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16 thursday jan 20 2000 eco suntribune etcetera by jennifer brown staff writer its 8 pm thursday and friends call to say theyre com ing for the weekend the house is a mess theres not a thing in the fridge and youve got meetings that run late into friday afternoon by the time you hit the 404 battle traffic arrive home and feed the kids there will be no time for shopping before they arrive do you spend the next few hours tidying up or head to the allnight grocer why not split the difference and hit the internet to order your groceries online from eggs and milk pinot noir to pampers grocerygatewaycom will deliver and if you fire off your grocery list to the toronto grocery firm tonight they can deliver the next day when you knbwypull be home this is the future of grocery shopping no annoying line ups no carts to squeeze the kids into and no schlepping to the car and home again taking a cue from the grocery boy who put a bas ket on his bicycle to deliver your bread and milk grocerygatewaycom wants to revolutionize the mundane and timeconsuming task of the weekly shopping list partnering with the longos chain of grocery stores bill di nardo created grocerygateway by forming a series of partnerships with the idea that customers would become loyal if a quality product arrived at their door each time after teaming up with longos compaq comput er royal bank and other corporate partners the idea is starting to pay off weve been around for a couple of years but ifs only in the last six months where the business has really taken off said john mozas vicepresident of marketing for grocerygateway three years ago di nardo wrote a business plan for an egrocer and tried to raise some money to get his startup company off the ground the early days are reminiscent of other entrepre neurs with a dream but no backing di nardo quit his day job and ran up his credit cards trying to get it off the ground but then after struggling with his concept to deliv er groceries to the masses using the net dinardo secured 32 million in venture capital from private investors allowing the company to expand from six employees to 120 and lease a 75000 square foot facil ity in mississauga mozas says theyve have also invest ed heavily in the technology side of the company right now the service runs out of four longos locations across the gta where personal shoppers handpick and pack the orders grocerygateway cov erage is limited at this point to york region as far north as newmarket peel region parts of halton and all of metro toronto grocerygateway is not alone in taking grocery shopping online soul provisions inc of richmond hill doesnt charge for delivery with a minimum 40 order but orders are by phone or fax and also offer dry cleaning and a staff photosjoerd witteveen steve torrance regional manager of grocery gatewaycom shopstor one of his many internet customers at longos the company says customers will put trust in its service after just one delivery shoe repair there are no photographs of the products at soul provisions only a list that indicates name brand and price which appear somewhat higher than grocerygateway shopping at grocerygateway involves registering at the website which is free which provides you with a password that later allows you to return to the site and pick up with a shopping list you may not have finished once youre in the site click on an aisle and then a category to shop from the categories show pictures of all brand names including the price click on the item to add to your list which begins to accumulate at the side of the screen bargain hunters looking to stock up the pantry can click on weeks specials to find sta ple items on sale each week and impulse buys are reduced because there are no special dis plays luring you to buy the cookie of the week nd if you thought convenience would translate into inflated prices comparisons prove that isnt the case besides the 6 delivery charge most reg ular grocery items are less than other major food chains our pricing is exactly longos pricing said mozas who hints metro toronto shoppers may be getting a better deal from grocerygateway the major chains are higher priced downtown than in the suburbs we are lower priced than a downtown loblaws which is amazing to me for example four litres of 2 per cent milk was 329 compared to 349 at dominion and 1 kg of kraft peanut butter was 299 meat is shown with the per kilogram price and the picture shows what units it is sold in so you know how many to order three delivery times are offered to cus tomers 11 am to 2 pm 2 pm to 5 pm and 7 pm to 10 pm with no saturday deliv ery yet but the site promises that may become available soon wine and beer can even be added to the list although it is limited to micro brews such as brick laker conners algonquin and formosa springs wines can be selected from an offering of kittling ridge henry of pelham delivery staff are required by law to make sure customers are 19 years and older customers can also make changes to sub mitted orders and change delivery times with in two hours of delivery see service page 17 mondays t- wednesdays sundays plustax plus tax well be seeing a lot of each other offer valid at all participating markham and stouffville locations o 2000 mcooukfs roaaurantt ol canada limited ai participating mcdonalds rostaurants for the occlusive us d mcdonalds restaurants ol canada and its franchisee