty quickly that they don’t turn our nose up at anyone, but they tend to be particularly popular with folks who get more from food shopping than just a full larder. As it turns out, food matters to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. Fiesta Farms helps them celebrate those reasons by making organic, local, ethical, ethnic, healthy, gourmet, artisan and traditional fare accessible. They’ve got lots of it. They keep the prices for it all reasonable. And they sell it without the pomp. They wouldn’t know how to pull off pomp if the Queen were coming to pick up a Fenwood Farms chicken. What they can pull off are partnerships with great organizations like Local Food Plus, who understand the importance of developing and promoting local entrepreneurs to our economy and our environment. And organizations like The Stop and The New Farm, who help people exercise their right to good food, whether they can afford it or not. Long story short? They're a nice grocery store and garden centre with good stuff.