Tomavo Becomes First Grocery Store in Woodside Area Of Dartmouth Since 2009
DARTMOUTH – For more than a decade, the people who lived in the Woodside area of Dartmouth had no grocery store to call their own. Without such a service within walking distance, residents who didn’t have access to a vehicle and would often bus or take a cab to buy their groceries.
But since mid-July, that’s no longer a problem for Woodside. Now, the Moncton-based grocery chain Tomavo has set up shop on Pleasant Street, giving locals access to fresh produce.
Tomavo, which now boasts six locations across the Maritimes, specializes in selling fruits and vegetables at lower prices compared to the major supermarkets. However, the company recognizes they are the only grocery store in Woodside, so they plan on adding more staple products.
“We’re adding more stuff there. It’s only produce right now, but in a couple of months you will see us carrying pickles, olives, beans…” says Tomavo CEO Amer Khaled.
The new Tomavo store in Woodside is located in a former gift shop. The grocery store now occupies 12,000 of the 16,000 square feet at that location. Khaled decided to take a chance at setting up in Woodside because of the large customer base and the fact that there are no other grocery stores in the area.
“The population there – it’s a decent size. That side of Dartmouth, there is actually no (other) grocery store,” said Khaled.
Tomavo didn’t have a major grand opening when they moved into Woodside earlier this month. Khaled has learned through his years in business that it’s best to get settled in before making a lot of noise.
“I’ve had some success; I’ve had some failure…so we’ve learned from that. I don’t like to make a big noise when we first start. We start slowly…” said Khaled.
“We’ve grown this company from one store in Moncton; My wife and myself and two workers. Today we have 125 employees; it’ll be 150 soon.”
So far, Woodside looks to be an early success for Tomavo. Khaled estimates that they already average 400-500 customers per day.
The Strange Case of The Restrictive Covenant
So why did it take so long for Woodside to finally get a grocery store again? Some people point the finger at Sobeys, and when they left the area in 2009.
12 years ago, Sobeys left the Woodside Plaza. They had the new owner of the Woodside property sign a restrictive covenant preventing any other grocery business from coming in for 20 years.
“For someone with a vehicle, Portland Street doesn’t seem too far away,” says Claudia Chender, who was Dartmouth South’s MLA from 2017-2021 (She is currently running for reelection). “But for someone who relies on walking or public transit, it’s actually quite far and there’s not even a single bus that gets you there. That struck me as wrong, frankly.”
“From my perspective, we want everyone to have access to healthy affordable food. If you’re buying food from a convenience store or a corner store, or a gas station, it’s less likely to be healthy and it’s less likely to be affordable.”
After learning about the restrictive covenant that was preventing any new grocery store from moving into the Woodside Plaza location, Chender drafted a piece of legislation. Her goal was to void any restrictive covenant that disqualifies the sale of food and medicine to the public. The legislation, Bill 60, didn’t pass through the Nova Scotia Legislature. But, if she is reelected, Chender plans to keep pursuing the issue.
“I will continue to pursue that as a legislative fix. From my perspective it shouldn’t be legal for my company to prevent a site that they no longer own from being used to sell food or medicine,” said Chender.
“If I find myself back in the legislator in the fall, I will certainly be reintroducing it and continuing to push for that to become law.”
For now, at least the neighbourhood has Tomavo.