FreshCo Sherbourne & Isabella — Attraction in Toronto

If you are a person of a colour or woman, please beware as the store employees harass shoppers by secretly following them inside the store and wrongfully accuse them of shop lifting. They undertake creepy and i think illegal surveillance policy. They have staff who are secretly following shoppers spying what people are putting in their carts, and this is beyond having CCTV cameras. I don't think this is a legal practice. On November 10, at 10.35 am I was shopping in the Sherbourne-Isabella store, I had filled up cart, and put one item in the second rung of the cart as I did not want the item to get crushed along with other things. While shopping I bumped into a guy who was in front of me (he was tall, wearing a cap and had pale complexion). I moved away and proceeded to pay my bill. As I was exiting out of the main shopping area to drop my cart, this same guy who I had bumped into stops me from getting out and starts accusing me of shop lifting. I tell him, I have paid the bill and he is being unreasonable. He starts showing me some badge (it is not a cop badge) and tells me "you in trouble young lady, don't argue." I tell him to go and check with the cashier, and he still does not believe me. All the while waving the bill . We go inside show the bill to the cashier and she tells us the item is paid for and listed in the bill. I am obviously upset, and I start thinking that this guy was following me while I was shopping. If he was doing "surveillance" he obviously did not bother to come all the way to the cashier to see what was happening and was just waiting to sneak up on me to harass me. I demand a written apology from the store manager whose name is publicly listed in the FreshCo website as Gowthaman Velautham. And I also demand an apology from this security guy. They both refuse to give anything in writing and don't even show a little remorse for their actions. One store employee who said she was a supervisor asks for my contact details so that they could ask someone to contact me regarding this issue. I did not give me contact number because after this creepy behavior of being tailed inside the store, I don't know what else is the company capable of. I waited for an hour inside the store for the apology letter, but nothing. The store manager disappears, he sends his deputy with the business cards of the security agency and again no apology letter. More than hurt at this behavior from FreshCo staff, I am frankly shocked at the invasion of privacy. About how FreshCo employs people to tail on shoppers and harass them. I understand stores disclose there is a CCTV camera watching people, but there is no disclosure about humans spying shoppers in store while they are shopping. This is creepy and should be illegal. I returned the items that I bought, and don't think will be going to this store again because it is unsafe not because of any drug addicts or etc, but because of such...

Even though I live steps away from a No Frills, this store and the one at Sherbourne and Isabella are now my go-to grocery stores due to extreme satisfaction with their unbeatable prices (It actually blows my mind how I can actually afford food and food I want to eat for myself. Your dollar goes the longest yard here. Truly. In fact I couldn't stop saying to my baby "I can't believe how much we just got. I seriously love this store" over and over again ,out of being crazy/ deliriously happy that inspired food and eating is once again back in my life, (it's been a tough year, esp with a newborn on formula, to say the least, lol),

I cannot believe how far $50 goes here, and for once it's nice to not have to trade quality for lower pricing. I love how clean, modern and inviting the stores are and how friendly the staff is. I love quality, pricing and variety of items and the quantity, obviously. But not having to trade taste and quality for price is so amazing, I had to say it again. Lol.

And if that wasn't enough, both locations have the same relaxed atmosphere, not overwhelmingly and annoyingly busy, and lots and lots of staff around to boot. This is civilized grocery shopping my friends. How it always should have been and felt. ❤️🤣

If your tired of retailers who treat you, a longtime, loyal and paying customer like a thief, as you are in the midst of supporting and patronizing their store, you can confidentially stop settling for that insulting and degrading treatment, and be treated like a welcome and valued customer again😅while also getting better value and quality for your dollar and service that anywhere else can offer.

Both locations were easily the the most welcoming store I've been in a while. And now that I think of it, the first downtown retailer to make me feel like a welcome customer, since before 2021.

Thank you freshco for making it attainable for everyone to enjoy (and indulge even...), in food, allowing all of us to go from simply /hardly/not surviving, to once again being able to enjoy food as an enjoyable escape and family experience....while also keeping the humanity on grocery shopping, by focusing mainly on customer satisfaction, not surveillance, the grocery shopping experience at fresh co remains the relaxed, casual and low stress experience it previously was, and hopefully will be...

Today I was profiled based on my clothes at this location, this has never happened to me in my life !!!!

I was there a little after 9pm, I had been at the store for about 20 mins when a “security” guy started following me and in a very harrasing way, so I turned around to ask him why was I being followed like that, I asked if I looked suspicious or something... and he said yes....this has never happened to me so I was taken by surprise, I asked him why, what could I be doing to look suspicious, and he responded that it was the way I looked, the way I dressed and that I smelled.... excuse me but WHAT?!?!?! ... I thought it had to be a joke, so I asked him if he was being serious, he said yes.....my cart was half full with items as I usually spend $100-$150 weekly here (or should I say, used to) but I felt so humiliated and I was not gonna be able to continue shopping there so I walked out at that moment without any groceries, on my way out I asked two employees that where by the cash registers near the exit about the manager, and one of them said that he was the manager, so I explained to him what just had happened, at this time the “security guy” got where I was just to reaffirm with the same despotic attitude that he had indeed followed me cause he found my looks to be “suspicious” , I didnt give any time to the manager to say anything and left the store cause I was too upset, humiliated and embarrassed, I am someone who will never act on anger. As I got home I took a good look to my attire, I was wearing an oversized leather jacket, a t-shirt with printed skulls, gold sneakers, and black ripped-denim shorts, I had my mask on and my hair was kinda messy as I had just finished work, I might have not looked fresh but messy hair and purposefully ripped-denim shorts do not justify being aggressively harassed and followed through the store as if I was a criminal, I never acted out, never was inappropriate or disrespectful, there was literally no reason to have been treated this way, I am a good costumer (weekly spending $100-$150) and I will be taking my money to the No Frills that is a block away here, where I know I don’t need to dress up to go grocery shopping. I will pass by one last time tomorrow to the store, with my $150 worth of groceries from No Frills, dressed up, to speak to...