Nature's Emporium — Restaurant in Toronto

I am writing to express my disappointment and concern regarding an unpleasant experience I had on September 7th between 2:30pm - 3:00pm at your 1 York Street store. This was a significant day, being the grand opening day of the store, and I had hoped for a smooth and enjoyable shopping experience. However, that was unfortunately not the case.

My elderly mother and I were browsing the aisle opposite the meat/poultry freezer, particularly looking at the Emergen-C products at the end of the isle. Given the ongoing health concerns, we both chose to wear masks – I am immunocompromised, and my mother belongs to an age group considered at high risk. To our surprise and dismay, an unidentified female customer in her mid 50s, caucasian, approximately 5'3-5'4 tall, with blonde/greyish hair tied up, wearing a white tee and round black rimmed glasses, approached us from behind. Without any provocation, she leaned close to my ear and stated, "ladies, masks do not work" (yes, those were the exact words that came out of her mouth), before quickly walking away. This unprovoked act left us both startled and deeply uncomfortable.

To make matters worse, this particular lady had been conversing with one of your store associates – a tall blonde woman, approximately 6' tall. From our perspective, it seemed clear that the associate was talking to the offending customer, witnessed the incident but chose to overlook it. Instead, she continued her conversation with the offending customer, both laughing, chatting, and walking away together without addressing the inappropriate behaviour that had just occurred.

Such an incident raises concerns not only about the safety and comfort of your customers but also about the training and responsiveness of your staff. I would have expected your store associates to be more vigilant, especially on the first opening day when you are setting the tone and standards for future customer experiences.

I sincerely hope you take this feedback seriously and ensure necessary measures are implemented to avoid similar incidents in the future. No customer should have to face harassment or feel unsafe while shopping, especially not in a brand-new store looking to establish its reputation. Edit: Upon reading reviews about various Nature's Emporium locations, a disturbing pattern emerges. Despite being a brand that passionately promotes health through organic products, there appears to be a marked indifference towards the actual health and well-being of its clientele and the broader community. Multiple google reviews suggest a lax attitude towards adhering to essential public health protocols during the pandemic. It's an unfortunate irony that a grocery brand specializing in organic products seems to attract anti-mask sentiments so readily. If one seeks more than just organic groceries – perhaps a side of negligence regarding public safety or a convenient opportunity to act like a biatch/a-hole in public without consequences – Nature's Emporium appears to be the perfect place to visit. Definitely will avoid this place from now on and stick with my regular organic...

We have been shopping at this organic food store since the first week of opening. Prior to this location, I have been shopping at the other location at Itabashi Way in Burlington. This store has the largest variety of organic merchandize compared to other organic store due to vast store space and intelligent store design. The isles have been clearly categorized with conspicuous signs on top of the isles for ease of product search. Products facing is also superb, all items have been placed right up to the edge of the shelves. The store is bright with white background, thus giving us a sense of cleanliness and professionalism. My favorite sections are produce and pizza. Not only their produce items are fresh and neatly put out like exhibits, but all of them have been cleaned or washed. Besides the sister store in Burlington, this is the only organic grocery store I experienced fresh, clean produce without the hassle of nit picking and worry of purchasing rotten products. Therefore, this store offers value but not bargain. I like the pizza section because Fayyaz bakes excellent pizza using spelt dough to make the crust. Toppings are generous and not very salty. Taste is just right and delicious. Fayyaz also spent time in explaining what he ingredients he used to prepare my pizza as well as directions of cooking a raw pizza and warming up any leftovers in a friendly manner. Super chef who provided excellent customer service. The other place I always experience superior customer service is at the cash checkout. Checkout staff always greets customer with a friendly smile and handles transactions efficiently but in an organized manner. Riya has always been helpful in processing my groceries transaction in a friendly way. I highly recommend organic grocery customer to shop at this store for different new but positive shopping experience. Response from the owner4 days ago Thank you for your kind words about our South Core store! We are thrilled to hear that we have been your go-to for organic shopping since we opened. Our team takes great pride in providing our customers with the best selection of organic merchandise possible, and we are happy to hear that it shows.

We are especially pleased that you appreciate the layout and design of our store. We want to make sure that our customers can easily find what they're looking for, and it sounds like our clearly marked aisles and well-organized displays do just that.

Our produce section is definitely a favorite among many of our customers, and we take great care in selecting only the freshest and cleanest all organic products for them. It brings us joy to know that your experience at our store has been hassle-free and worry-free.

Thank you for choosing to shop with us. We look forward to seeing you again soon at any of our stores!

-Your friends...

Update: They also write fake positive reviews for themselves.

This grocery store and health food shop is really expensive. If you live in the area, it’s not the kind of place anyone uses as their main grocery store. It’s more of a spot you visit when you only need one or two items and want to be in and out quickly.

The more I shop here, the more dissatisfied I feel. When you’re paying such high prices, you expect the products to always be amazing or at least decent and it sets your expectations high, and when they’re not it really puts a damper on your day.

For example, today I was craving one of their peanut butter chocolate Nanaimo bars. (The entire reason I came) and I grabbed one without realizing they’re actually stocked vanilla flavour today instead. It was twice as sweet, absolutely disgusting. I’m very health-conscious and only allow myself dessert a few times a week, so not only did it taste awful, but now I feel like I wasted my treat on this and spent $6 on an overpriced single serving dessert that I absolutely hated. 😞

Another issue is the way the staff treats customers. Someone else mentioned feeling profiled or followed in the store, and I can agree. When I first started coming here, I definitely felt like I was being watched. It has eased up since I became a more regular customer, but the feeling was very uncomfortable. I understand that they carry a lot of expensive products and want to prevent theft, but when you’re trying to present yourself as a high-end store, making customers feel monitored completely clashes with that image.

I’ll probably start going here a lot less since the atmosphere feels uncomfortable, the prices are...