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2 Newmarket grocery stores lauded for excellence by Foodland Ontario

Food Basics and Metro both won silver award of merit, which honours 36 top retailers for excellence in promoting Ontario produce
Joseph Quigley
Joseph Quigley

Newmarket Yonge Street’s Food Basic store manager Alessia Trotta said plenty of work goes into keeping operations running well. 

The team there pushes product every day, morning till night, Trotta said, trying to keep up a high standard. 

“It’s a continued effort, day in and day out, building our staff, building our team, working together to make this happen," Trotta said. 

That hard work was recognized by an annual Foodland Ontario Retailer Award June 21. The grocery store was one of three local grocers recognized, with the Newmarket Metro at 1111 Davis Dr. and the Longo’s in Aurora at 650 Wellington St. E. also recognized with awards.

Food Basics and Metro both won a silver award of merit, which honours 36 top Ontario retailers for excellence in promoting Ontario produce. Longo’s earned a platinum all-seasons award, recognizing 12 Ontario retailers for consistent merchandising excellence across spring, summer and fall/winter.

The annual program recognizes grocery retailers for their displays featuring fresh Ontario foods. Stores will prepare the displays and send in photographs, which will then get recognized with several different tiers of awards by Foodland Ontario. 

Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher travelled to each location to present the awards. 

“Thank you very much because you’re doing a wonderful job of promoting Ontario-grown food, and this is so important for us as a government,” Gallagher Murphy said. “Thank you so much for doing such a wonderful display because this is what intrigues people to buy homegrown.

"Food retailers play a pivotal role in getting Ontario-grown foods from farm to fork," she further said. 

This year, Foodland Ontario is presenting 63 awards to 60 grocery stores across the province.

Trotta said it is a good recognition for her staff's hard work. 

“A great positive for the store. It brings our team together, brings our community together,” she said. “It's something we needed just to show our customers that we definitely put our heart and soul into the store.”