Recognizing Spirit, Innovation and Community
This year’s Anthony Roman Award was presented to Evan MacDonald of The Village Grocer.
Evan MacDonald, the owner of The Village Grocer in Unionville, accepted this year’s Anthony Roman award at the annual Markham Board of Trade Celebration of Business Excellence. The prestigious Anthony Roman award, named in honour of the late Markham mayor, is given to a business person who exemplifies strong community spirit.
Evan’s community spirit extends far and wide. Over the past 20 years, since he opened the store, he and his business have supported the Markham Stouffville Hospital Foundation as the Platinum Gala Sponsor, cancer research, the Terry Fox Run, baseball, hockey, curling and figure skating. He truly lives his motto: “your community is our community,” and puts
his money and time where his mouth is.
The Village Grocer opened in Markham in 1986 with six employees. Evan and Cathy MacDonald and their extended family wanted to sell top quality foods to the folks in their neighbourhood. “At the Village Grocer, we do business in a small town way,” says Evan. “We know many of our customers by name and even though we’ve grown a lot in the last few years, we still manage to keep things “homey”. Our customers tell us that’s the way they like it.”
The MacDonald family’s personal touch and gourmet fare have allowed them to carve out a successful niche in the competitive grocery industry. In fact, The Village Grocer has an unusually wide variety of groceries and specialty foods – over 400 homemade items that are unique to the Village Grocer.
Shopping at the Village Grocer is like going to the corner store to see what’s new, visit and enjoy the whole shopping experience.
2600 John Street, Unit 207, Markham, ON L3R 3W3 T: 905.475.5222 F: 905.475.6369
