Longo's

I hate shopping with kids. Well, I should qualify that. I love shopping with my 9-year-old because he loves shopping. When we go scouting out clothes for him, he picks things out, matches them, then tries them on. I know, pretty awesome. I really lucked out with that one, shopping wise.
But my three-year-old daughter does the usual preschooler things: runs away, hides (thinking she’s hilarious), complains, and wants everything she sees. I find that annoying, frankly, and an unlikeable experience. That’s why I only take her grocery shopping. Because when she’s in a cart, she’s contained. And when she asks for something, like some kind of cartoon-character “fruit” chews, if I tell her they’re bad for her teeth, she accepts that. She would not accept that a Dora doll isn’t coming home with us because we already have several.
We really get around as grocery shoppers. We follow the fliers, to some extent, and we visit Metro, Fortinos, SuperStore, Longos, Sobeys, Costco, Whole Foods and WalMart. And without fail, when I ask her where we should go grocery shopping, my little monkey says, “I want to go to Longos.”
Why, you may ask? They have special red carts with steering wheels. How awesome is that? There are at least eight of them, and because I’m fortunate enough to shop at the quieter parts of the week, we’ve always lucked out in getting one. I can't imagine her diappointment if we'd have to slum it with a regular boring shopping cart.
Longos also has free bread samples. It doesn't sound like much, but they're a big draw for carb-obsessed toddlers. No matter how stale said pieces of bread are, she laps them up like a dehydrated cat laps up her water.
And finally, last but absolutely not least, Longos has lollipops. At the cash. They don’t always offer, but my little diplomat always suggests it: “Mommy, lollipops would make me happy.” Invariably, the always-nice, personable cashier hears this and offers her one. They’re lovely there.
I also love their frozen spinach cannelloni and frozen falafels, but that’s another story all together.