High-end Toronto grocery store shut down over health code issues

Farm Boy, the upscale grocery chain that has grown into a local success story, has just had one of its bustling downtown Toronto locations shuttered by health officials.

Known to many as the Canadian version of Trader Joe's, the Cornwall-founded brand has dozens of stores across the province, many of which cropped up in more recent years following its acquisition by Empire Company Ltd. (parent of Sobeys) in 2018.

But the otherwise squeaky-clean reputation of the successful retailer has now been somewhat marred by the temporary forced closure of its 2149 Yonge Street outpost.

The store, in the Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood, was shut down on Tuesday after failing a DineSafe inspection, which cited "one or more crucial Food Premises Regulation infractions that present an immediate health hazard that cannot be corrected during an inspection."

These included "failure to protect against harbouring of pests" and "failure to protect food from contamination or adulteration." Inspectors also noted the premises was "not maintained with food handling room in sanitary condition" and that it was "maintained in a manner permitted health hazard (rodents)."

While it looks like the store has a bit of a history of crucial, significant and minor infractions under the Province's health and safety standards, it has only ever, at worse, been issued a conditional pass. During the most recent check on July 7, the location passed with no infractions, though it had conditional passes with one or more infractions on May 23, April 3 and February 3 of this year.

None of the 2025 inspections before this one mentioned rodents explicitly.

The store debuted at the corner of Yonge and Soudan in 2020 as the fourth Farm Boy in Toronto and the company's 34th overall — a number that has since expanded to 51.

News about this DineSafe fail has already spread across socials, garnering hundreds of comments, some of them shocked, but others not at all surprised.

In one Reddit thread, people claiming to either be or know former employees at the store spoke of rodent issues — something that the intersection in general has become known for after viral videos showing armies of rats scuttering around the public realm.