The major grocery stores have pretty well lost most of my business as a result of their growing indifference to quality and variety. Fortunately there's a great independent grocer in Mississauga that has gained most of our food budget. To me, their particularly strong departments are the produce, deli, grocery and fresh meat and seafood.
Volume is fundamental to fresh food quality and this store appears to sell significantly more produce and meat than the much larger stores. This allows them to operate more effectively which creates value for customers. They also substantially reduce prices on any items approaching their best-before date which makes them considerably more affordable overall.
There's one other significant distinction, their friendly and competent people. They uniformly display, no, exude genuine personal interest in both food and service quality. At busy times, like on weekends and before holidays when customers are pressed for time, every check out is open and staffed with a cashier and a packer. Where else do you see that?