Longo's opens its 25th store in Toronto's Leaside

On Wednesday, Longo's opened its 25th store in Toronto's Leaside neighbourhood.

The 48,000-square-foot location resides in a historical building that once belonged to Canadian Northern Railway, and the distinctive landmark building, built in 1919, was designed to service steam locomotives and has been refurbished into a unique shopping destination in the Leaside community.

"This location is of great historical importance to Toronto. While preserving its heritage, the Longo's team looks forward to bringing our passion for food, unrivalled expertise and reputation for outstanding quality, service and value to the Leaside community," said Anthony Longo, President and CEO, in a release.

The store carries over 100 varieties of organic produce every day. And Longo's hand-selects produce six days a week from the Ontario Food terminal.

"Bringing a new twist to fresh, we are very proud to introduce the new Veggie Bar designed to making healthy eating easy by eliminating the planning and preparation time and pumping up the healthy content for any meal," said Longo.

Other highlights of the store include: The "Veggie Bar", designed to inspire healthy and easy cooking by providing a variety of veggie and fruit combinations to start, to add to or to accompany a dish; Longo's 40-item salad bar; gourmet made-to-order stone oven pizza; panini and hot sandwiches; made-on-site hardwood smoked meats and fish; a chocolatier creating fine Belgian chocolates; and Aromaté's fresh, in-store coffee bean roasting.

Longo's Leaside also features an in-store Starbucks and is home to The Loft by Longo's cooking school.

The new location is also home to Corks Wine and Beer Bar featuring fine craft made beers and wines from Ontario. Shoppers can enjoy a glass of local wine or a craft beer with their freshly prepared meals on site in the Corks lounge.

There is also pharmacy services through a partnership with Guardian.