Highland Farms

I’ve always had a good shopping experience here. Except for one time a younger guy at meat counter was going out of his way to help get né a smaller cut of roast and his superior gave him crap right in front of me.
The store is extremely good for variety and clean. I like that there are older staff and i see that they are working throughout the store. Not like other places where you see staff in aisles or registers on cell phones, drinking and eating behind counters on duty and such. So far great experiences here. It is a bit far but worth the drive to get what i want and have a good shop.

It’s most likely the best grocery shopping experience you can have in GTA.
This place is clean… I mean really clean, the aisles are very spacious, inside is bright, noise level is quiet… overall it’s a totally different experience comparing to most of the other grocery stores. They have a great selection of items, wide variety and good quality. The vegetables and fruits are really fresh and high quality.
Yes, their prices are a bit high than other grocery stores, but need to keep in mind that quality has its premium :-)
If you don’t mind paying a little extra to have good quality items and a better shopping experience (not crampy isles, not dirty floors and buggies, not hammered by loud noises, not have to wrestle with the crowd)… then it’s the place for you.

In in awe of this supermarket! Excellent quality control! Everything is neat, clean and tidy! The aisles are wide. Shopping is so convenient!
I love the freshness of the fruits and greens! They have spray mists for their veggies.
They also have a huge selection of everything but most especially the fruits and greens!
Parking is also huuge!!! Love it!!!
The staff are friendly and efficient.

I’ve recently started going here because a friend recommended it. The prices are slightly higher than your discount grocery stores like No Frills, Food Basics, Freshco and Wal-​mart but not as expensive as a Metro or Fortinos.
What I really like about this place is their huge fruit selection, huge butcher section, huge bakery and huge parking lot. The fruit and vegetable section is always fresh and they have some unique fruits such as soursop and cactus pears.
All in all, this is a place you can rely on for reasonably priced groceries without the parking lot hassle.

I usually hate grocery shopping. Most other grocery stores are crowded, loud, and it’s just a stressful experience in general.
That’s why Highland Farms is my go-​to store. Plenty of parking, very clean store, and a quiet and relaxing atmosphere. It’s also well-​staffed, and they’re all very professional, helpful, and friendly.
The selection of food is great. The prices are higher than «cheap» stores like No Frills, but not as high as others like Loblaws, it’s a good middle ground.

If you love your fruit and Veg. This is the store for you.
Also meat counter is HUGE.
The store is very clean well stocked.
Prices a bit more then Nofrills.
But there quality is much better.

I love this place… A little expensive then other groceries but the place is huge and clean. What I love about this place is their cake collection as they have a bakery section and they make cakes everyday. There are different sizes and they write anything you like, if their is no space they write it on a ribbon. Their other bakery stuff is good as well such as croissants.
The Bakery staff is great and have good writing skills. There is plenty of parking in front entrance and back entrance. There is a coffee shop, flower shop and a candy shop inside the store.

I only shop here for the deserts AND THERE ARE LOTS OF THEM. Freshly made desserts. Cheesecakes, eclairs pastries oh my goodness. It’s cake heaven. My fav… Mini eclairs and a slice of strawberry shortcake.

Highland Farms has been in my grocery rotation for a few years. If I’m desperate for a specific Italian product and I’m in the area, I will pop into here. It’s expensive for what you get but it is reliably good quality.
The place is huge when you’re comparing it to Starsky and Michaelangelo. Those are the other 2 big European supermarkets in GTA West. I find HF to be better than your average chain like Metro but the prices are substantially more. With a heavy emphasis on Italian products, you have over 9 aisles dedicated to olive oil, pasta, canned tomato and sauces, and espresso & coffee.
The vegetable and fruit selection is better than Starsky but I find HF less fresh than Michaelangelo and Starsky. The butcher area is very good. Lots of selection and good quality. I was unimpressed with their pastry and cakes. They tasted stale and I think they’re overpriced.
Service is good as I’ve never had to wait long. Though this isn’t my first choice for groceries, I wouldn’t avoid this place and grab the occasional item.

Located a few minutes away from where I work, highland farms is a convenient place for me to stop and pick up groceries on my way home. The store is pretty empty around 5pm, which makes getting in and out quick. There are two entrances, one facing Hurontario and another on the opposite side of the building. A long row of cashiers line the space in between the two entrances. I have no idea why they need so many, I assume it’s packed on the weekends. The wide aisle spacing means you don’t have to squeeze in between someone’s cart and the racks, like in some of the discount stores.
Their produce selection has a fair amount of variety and ample quantities of product. I’d rank them among longos for quality, which is one of the better grocery chains around. Their gluten free section is quite extensive, carrying the most GF pasta varieties I’ve ever seen at a chain store. Actually their entire pasta section encompasses two sides of an entire aisle! Their meat and dairy section lines a whole wall side of the store and is filled with an abundance of fresh pack as well as butcher cut meats.
Variety wise I think this place is tops for European foods for Asian, T&T or Oceans easily beats them out. Their prices are pretty expensive even when compared to Loblaws. So I’d recommend sticking to No Frills/​Freshco for the essentials. But if you’re looking for some more obscure items or fresh cuts of meat and highland farms is around, it’s a good option.

My mother must have been watching ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ last night on CBC. She went all ‘Miranda’ on me. I had about a bazillion (math was never my forte) things to do for her today.
I had to pick up my aunt from her office today at 5:30. Also, I had to pick up some groceries (God forbid if my Dad doesn’t have a salad with his steak dinner). Being in the middle of Toronto, getting to the 401 and Hurontario could take anywhere from twenty minutes to twenty days. I left early anticipating bumper-​to-​bumper traffic on the 401.
Today it took me a surprising thirty-​three minutes to get out to ‘Sauga.
I had a lot of time to kill so decided to pick up the groceries at the closest supermarket.
Highland Farms is H U G E with a crazy amount of variety. They must have over 20 brands of olive oil. I found a lot of items (a lot from various European countries) that I haven’t seen at my local Metro. It’s clean and spacious. Don’t forget to bring a quarter though … buggy-​less and carrying a lot of groceries is not fun.
My local Metro has a lot of professional employees, but there are also a lot of employees who hate their job (and make it obvious). Everyone working at Highland Farms seem to enjoy what they’re doing and take pride in their work. This really impressed me.
It is completely out of my way so I doubt that it’ll be my regular supermarket. However, a wise man (boy? man? boy?) by the name of Justin Bieber once said, ‘never say never.’ Who knows? If gas becomes affordable, I might have to visit this place again.

When you walk in, the horrid green colour hits you like a wet tea towel across the face, and you end up trying to dodge the horrid colour and it just keeps coming back, and coming back. I find it a disturbing, retina detaching, skin crawling colour.
The selection — oh yeah — it can be there — depending on what you are looking for. The meat section — holy molly — is huge. I did the test of all tests and looked at their deli. Fail — only commercial prosciutto.
They did have my favourite olive oil, but it was a few bucks more expensive than at a Loblaws chain.
Overall — this place is huge (very much like an old Knob Hills Farm) and does have some vast selection, but with the uncomfortable décor and high prices, I will not be returning.

Growing up in west-​Mississauga, I was ignorant to establishments like Knob Hill Farms and those of their ilk. Grocery stores had 10 aisles with dairy, frozen and fruit/​veggie sections and that’s how we liked it.
Highland Farms, in my opinion, is the corpulent patriarch of Les Épiceries. This place is beyond massive. I shit you not — upon entering the west-​side doors, you see a never-​ending line of registers with cashiers in shamrock-​green, polyester uniforms scanning away on their contraptions. Look to your right, you will see a 30-​yard long bakery department filled with cakes, pies and pastries and a bread/​bun area the size of court room… don’t ask.
Fresh Fish is a little sparse for «the usual suspects», but mussels, tiger shrimp, salmon are always available.
The Butcher’s section is at least 70 yards long. I had to take a knee halfway through scoping items behind the glass. The Cheese/​Deli section is always busy, but well represented (e.g. mozzarella di bufala is readily available).
Funny Story — I’d once «heard» of a cut of meat called a Texas T-​bone and visited Highland Farms and asked for two of them. One of the many butchers looked at me like I’d made it up. I explained that is was basically a rib-​eye with the rib attached. He laughed, turned around and 2 minutes later came back with two head-​sized pieces of meat with 12+” ribs sticking out that resembled a Flintstone take-​out order:

…but with more meat. That little experiment cost me upwards of $ 70, but each «steak» was roasted and served 4 people. I digress.
Highland Farms has an entire aisle dedicated to olive oil. One aisle for vinegars. One for mustards (no Kozlik’s yet). The vegetable section is well represented, but the fruit section is abundant.
The place is almost too much to take in. I visit maybe once every 3 – 4 months, as you have to plan a morning/​afternoon around it.