"Smart building" has become a leasing checkbox. Walk through any new development in Etobicoke or downtown Toronto and the brochure will promise smart locks, an app for everything, EV charging and high-speed connectivity. But there's a gap between the technology that looks good in a brochure and the technology residents actually use — and notice when it's missing.
For a property manager or developer deciding where to spend a finite amenity budget, the right question isn't "which tech is newest?" It's "which tech do residents use often enough to care about?" The honest answer reorders most amenity lists.
Start With What Residents Rank Highest
When the Canadian demand-research firm simplydbs surveyed 1,500 renters and owners across 238 amenity preferences, the single most-wanted amenity wasn't a pool or a rooftop — it was in-suite, high-speed internet. 85% of respondents wanted it, and 55% said they would pay more for it. Connectivity is now infrastructure, not a perk.
Once the table-stakes layer — fast internet, secure access, and a way to handle the flood of parcels — is in place, the next tier of tech amenities is where buildings actually differentiate. And here, one category quietly outperforms the flashier options on the only metric that matters: how often residents reach for it.
The Tech Amenity Residents Use Multiple Times a Week
In the same national study, a convenience store ranked near the very top of the list. 84% of residents said they wanted the ability to pick up a missing ingredient or a quick snack without having to go far, and 60% specifically wanted a cashier-less store in their building. Not a pool used a few weeks a year. Not a theatre room booked once a quarter. A store residents touch two to four times a week.
That "cashier-less" detail is the tech part. A modern managed micro market is a smart store: residents tap a card or phone, the shelf is monitored remotely, pricing is digital, and there's no app to download and no account to create. It behaves like the rest of a tech-native resident's day — frictionless, contactless, instant.
Why "Smart" Beats "New"
The reason the smart store earns its place on a tech-amenity list isn't the hardware — it's what the technology does for the building. A legacy vending machine is a closed box with a coin slot and, if you're lucky, a card reader that sometimes works. A managed smart store is a connected system.
| Capability | Legacy Vending Machine | Managed Smart Store |
|---|---|---|
| Payment | Coins, occasional card reader | Tap card, Apple Pay, Google Pay |
| Restocking | On a fixed route, "whenever" | Remote inventory data drives restock timing |
| Pricing | Stickers, manual changes | Live digital pricing, updated remotely |
| Faults | Resident reports it to the concierge | Remote monitoring flags it before residents complain |
| Assortment | Same 12 rows for years | Curated and adjusted to the building |
The technology isn't there to impress anyone. It's there so the amenity actually works every day — which is exactly why residents notice it and property managers stop fielding complaints about it.
"A pool is a tech amenity used a few weeks a year. A smart store is a tech amenity used a few times a week. Utilization is the only honest measure of an amenity's value."
The Part That Surprises Property Managers
The smart store is also the rare tech amenity that costs the building nothing. EV chargers, smart-lock retrofits and connectivity upgrades all carry real capital and maintenance budgets. A managed micro market is installed, stocked, maintained and supported entirely by the operator. The property provides the space and two standard power outlets — that's the full extent of the building's involvement.
The economics work because the format works. Operator data from residential buildings shows managed micro markets averaging roughly $520 in weekly sales with an average transaction near double that of a traditional vending machine (a directional, operator-reported figure — your building's numbers depend on size and resident mix). Residents get a genuinely useful amenity; the building carries none of the cost or the work.
What Adding It Actually Involves
For an existing building that can't redesign its lobby, this is the highest-use tech amenity you can add this year — and the process is short:
- A 30-minute look at available space in the lobby or amenity room
- A simple placement agreement (standard 5-year term)
- Installation of two TapStore™ smart store units — combined footprint roughly 5W × 3.2D feet, needing two standard outlets
- Ongoing restocking, maintenance and resident support handled entirely by The Merchant Group™
The assortment is the everyday stuff residents reach for — drinks, snacks and convenience essentials — curated for the people who actually live in the building.
Built by a Retailer. Not a Vending Company.
The Merchant Group™ brings 30 years of retail experience — Walmart, Staples, and Starbucks — to every building we serve. The technology matters, but it's the retail discipline behind it that turns a connected box into an amenity residents rely on. We curate the assortment, manage the operations, and handle the support, so the building gets the resident-satisfaction lift without the work.
If you're deciding which tech amenities are worth the spend in 2026, start with the one residents already told you they want — and the one that costs you nothing to add.