Healthy Planet spent three decades turning a cramped Toronto kiosk into a 45-store wellness chain. Its most useful move was not adding another vitamin aisle - it was learning how to become a grocer, a kitchen and a local-brand discovery engine at the same time.
Summerhill Market escaped the supermarket price war by making dinner itself. Its six-store system offers a useful lesson in how an independent retailer can turn a costly back room into the reason customers cross town.