A Toronto Metro store is closing and transforming into a Food Basics

A Metro location in North York will be closing its doors this summer to make way for a Food Basics store.

In an email statement to blogTO, Metro confirmed that its supermarket at 20 Church Ave., just south of Yonge and Finch, will be shutting down on Aug. 13 and reopening as a new Food Basics store later this fall.

"This decision is about having the right store in the right neighbourhood. We regularly and carefully assess our network based on local market conditions, and in this case, a Food Basics store is better suited to meet customer needs in the area," a Metro spokesperson said.

Prior to becoming a Metro, the store — which sits east of Yonge Street on Church Avenue — was home to a Dominion supermarket. The defunct supermarket brand was sold to The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), and its Canadian division was acquired by Metro Inc., which then rebranded all remaining Dominion stores in 2008.

Metro Inc. also owns discount grocery chain Food Basics, which already boasts another location further down on Yonge Street just south of Sheppard Avenue West.

This isn't the first time in recent years that a supermarket chain has switched over to its discount banner to meet the evolving changes of a neighbourhood in Toronto.

Just down the road, the Loblaws store formerly located in RioCan Empress at 5095 Yonge St. shuttered its doors this past October to make way for a T&T location (which was acquired by Loblaw in 2009). The Canadian Asian supermarket chain is expected to open the doors to its 66,000-square-foot store sometime this fall.

Earlier this year,  Loblaw also revealed that its grocery store and pharmacy at 2280 Dundas St. W. would be closing in early May to make way for a No Frills store that’s expected to open up sometime "later this year."

This followed a wave of transitions back in 2024, including the Loblaws at Broadview and Danforth, which transformed into a No Frills store, as well as Marcello's Independent Grocer at King and Shaw, which now operates under the No Frills banner.