Neighbourhood Retail Spotlight Series - Episode 2

Colliers Talks

Raise the Root Brings Local, Organic Foods & Community Support to the Table

You could say providing wholesome, taste-good, feel-good food is in Angela Donnelly’s DNA. Her family ran a natural foods and fresh produce market when she was growing up on Salt Spring Island, allowing her to “get a real feel for food”: She experienced organic foods and offerings from different cultures and learned how to cook, including local and small batch selections, making for a “real immersion” in the world of healthy, well-sourced produce and ingredients.

In this podcast, Zoe Adey-Babinski speaks with Angela Donnelly, co-owner of Raise the Root Organic Market in Leslieville, Toronto. They discuss topics including:

- How Raise the Root’s customer base has changed over the years as health and wellness and organic and natural foods came to the forefront, resulting in a “completely different food landscape”

- The market’s partnerships with local vendors, farmers, bakers and artisans, adding up to strong support of hundreds of fellow local businesses

- The role Raise the Root plays in creating community: “Our customers know we are their neighbour here in Leslieville.”

- The respect the Raise the Root team has for the people they employ and serve

- The big, accelerated shift to e-commerce and the digitization of the grocery experience

Hear about it all, including how Angela and her team “have made Raise the Root a safe haven – from the pandemic, from loneliness, and from the grind of boring food.”