Shopping for groceries in the middle of the night has its advantages. Not only can you pick up the bare essentials for a meal, but your chances of picking up another shopper at 3 am are way higher than during the day. Must be the bad lighting.

To find out which 24-hour locale offers the best food deals (and ambience) after dark, NOW visited these stores, where we priced a 900-gram bag of regular-stock pasta, a 2-pound bag of cooking onions and a dozen large eggs. Here are our round-the-clock results.

Where Dominion (735 College, at Crawford, 416-533-2515, and others)
24/7/365? No*
The Damage (pasta/onion/eggs) $1.39 + $1.29 + $2.36 = $5.04
Vibe Wide-aisled family-style layout (soundtrack: Joni Mitchell’s Free Man In Paris)
Bonus Most extensive and carefully tended produce – some of it organic – of our survey. Lots of Italian imports and free parking, though the bike lock-up is dismal.
NOW Rating NNNNN

Where Rabba (24 Wellesley West, at St. Nicholas, 416-922-4451, and others)
24/7/365? Yes
The Damage (pasta/onion/eggs) $1.49 + $0.99 + $2.89 = $5.37
Vibe The largest downtown store of the chain, with plenty of room for buggy jockeying but no parking (soundtrack: Angel, by Sarah McLachlan)
Bonus Dufflet’s pastries, Ace Bakery’s bread and Entenmann’s retro cakes and cookies
NOW Rating NNNN

Where Bloor Super Save (384 Bloor West, at Dalton, 416-964-8318)
24/7/365? Yes
The Damage (pasta/onion/eggs) $1.79 + $0.79 + $2.29 = $4.87
Vibe Cramped and dumpy space, not very fresh veggies (the onions looked long past their sell-by) and no parking (soundtrack: A Flock of Seagulls’ I Ran)
Bonus Established in 1981, this sentimental favourite was the city’s first 24-hour grocery store.
NOW Rating NNN

Where IGA (840 Dupont, at Shaw, 416-534-3588, and others)
24/7/365? No**
The Damage (pasta/onion/eggs) $1.29 + $1.49 + $2.29 = $5.07
Vibe No-frills fluorescent-lit supermarket (soundtrack: John Lennon’s Whatever Gets You Through The Night)
Bonus Adequate produce department, low prices, free parking but crappy bike rack.
NOW Rating NNN

Where Food Depot (155 Dupont, at Davenport, 416-925-6079)
24/7/365? Yes
The Damage (pasta/onion/eggs) $1.79+$1.49+$2.99 = $6.27
Vibe Converted old-school IGA goes way upmarket, no parking (soundtrack: Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik)
Bonus Pita Break flatbreads and Ace Bakery baguettes as well as the New York Times and the Scottish Banner newspapers
NOW Rating NN

Where Hasty Market (300 Simcoe, at Elm, 416-598-0730, and others)
24/7/365? Yes
The Damage (pasta/onion/eggs) $1.99 + $1.69 + $3.49 = $7.17
Vibe Glorified convenience store, no parking (soundtrack: Bryan Adams’s Ever Loved A Woman?)
Bonus Some Loblaws no-name products, but like everything else here, it appears, marked up about 50 per cent.
NOW Rating N

*Closed New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas;
** same as * but also closed Labour Day and Boxing Day