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Bellemare doesn’t spend the same kind of time opening stores now. Three years ago, he would have spent 180 hours opening a store like this, he said.

Instead, he and York are focused on an ambitious project, tasked with succeeding in a market where Farm Boy’s parent company, Sobeys owner Empire Co. Ltd., has struggled: Toronto.

On Tuesday, Farm Boy announced the latest stage of the chain’s expansion in the Greater Toronto Area, with plans to add seven new stores there by 2021.

“Just remember, you’re not going to find toilet paper,” York told the crowd assembled outside for the Burlington store opening last week. “The Shoppers Drug Mart is over there,” he said, pointing across the plaza parking lot.

Farm Boy – York defines it as “Whole Foods but 25 per cent cheaper” though it’s more a cross between Whole Foods and the U.S. chain Trader Joe’s — has steadily gained popularity among urban shoppers, mostly for its private label products, produce and prepared meals.

When Empire’s chief executive Michael Medline acquired Farm Boy for $800 million last year, he said he wanted to double the chain’s 26 stores within five years. The plan, he once said, was to “blanket Toronto with Farm Boy.”

Photo by CNW Group/Empire Co. Ltd.

Sobeys, Empire’s main banner based in Stellarton, N.S., has historically had trouble in Toronto, Medline said. So breaking into that market was one of the main pillars for his Project Sunrise — the three-year turnaround plan he put in place after taking the helm following the company’s disastrous acquisition of the Calgary-based grocery chain Safeway for $5.8 billion in 2013.