Grocery stores: not always within reach
A Concordia University grad student has looked into access to groceries by Montrealers and found that 20% of us don’t have quality groceries within a ten‑minute walk.
Can’t tell from the descriptions here whether she also considered fruiteries or the growing prevalence of food delivery services (I see a Voilà truck on my street pretty often).
R T 19:45 on 2026-02-22 Permalink
When phrased inversely, 80% within 10 minutes sounds… pretty good?
(It’s actually 83%: “17 % of residents lack access to any HFEs within a 10-minute walk”)
The paper is here; figure 3a shows that within 15 minutes it’s 90% and by 20 minutes it’s over 95%:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266709172500072X
Fruiteries count, déps don’t:
“Establishments were selected using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 5411 (Grocery Stores) and 5431 (Fruit and Vegetable Markets), resulting in 2229 entries initially. However, the 5411 category includes numerous convenience stores that are inconsistent with fresh food sources. To improve data quality, a keyword-based filtering process was applied to exclude entries such as ‘dépanneur’ (a local convenience store), ‘café,’ and ‘restaurant,’ resulting in the removal of 1274 misclassified entries that rarely provide nutritious food. The cleaned destination dataset comprised 955 verified HFE locations.”
Food delivery does not count (and, after all, delivery coverage is ~100% but groceries arriving within 15 minutes will be ~0%).
R T 19:57 on 2026-02-22 Permalink
Sorry, I misread the x-xis on the CDF in figure 3a. It actually shows the number of businesses accessible by each mode, not the minutes.
They only look at 10 vs 30 minutes for walking. 91% of Montrealers have more than 5 options within a 30-minute walk.
Jonathan 22:33 on 2026-02-22 Permalink
The data for 10 minutes is for walking or cycling. The 30 minutes data is for public transit and a combination of walking or cycling.
Kate 10:28 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
Thank you, R T. I was only giving a brief aperçu of the story, not trying to summarize all the numbers as you have done.
There are definitely food deserts in town. I knew someone who lived in a part of Lachine where grocery shopping without a car involved taking two buses – it was onerous and time‑consuming.
DeWolf 10:32 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
Given the methodology, it sounds like the author missed out on butchers and bakeries? They’re certainly an important part of a healthy food system.
A couple of observations based on the study’s maps: the absolute most grocery-rich part of town seems to be an L-shaped area that covers Park Ex, Little Italy, lower Villeray and western Petite-Patrie. Not surprising given the number of fruiteries and supermarkets of all sizes, and of course the Jean-Talon Market. There’s another strong cluster in northwestern Côte-des-Neiges. Mile End, the western Plateau and Shaughnessy Village do well too. There is certainly a correlation between immigrant neighbourhoods (historic or contemporary) and having a rich food ecosystem.
The maps also confirm some relative food deserts in central Montreal: western Saint-Henri, Point St-Charles, Ville Saint-Pierre, Youville in Ahuntsic. The first two have only one supermarket each, and few of the fruiteries that are common elsewhere in town, while VSP and Youville have absolutely nowhere to buy fresh food within a 15-minute walk.
Kate 10:52 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
DeWolf, you’re right about Youville, but the whole stretch of St‑Laurent from Jean‑Talon up to Louvain is pretty much a ghost town for buying groceries. On the map, you’ll see a Marché Istanbul in the little strip mall om Crémazie, but the only time I hopefully checked it out it was pretty bleak. They had like 50 kinds of jam but not much else.
DeWolf 11:04 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
You’re right. There’s the Maxi on St-Laurent near Crémazie but that’s about it.
If you live in Saint-Simon (that’s what the map calls it, never heard anyone refer to it IRL), your only choice for groceries within pleasant walking distance is the Intermarché Palumbo on Chabanel. Otherwise you’re crossing the 40 to get to the Maxi or trudging over to Marché Central.
Kate 11:28 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
I forgot about that Maxi, which is the grocery store closest to my place but which I hardly ever visit. The last time I was there, the whole store was manned by about 3 people (in the daytime during the week), the self‑checkouts weren’t working well, and there was a sense of overall bleakness that wasn’t appealing.
I get by with a weekly Lufa delivery, plus there are several good fruiteries, a topnotch butcher shop and a couple of good bakeries nearby. Who needs Maxi?
I will add: not sure it helps the study if they excluded food delivery. For most of this month I had a cold bad enough that I preferred not to go out, and I used Instacart to get some items I wanted. Stuff arrived within a couple of hours. Services like IGA’s Voilà are pretty timely too, and you can even get Doordash to pick up some groceries for you.
In fact, a fruiterie owner told me not long ago that the prevalence of delivery services and their popularity (since Covid) has been bad for his business. He knows that people who would’ve been stopping by his store for odds and ends they needed are now getting them delivered.
DeWolf 19:12 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
I’m actually surprised to hear that about the decline in fruiterie business, because if there’s one thing you can’t trust for delivery, it’s fresh produce. Things like Lufa or CSA deliveries are obviously an exception, but if you get standard groceries delivered, the state and selection of produce is pretty bad.
Not to mention value. Corporate supermarkets regularly charge $1 per lime, just for example, whereas there are a number of fruiteries and smaller grocery stores where I can get several limes for a dollar.
Kate 20:23 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
That was one view from one guy, whose fruiterie is (I would hazard a guess) in slight decline. I like the guys who run the shop but they don’t have as varied or as fresh a stock as others in the area.
MarcG 08:43 on 2026-02-24 Permalink
Seemingly going against the trends, This small grocery opened in an old depanneur space in Verdun a year or two ago.