In 1963, Stavro changed direction and opened his first "food terminal"—a forerunner of the
big-box store with 60,000 square feet (6,000 square-metres) of space just north of Toronto at
Woodbine Avenue and
Highway 7 in
Markham. At the time of its opening, the Markham location was the biggest grocery store in Canada. In 1971, Stavro opened a second terminal in
Pickering, Ontario – immediately to the east of Toronto. On June 29, 1983, Knob Hill Farms opened a location in
Oshawa, Ontario in the former Ontario Malleable Iron Company Limited's factory. The building had been used as an iron foundry since 1898, although the company had operated at that site since 1872. The 226,000 square foot (21,000 square metre) building had railway spurs for both Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railway lines running right to the store. A pharmacy, bakery, dentist's office, video rental store, wine store, and a card shop were among the other businesses initially located within the terminal. In 1985, the seventh Knob Hill Farms terminal, this one at Weston Road and Highway 401 in the
Weston community of Toronto, opened. The site was previously an industrial building dating back to the 1930s and was used for the assembly of aeroplanes (de Havilland Mosquitos) by Massey Harris during World War II. The store featured John Richmond's mural depicting the history of food from Prometheus to Marc Garneau. In 1987 the application for development was formally turned down. The denial came as somewhat of a surprise, forcing Knob Hill Farms to pivot its strategy for the location, turning it into a
wholesale retailer on the north side of the building and the south side of the building became Knob Hill Farms’ head office. On August 21, 1991, Knob Hill Farms opened a terminal in
Cambridge, Ontario, the first outside the
Greater Toronto Area. The terminal measured 340,000 square feet (31,500 square metres), making it the largest food retail store in the world. It was estimated that the terminal saw over 20,000 customers on opening day, with hour long lines and traffic jams surrounding the store. The store featured of refrigeration units, a meat counter and 1,500 parking spaces. The final Knob Hill terminal, the Riverdale terminal, opened in 1992. The terminal was located at the Carlaw and Gerrard intersection in Toronto. A defining feature of Knob Hill Farms stores was the use of cardboard and plastic baskets at checkout instead of plastic bags. Unlike their competitors, there were no scanners at the cash registers. ==Closure==