The new CityMarket opens Friday.

In just a couple of days, the new South Granville Loblaws CityMarket will open at the corner of Granville and Broadway.

As the new tower at the corner, dubbed “The Stories at South Granville Station,” is finished up before the Broadway subway project nears completion, some businesses have already opened. On Friday, that will include the new 22,000-sqaure-foot grocery store.

With about 15,000 square feet of retail space, it’s a bit smaller than the massive store opened a couple of years ago at The Post downtown, but it still holds a lot of food, spread out in a huge C-shape on the second floor of the building.

“It’s, I would say, the ultimate grab-and-go, with lots of hot meal options, cold meal options, lots prepared in store,” owner-operator Dan Close tells Vancouver Is Awesome. “Just everything convenience for your everyday shop, basically.”

The new store employs about 75 people, Close says, with around 15 full time staff.

With its smaller space and an urban shopper target demographic, it carries fewer large-scale items but has a large number of meals ready to take away, including a pasta-made-to-order spot, power bowls, sushi and buckets of fried chicken.

There’s also a focus on local and B.C. companies across the board, from the bakery to beverages to bannock mixes.

“We sell local in our bakery, like Portofino and Terra Breads. There’s a macaron company,” Close says. “As well as even in the meat department, we have certain items that are local.”

New CityMarket only has self-checkout tills

The store will only have self-checkout tills (though there is a service counter where people can pay if need be). To help with using the DIY checkout, there’s a new product recognition system that will identify (broadly) what’s in front of it and offer options on the screen.

“Say you don’t know what the code is to your bananas or whatever it may be,” Close explains. “Just set it down there, and it will give you options of what it is.”

Over time, the system is expected to get more adept at identifying objects.

The new store will open at 8 a.m. on June 26 with some giveaways for the first customers. Parking is available at the tower, downstairs. A validation system is being set up for those going to CityMarket and parking below.