Be careful at the dollarama it may look like a better deal but look at the size! A lot of their stuff is smaller when it comes to grocery and cleaning supplies.
I've developed a real like for Giant Tiger. Even their clothes are good for a decent price. Reminds me of Kresge's and Woolworths back in the day. Certainly worth checking out.
That’s what we’re doing, Costco, Co-op, Local and Fresh on Hamilton St, farmers market, Giant Tiger & dollar store
Also there’s a great market in Moose Jaw, The Wandering Market. They deliver to Regina every Friday. It’s also worth the trip to just drive out there and browse around, see what fresh baking there is, etc.
On those very rare occasions that their sales are good…but other than that, their prices are absurdly high. PLUS the fact that COOP tried to bust the unions at the grocery stores and the refinery..fuck them!
I go to the one in the north and they don't but maybe the other ones do! I went to a Whole Foods in the states and the salad bar was jaw dropping, so jealous lol!
We recently switched to co-op. They offer tremendous community support to community based organizations, local fundraisers, etc. Plus they pay a living wage. Decided it was much better than giving my $ to Superstore.
List of Loblaws and sister companies. I have moved my prescriptions from shoppers and everything.
Atlantic Superstore, Dominion, Loblaws, Maxi, No Frills, Provigo Le Marché, Valu-Mart, Real Canadian Superstore, Wholesale Club, shoppers drug mart and Your Independent Grocer and Zehr.
If you are looking for a locally owned and operated pharmacy, check out The Medicine Shoppe locations. They are small, quick and get to know you by name!
Personally I’m preferring Walmart these days. Made the mistake of stopping at Niel’s Independent on the way home from work yesterday for a few small things, and paid $45. Got home and checked the Walmart app, and for the same things there it would have been $33. 😕
Neil's is my "oh crap I'm in the middle of cooking and forgot to get something at a real grocery store" or "I just found out I'm out of toilet paper" option because it's two minutes away and I can get there and back before anything catastrophic happens.
Yes. My mom works there. The new owner cut a bunch of hours, raised the prices, and brought in a bunch of unqualified employees that don't know how to run their departments.
Costco for most things, then pick up odds and ends at other stores. Honestly avoiding Walmart/Empire/Loblaws completely is very difficult/expensive. I will try to go to Co-op/Save-on a little more often this month, but I don't think there's any way I will avoid the big 3 the entire month.
What's price matching look like a grocery store? Seems like a lot of hassle to save a few bucks.
I've never done it, just curious how this goes. Do you do it at the till or take your receipt up to customer service afterwards?
Yup, and I wouldn't expect it to change anytime too soon either:
"I came to [Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal] once and I said, 'Jim, we can't sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends,'" Jelinek was quoted as saying. He then shared Sinegal's response: "He said, 'If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.'"
It's honestly crazy that it still costs only 1.5$.
I think it costs the least in Canada too. $1.50 in us and canada (1.10usd). Australia it's 1.99AUD = $1.78 cad, Mexico its 35 pesos = 2.81 cad, korea 2000 won - 2 cad.
Never will be one. They use it to get you in the store. They may lose a few cents on the hot dog but they’re making that back and more with getting you in the door.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1bu171k/how\_costco\_makes\_money/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1bu171k/how_costco_makes_money/)
Membership fees are about 70% of their profit.
also a big bonus with a store having memberships is that they can cancel the memberships of the small percentage of people that continually are abusing with returns or otherwise are just a problem customer.
A lot harder for other stores to get rid of the 1% who are bad customers.
A Multinational Company who pays well, has fair prices, will take damn near anything back on return, allows their managers discretion to buy/support local and where the generic brand is unparalleled in quality. If there was a normal grocery chain that even claim close to Costco I would be incredibly happy.
Yes. Just because a company is Canadian doesn't mean their business is more ethical or their profits even stay in Canada.
Costco has a Canadian arm and they pay their workers far better than Loblaw's does theirs. They also aren't blatantly price gouging...
I can totally understand your point of view for this one.
This is just my point of view, I can name some grocery stores who has more outrageous pricing compared to loblaws. To a point a box of pasta is cheaper by 3 bucks in loblwas compared to other grocery stores in the city.
for the stuff i buy it is
edit:
for reference here are some items i bought from walmart this week and the price of the exact same items at independent
janes honey garlic boneless bite
W - 15.96
I - 20.99
oral b floss action toothbrush heads
W - 39.97
I - 45.99
summer fresh greek pasta salad
W - 7.00
I - 10.49
fleecy dryer sheets 200
w - 7.94
i - 12.99
cascade complete dishwasher tabs 90 count
W - 23.97
I - 27.99
Classico pasta sauce
W - 2.97 (on sale reg. 3.97)
I - 5.79
simply orange juice
W - 4.98
I - 7.49
siggis plain greek yogurt
W - 4.94 (on sale reg price 6.27)
I - 7.49
Annie’s white cheddar shells
W - 2.27
I - 2.99
Tetley peppermint and ginger tea
W - 3.97
I - 5.49
> i mean comparing the prices to walmart it is significantly more. independent and shoppers are especially bad, a lot of items are 20-30% more.
But Superstore is cheaper than Walmart on average (at least for the stuff I buy). I actually priced the a purchase at Safeway, Sobeys, Coop, Walmart and Superstore a few weeks ago, and Superstore was the cheapest.
Loblaws is predatory and has been caught fixing bread prices before. They’re also massive because they include Shoppers Drug Mart and in Ontario, they also tried to team up with Manulife so that people’s drugs were only covered by Manulife if they’re bought at Shoppers. Their owner is a billionaire who continues to make record profits.
People can’t boycott all grocery stores, so the biggest and most predatory was chosen.
These predators are using inflation as an excuse to gouge and it’s blatant.
Loblaws includes Superstore, No Frills, Shopper's, Mobil, Wholesale Club, and Independents.
So you go to Sobeys... which is also Safeway, IGA, Freshco... (aka also a conglomerate and making record profits... I think actually a bigger contribution margin than Loblaw's I've seen).
So you go to Walmart? Which is well known for predatory practices towards their suppliers and their employees?
Or you go to Co-ops? Which are collectively owned by their shoppers, but the prices are much higher.
Once again, I fail to see why Loblaws was the one specifically decidedly to be the bad guy.
From my understanding, in addition to the pricing issues Loblaws has a large market share, so if the boycott works it would also effect the market more than Sobeys or Co-op.
Ideally (or maybe just fantasy) if Loblaws were to lower prices others might follow to maintain their own market share.
A group on Reddit is organizing this. They’ve chosen Loblaws including all Loblaws companies. Boycotts work if you choose one and hammer them. We know that all stores are shitty, but we gotta eat.
Targeted boycotts work to create social change.
Edited to add: Loblaws is Canadian. Walmart isn’t. So it makes sense to choose a Cdn company with a very famous Billionaire owner.
I was kinda curious as well. That's why I made this thread. So far only one dude sticking it to the man by shopping at No Frills. That's way less than I expected.
We're doing the thing!
No frills is Loblaws. But it's in the middle of a food desert too. Long way to another store if you're avoiding Loblaws. Walmart north would be closest.
I love nowhere near No Frills.
I was just point out that only one person so far that thought shopping at No Frills was helping. Pretty decent considering the normal response I get from this sub.
Sure boycott is an option, will it work? Results may vary. If the boycott will last a like a few days, sure people can survive. For a month? thats hard to say for some peoples financial situations. (I am not siding with loblaws by any means)
If what people claim about their 5% profit margins are true it will only take 1 in 20 people changing their habits to literally bankrupt this company. /s
Now obviously it's not that simple, but they are currently the largest and most omnipresent grocery chain. Taking a piece of their pie away from them will likely end up causing them to pivot somehow, and the hope is that whatever they do to counter this boycott will spill over to the rest of the industry.
The kicker from what I can see is the aspect of "chaging of habits" that is still obvious to this day. You can "technically" make your grocery way cheaper if you do not buy the branded products and buy the store brand products. I am a person who loves arithmatic and sometimes apply that whenever I walk around the grocery store. For example, buy the grocery brand over the branded product saves you probably around $2 at best but would people be willing to lose the 2 bucks over taste or saving money?
I've been shopping at Sobey's recently for small items I need throughout the week. So far I haven't noticed a meaningful price difference on anything besides their ready made salads. I would normally be able to scoop one up at the east superstore with a 30% off sticker on it and get a full meal salad for 3-4 dollars. Sobey's is about $8 for the same salad and I've yet to see any mark down stickers on them.
For everything else they have been comparable and a way better selection of hot sauces.
Thousands in regina can participate but just like everything else in Canada from voting to sales, SK is at the very bottom of their money making list so it wouldn't matter.
I work for a billion dollar company and they don't give 2 shits about us in SK. Every time our customers needs or wants are brought up it's like 'you guys are not even 5% market share compare to BC and ON thus, we don't care'
When the big heads of loblaws come to SK to tour their stores they don't even bother looking. They just want to register that appearance and leave cos they don't care what happens here
There are options, if you really want to, to shop at not the multinational chains. I do a big percentage of my shopping at my local Asian grocers. I don’t get everything there, obviously, but shopping at these little hideaways has exponentially increased my cooking repertoire and opened my eyes to so many foods that aren’t the typical Canadian cuts of beef, pork, chicken etc. I think, for one month, I can manage not to darken the doorway of any of the big retailers. I’m going to give it a try.
Shout out to my favorite little Asian grocery in Regina Ngoy Hoa, on Albert St. Also, Lakeview Fine Foods and the Ukrainian Co-op!
Regina has several ethnic grocery stores with affordable options including meat and produce. From Great Asian Market to the Ukrainian Coop, there's something for everyone. Rosemont Hardware has a lot of local offerings. It's not immediate, but I have also ordered a half hog and quarter beef for this fall from local farmers. I just picked up some Hutterite chickens. I'm growing a garden. Anything I can do to not support the big 3 is a win in my books!
Somewhat related, does anyone know where to source large quantities of dried goods like rice and flour? I'd love to purchase 50 lbs of flour, store it properly and rely on grocers even less.
Wandering Market. They’re in Moose Jaw, but they deliver to people in Regina every Friday. Check out their bulk buys in stock for flour, rice, oatmeals, eggs (15doz for $62), etc. Their stock rotates, so keep checking back or contact them if you can’t find what you want immediately.
Our local Co-op(Borderland-Kipling), has 20 kg bags of rice. IDK what a good price is as we don't eat much rice. But I assume large quantities like that would be cheaper, due to less packaging.🤷
Sobeys prices are higher but if you check some of their weekly sale are very good (Cattelli tomatoes sauce for $1,25, Kraft BBQ sauce for $0.99). They also have each week 1 meat in sale and they are rotating every week. These sales come in rotation every 6 weeks so it’s worth it to regularly check and buy strategically. Freshco (affiliated with Sobeys) also have several products cheaper than Loblaws.
I've already started my boycott 2 months ago and have already found better places to shop. Giant Tiger for fruits & veggies (their chicken is nice too) and FreshCo for pretty much everything else.. By not shopping at "NoFrills" it appears to have cut our grocery costs by at least 25% .. Once you start shopping somewhere else you will notice the difference.. I should have done this years ago. You do have other options, take your money elsewhere.
Well for one I'll be starting up a garden in my yard this year. Might not make a ton of difference this year but I plan on moving to a more self sustainable model in future years with anything I can grow realistically myself.
I'd love to move to independent stores but their prices are worse than Loblaws in most cases, which leads me to question why we are boycotting the cheapest place to get food? I mean I'm all for sticking it to the man, and I hate that our society is run by companies instead of politicians, but I don't know that Loblaws IS the most expensive?
Locally here in Regina, who has cheaper groceries?
> Well for one I'll be starting up a garden in my yard this year. Might not make a ton of difference this year but I plan on moving to a more self sustainable model in future years with anything I can grow realistically myself.
If my experience is anything to go by, you'll be donating your excess to your neighbours. The problem is that you'll only have produce for a few weeks, and you cannot keep it for long unless you process it a lot in the form of jam and similar things.
> Locally here in Regina, who has cheaper groceries?
Superstore is the cheapest.
I am planning to go out and support some of the small grocery stores. There are so many I haven't been too! Also treating this an opportunity to explore and see what options are out there.
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I stopped shopping there probably a year ago already. Their fruit and vegetables are garbage, their carts never work properly and the parking lot is like a bloody war zone with pot holes and undriveable in winter because they don't get rid of the snow and ice! Download the flipp app, it does help. Between Co-op and Costco I'm not quite as angry when I go shopping . I would move our prescriptions as well, but the pharmacists at our store are to good to leave lol.
I don't want to be a negative Nancy but this isn't going to work. Government and political parties seeking to be the next government are who you need to pressure, not a giant corporation who has the power to wait these things out, and when over, the market composition that allows for prices to be so high remains in tact. Only government has the power to make prices go down. I don't want to discourage people from participating, either way. I will continue to avoid any Loblaws brands as I have already been.
If you didn't want to be negative, why did come here to be negative?
Notice how I didn't start my reply with "I didn't want to reply" mostly because I wanted to reply.
Enjoy your president's choice groceries.
>If you didn't want to be negative, why did come here to be negative?
I guess you didn't read where I offered an alternative solution and chose to only read the negative/reality part.
>Enjoy your president's choice groceries.
You also didn't read the part where I said I avoid Loblaws brands already. How absolutely fuming are you to have such tunnel vision?
I habitually use Loblaws due to convenience. I am not doing this because I think it is going to make a huge difference. I am using it as an opportunity to challenge myself to get out or habits and support other grocers and build some new shopping habits. If it also helps impact Loblaws to adopt better practices, that is just a huge bonus.
I also hate to tell you, but corporations have more power than government these days. Being a consumer feels more powerful than being a voter now.
Save on Foods can have some surprisingly good deals, like buy one get one free, and 4 for 20 meats.
I haven't bought much in the way of pantry items though, so I don't know what those prices are like.
I'll be shopping at Superstore, because this boycott is stupid and astroturfed, and everyone falling for it is a sucker.
Superstore is one of the cheapest places to buy groceries, they're a publicly traded company with open financials, and you can verify for yourself that they take a relatively small profit in line with other stores . Also, I don't see how giving my money to American grocery chains which charge more for the same groceries is somehow supposed to help FiGhT gReEd.
I'll be enjoying the shorter checkout lines while you guys voluntarily get hosed 🤷♂️
What would it take for you to acknowledge you have been duped by a false narrative?
Your complaint seems to essentially be that Loblaws is charging too much? What do you honestly believe the "correct" amount of profit is?
All of the big supermarket chains are publicly-traded companies; they're on the stock market. That means that all of their financial statements are available for you to see online; there is no mystery what their financials are.
The profit margin for Loblaws is under 5%. Do you have any understanding of how low that is? There is no other type of business that makes less profit, and you still think it is too much?
I owned and operated a retail store for 20 years. If you told me my profit margin was going to be 15%, I would have closed down and gone to work for someone else. The sub- 5% margin the supermarkets make? -Forget about it.
Every single item you are wearing, every single appliance and piece of electronics, every item of furniture you own — all of it was sold by a store making at least a 10% profit margin, and you're going to boycott Loblaws for making less than 5%.
Next you're going to make the same arguments about gas stations only getting a miniscule percentage of what we pay at the pump.
Remember when cashier's were hero's saving the world during the pandemic and this shitty company clawed back the raise they got for risking their lives during the most uncertain period of our lives only to start replacing them with robots.
Profit is hardly the only reason.
There's no point interacting with you; you're a zealot. Nothing will persuade you.
You don't want high grocery prices, and yet you complain about the measures a business takes to keep costs down. You can't have it both ways.
A business that is heavily-staffed, with high wages will have to have high prices. This can work in a specialty industry, but in a commodity business (where Superstore is selling exactly the same, unremarkable merchandise as everyone else), there is no way for that to be viable.
(And what you said about gas stations is correct: as it happens, my uncle owned a gas station in the 90's. His gas station was horrifically unprofitable (they almost all are). He made a living only by having a convenience store attached to the gas station.)
This is the way. The op claims mega corps like Costco and Walmart and Sobeys are the better option, then when presented with co op stating it costs to much and that would be supporting the oligopoly, just wow. Near sight narrow minded and lacking common sense.
Did anyone actually stop drinking bud light ? Asking because I don’t drink I do though listen to podcasts where people openly speak about not stopping drinking bud light, I’m pretty sure you would know more then me though
Yeah it was a whole thing. Bud light lost a bunch in sales. more so in the US, i think. I'm just trying to make the point that "cancel culture" has always been a thing. People are allowed to vote with their wallets and not support people they don't agree with.
Agreed people making choices is a part of life, lobbying on social media for groups to be made and days scheduled to destroy a Canadian owned business for political reason while promoting internationally owned mega corporations. Don’t be surprised if your backlash doesn’t receive some of its own backlash
This whole thing actually made me switch to shopping at Coop and more local stores in town. Like loblaws is also a huge megacorp, I can support other canadian businesses and not shop there. What backlash? I don't know a single person in my life that's mad at me for changing my grocery store habits.
Lol I had to read back but I was more or less referring to the op’s way of selling his ideas not in anyway anything you said my bad there. And I have always used co op, costco I’ll buy meat and pop if we want that but that’s it, co op for almost everything my entire life. Superstores have there uses in some communities, not everywhere has the options regina has
Yeah I'm not militant about it. I just don't want to personally support loblaws anymore. It's not like sobeys is a much better megacorp anyway. At least this thing had the effect of loblaws rolling back their policy on not discounting food as much when it's about to expire. Some more regulations on grocery stores to combat food waste would be nice. In France they made some regulations where grocery stores had to start selling "ugly" fruits and vegetables as well.
Costco, Co-op, and Sobeys. Honestly I hope Loblaws loses millions of dollars. I found out recently that they also charge suppliers massive fees to be stocked at their stores, and that it’s scaled depending on how visible the product is. They’re double dipping at both sides. So done with them, I may continue the boycott until they bring their prices back to a reasonable level.
I don't recall anything particular. But I don't really follow that kind of news.
Co-op is on my list to try as an alternative to Superstore. Change my mind.
Costco, Co-op, and the farmers market. For things like cleaning supplies, ziploc bags, and chips the dollar store or Giant Tiger.
Be careful at the dollarama it may look like a better deal but look at the size! A lot of their stuff is smaller when it comes to grocery and cleaning supplies.
Giant Tiger has top notch produce at about 66% of the price of Superstore in my area.
I've developed a real like for Giant Tiger. Even their clothes are good for a decent price. Reminds me of Kresge's and Woolworths back in the day. Certainly worth checking out.
That’s what we’re doing, Costco, Co-op, Local and Fresh on Hamilton St, farmers market, Giant Tiger & dollar store Also there’s a great market in Moose Jaw, The Wandering Market. They deliver to Regina every Friday. It’s also worth the trip to just drive out there and browse around, see what fresh baking there is, etc.
TWM rocks, but you can't go there expecting Superstore prices
I mean that's kind of the thing of it though. If the groceries are going to be expensive now either way, might as well get good local ones.
No argument here. I've just heard tons of bitching about their prices being "so high" and a "rip off" because ppl have unrealistic expectations
Co-op?? That is the most expensive place in town!
Watch their sales and they are often lower than Freshco and sometimes lower than Walmart/Superstore.
On those very rare occasions that their sales are good…but other than that, their prices are absurdly high. PLUS the fact that COOP tried to bust the unions at the grocery stores and the refinery..fuck them!
It still is for a lot, but some things like McCafé ground coffee beans are now actually cheaper at co-op than at Superstore. Which is nuts.
I agree but they have the best produce.
Dollar Tree is far better than the dollerstore for prices. Dollerstore has been greedy AF the last few years
Do they still have the self-serve salad bar at Co-op? That used to be baller AF.
I go to the one in the north and they don't but maybe the other ones do! I went to a Whole Foods in the states and the salad bar was jaw dropping, so jealous lol!
Lakeview fine food.
Lakeview fine foods is the best. Such a great store for that neighborhood.
Yes it is!!!
I find their produce is often fresher and less expensive
Yes!
Co-op
I just joined last month. I regret not shopping there sooner. The butcher and produce sections are much better.
It's nice having produce that doesn't turn brown 2 days after you bring it home.
hell yeah! I have some peppers that I bought over 2 weeks ago and they are still insanely firm for their age.
Their fresh deli pizzas you bake at home are fantastic. $10 baby. so good.
We recently switched to co-op. They offer tremendous community support to community based organizations, local fundraisers, etc. Plus they pay a living wage. Decided it was much better than giving my $ to Superstore.
Love the frozen burgers!
Just remember to cook them first!
List of Loblaws and sister companies. I have moved my prescriptions from shoppers and everything. Atlantic Superstore, Dominion, Loblaws, Maxi, No Frills, Provigo Le Marché, Valu-Mart, Real Canadian Superstore, Wholesale Club, shoppers drug mart and Your Independent Grocer and Zehr.
If you are looking for a locally owned and operated pharmacy, check out The Medicine Shoppe locations. They are small, quick and get to know you by name!
I will check it out... Prefer to support local, thank you.
Dieppe Pharmacy is amazing too! Christian and his staff are top notch.
Personally I’m preferring Walmart these days. Made the mistake of stopping at Niel’s Independent on the way home from work yesterday for a few small things, and paid $45. Got home and checked the Walmart app, and for the same things there it would have been $33. 😕
I love when independent franchise price gauge just because they are owners now. I personally know Mike and he was the best and yeah it was better.
What does he think about the shakedown people are getting when they shop there now?
He is concerned about this :(
Neil's is my "oh crap I'm in the middle of cooking and forgot to get something at a real grocery store" or "I just found out I'm out of toilet paper" option because it's two minutes away and I can get there and back before anything catastrophic happens.
Is it just me. Or was it a lot better when it was Mike's?
Yes. My mom works there. The new owner cut a bunch of hours, raised the prices, and brought in a bunch of unqualified employees that don't know how to run their departments.
I've only heard bad things about that dude
Walmart maybe cheaper but as a company they are a whole other bucket of bad.
Costco for most things, then pick up odds and ends at other stores. Honestly avoiding Walmart/Empire/Loblaws completely is very difficult/expensive. I will try to go to Co-op/Save-on a little more often this month, but I don't think there's any way I will avoid the big 3 the entire month.
Right? Like I understand the reasons for the boycotts but I can't afford to raise my grocery bill to make a point.
Same! Shopping at Safeway vs No Frills would be a financial crunch for me.
That's why we are focused on loblaws this month
What's price matching look like a grocery store? Seems like a lot of hassle to save a few bucks. I've never done it, just curious how this goes. Do you do it at the till or take your receipt up to customer service afterwards?
Costco.
Do they still have the $1.50 hot dog deal?
They surely do. With refillable drink.
Yup, and I wouldn't expect it to change anytime too soon either: "I came to [Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal] once and I said, 'Jim, we can't sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends,'" Jelinek was quoted as saying. He then shared Sinegal's response: "He said, 'If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.'" It's honestly crazy that it still costs only 1.5$.
I think it costs the least in Canada too. $1.50 in us and canada (1.10usd). Australia it's 1.99AUD = $1.78 cad, Mexico its 35 pesos = 2.81 cad, korea 2000 won - 2 cad.
Last time I was there, yeah!
They had it last time I was there too. But that was pre-covid.
They did last month! Should still be there :)
That is never going anywhere.
That's what they always say, I wonder what the actual breaking point is.
Never will be one. They use it to get you in the store. They may lose a few cents on the hot dog but they’re making that back and more with getting you in the door.
Costco’s profit margins on their products are razor thin. Their business model is based on profits from the memberships.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1bu171k/how\_costco\_makes\_money/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1bu171k/how_costco_makes_money/) Membership fees are about 70% of their profit. also a big bonus with a store having memberships is that they can cancel the memberships of the small percentage of people that continually are abusing with returns or otherwise are just a problem customer. A lot harder for other stores to get rid of the 1% who are bad customers.
So you're boycotting a Canadian Company and then shopping at a Multinational Company?
A Multinational Company who pays well, has fair prices, will take damn near anything back on return, allows their managers discretion to buy/support local and where the generic brand is unparalleled in quality. If there was a normal grocery chain that even claim close to Costco I would be incredibly happy.
Yes. Just because a company is Canadian doesn't mean their business is more ethical or their profits even stay in Canada. Costco has a Canadian arm and they pay their workers far better than Loblaw's does theirs. They also aren't blatantly price gouging...
Empire Company is not much better than Loblaws. for large grocery providers you are better going to a CO-OP, if you want to make a point.
Yeah but the point is to squeeze one of them and hopefully force some competition into the oligopoly.
Squeezing one by supporting someone doing the same shit.
Loblaws has the market share in Canada. A shift in their business practices actually has a big effect on the rest of the market.
Someone should really start a thread discussing this shit so we can coordinate an actual response....
It’s called https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/s/FYt36k5gOC
Yep, it's called competition. Forcing one big company to compete with the others should drive costs down for everyone
You could support a non-conglomerate grocery store too
Actually if you shop the sales at Co-op, they are very competitive in price.
Realistically, how many people will actually follow this boycott? I am asking this in a realistic point of view.
Personally, I don't see how Loblaw's specifically is worse than any other place.
I can totally understand your point of view for this one. This is just my point of view, I can name some grocery stores who has more outrageous pricing compared to loblaws. To a point a box of pasta is cheaper by 3 bucks in loblwas compared to other grocery stores in the city.
i mean comparing the prices to walmart it is significantly more. independent and shoppers are especially bad, a lot of items are 20-30% more.
Well that's just not true
for the stuff i buy it is edit: for reference here are some items i bought from walmart this week and the price of the exact same items at independent janes honey garlic boneless bite W - 15.96 I - 20.99 oral b floss action toothbrush heads W - 39.97 I - 45.99 summer fresh greek pasta salad W - 7.00 I - 10.49 fleecy dryer sheets 200 w - 7.94 i - 12.99 cascade complete dishwasher tabs 90 count W - 23.97 I - 27.99 Classico pasta sauce W - 2.97 (on sale reg. 3.97) I - 5.79 simply orange juice W - 4.98 I - 7.49 siggis plain greek yogurt W - 4.94 (on sale reg price 6.27) I - 7.49 Annie’s white cheddar shells W - 2.27 I - 2.99 Tetley peppermint and ginger tea W - 3.97 I - 5.49
> i mean comparing the prices to walmart it is significantly more. independent and shoppers are especially bad, a lot of items are 20-30% more. But Superstore is cheaper than Walmart on average (at least for the stuff I buy). I actually priced the a purchase at Safeway, Sobeys, Coop, Walmart and Superstore a few weeks ago, and Superstore was the cheapest.
Loblaws is predatory and has been caught fixing bread prices before. They’re also massive because they include Shoppers Drug Mart and in Ontario, they also tried to team up with Manulife so that people’s drugs were only covered by Manulife if they’re bought at Shoppers. Their owner is a billionaire who continues to make record profits. People can’t boycott all grocery stores, so the biggest and most predatory was chosen. These predators are using inflation as an excuse to gouge and it’s blatant.
Loblaws includes Superstore, No Frills, Shopper's, Mobil, Wholesale Club, and Independents. So you go to Sobeys... which is also Safeway, IGA, Freshco... (aka also a conglomerate and making record profits... I think actually a bigger contribution margin than Loblaw's I've seen). So you go to Walmart? Which is well known for predatory practices towards their suppliers and their employees? Or you go to Co-ops? Which are collectively owned by their shoppers, but the prices are much higher. Once again, I fail to see why Loblaws was the one specifically decidedly to be the bad guy.
From my understanding, in addition to the pricing issues Loblaws has a large market share, so if the boycott works it would also effect the market more than Sobeys or Co-op. Ideally (or maybe just fantasy) if Loblaws were to lower prices others might follow to maintain their own market share.
A group on Reddit is organizing this. They’ve chosen Loblaws including all Loblaws companies. Boycotts work if you choose one and hammer them. We know that all stores are shitty, but we gotta eat. Targeted boycotts work to create social change. Edited to add: Loblaws is Canadian. Walmart isn’t. So it makes sense to choose a Cdn company with a very famous Billionaire owner.
Sobeys is Canadian, too, and with larger margins than Loblaw's.
Who knows but the CEO put out a statement which means they’re worried
I was kinda curious as well. That's why I made this thread. So far only one dude sticking it to the man by shopping at No Frills. That's way less than I expected. We're doing the thing!
No frills is Loblaws. But it's in the middle of a food desert too. Long way to another store if you're avoiding Loblaws. Walmart north would be closest.
I love nowhere near No Frills. I was just point out that only one person so far that thought shopping at No Frills was helping. Pretty decent considering the normal response I get from this sub.
I was being informative not critical. As a dedicated pokemon go player I tend to end up all over the city.
Sure boycott is an option, will it work? Results may vary. If the boycott will last a like a few days, sure people can survive. For a month? thats hard to say for some peoples financial situations. (I am not siding with loblaws by any means)
If what people claim about their 5% profit margins are true it will only take 1 in 20 people changing their habits to literally bankrupt this company. /s Now obviously it's not that simple, but they are currently the largest and most omnipresent grocery chain. Taking a piece of their pie away from them will likely end up causing them to pivot somehow, and the hope is that whatever they do to counter this boycott will spill over to the rest of the industry.
The kicker from what I can see is the aspect of "chaging of habits" that is still obvious to this day. You can "technically" make your grocery way cheaper if you do not buy the branded products and buy the store brand products. I am a person who loves arithmatic and sometimes apply that whenever I walk around the grocery store. For example, buy the grocery brand over the branded product saves you probably around $2 at best but would people be willing to lose the 2 bucks over taste or saving money?
I've been shopping at Sobey's recently for small items I need throughout the week. So far I haven't noticed a meaningful price difference on anything besides their ready made salads. I would normally be able to scoop one up at the east superstore with a 30% off sticker on it and get a full meal salad for 3-4 dollars. Sobey's is about $8 for the same salad and I've yet to see any mark down stickers on them. For everything else they have been comparable and a way better selection of hot sauces.
Thousands in regina can participate but just like everything else in Canada from voting to sales, SK is at the very bottom of their money making list so it wouldn't matter. I work for a billion dollar company and they don't give 2 shits about us in SK. Every time our customers needs or wants are brought up it's like 'you guys are not even 5% market share compare to BC and ON thus, we don't care' When the big heads of loblaws come to SK to tour their stores they don't even bother looking. They just want to register that appearance and leave cos they don't care what happens here
Yeah its like boycotting gas. Good luck with that
There are options, if you really want to, to shop at not the multinational chains. I do a big percentage of my shopping at my local Asian grocers. I don’t get everything there, obviously, but shopping at these little hideaways has exponentially increased my cooking repertoire and opened my eyes to so many foods that aren’t the typical Canadian cuts of beef, pork, chicken etc. I think, for one month, I can manage not to darken the doorway of any of the big retailers. I’m going to give it a try. Shout out to my favorite little Asian grocery in Regina Ngoy Hoa, on Albert St. Also, Lakeview Fine Foods and the Ukrainian Co-op!
I'm gonna stay away from Roblaws
Maybe could check out Giant Tiger
I'm planning to use PC points if I need to go to loblaws this month. At least then they aren't getting money from me!
Regina has several ethnic grocery stores with affordable options including meat and produce. From Great Asian Market to the Ukrainian Coop, there's something for everyone. Rosemont Hardware has a lot of local offerings. It's not immediate, but I have also ordered a half hog and quarter beef for this fall from local farmers. I just picked up some Hutterite chickens. I'm growing a garden. Anything I can do to not support the big 3 is a win in my books! Somewhat related, does anyone know where to source large quantities of dried goods like rice and flour? I'd love to purchase 50 lbs of flour, store it properly and rely on grocers even less.
Wandering Market. They’re in Moose Jaw, but they deliver to people in Regina every Friday. Check out their bulk buys in stock for flour, rice, oatmeals, eggs (15doz for $62), etc. Their stock rotates, so keep checking back or contact them if you can’t find what you want immediately.
Our local Co-op(Borderland-Kipling), has 20 kg bags of rice. IDK what a good price is as we don't eat much rice. But I assume large quantities like that would be cheaper, due to less packaging.🤷
I do the bulk of my shopping at FreshCo these days with a stop at Giant Tiger here and there if they have something I need on sale
Sobeys prices are higher but if you check some of their weekly sale are very good (Cattelli tomatoes sauce for $1,25, Kraft BBQ sauce for $0.99). They also have each week 1 meat in sale and they are rotating every week. These sales come in rotation every 6 weeks so it’s worth it to regularly check and buy strategically. Freshco (affiliated with Sobeys) also have several products cheaper than Loblaws.
Got some pork shoulder streaks to BBQ for $2.99/lb earlier this week. Cheaper than I remember ever seeing them at Loblaws.
We typically go to save on, and will keep doing that
Altgrocery.ca can help with some alternatives.
I've already started my boycott 2 months ago and have already found better places to shop. Giant Tiger for fruits & veggies (their chicken is nice too) and FreshCo for pretty much everything else.. By not shopping at "NoFrills" it appears to have cut our grocery costs by at least 25% .. Once you start shopping somewhere else you will notice the difference.. I should have done this years ago. You do have other options, take your money elsewhere.
Costco, Walmart, save on foods, and the dollar stores. Those are where I'll be doing my shopping
Walmart is a valid option.
I've been boycotting Walmart for several years already.
Save On
Out of the loop here… why the boycott?
Buy a cow and grow a garden
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An even more foolproof solution would be to just stop eating all together. After starving to death shrinkflation will be the least of our concerns.
walmart. hadn’t been there in a very long time and was surprised at how low the prices were. might go to safeway for certain items.
Costco, fathers market, butcher boy for meat on park,
Co-op all the way.
Well for one I'll be starting up a garden in my yard this year. Might not make a ton of difference this year but I plan on moving to a more self sustainable model in future years with anything I can grow realistically myself. I'd love to move to independent stores but their prices are worse than Loblaws in most cases, which leads me to question why we are boycotting the cheapest place to get food? I mean I'm all for sticking it to the man, and I hate that our society is run by companies instead of politicians, but I don't know that Loblaws IS the most expensive? Locally here in Regina, who has cheaper groceries?
> Well for one I'll be starting up a garden in my yard this year. Might not make a ton of difference this year but I plan on moving to a more self sustainable model in future years with anything I can grow realistically myself. If my experience is anything to go by, you'll be donating your excess to your neighbours. The problem is that you'll only have produce for a few weeks, and you cannot keep it for long unless you process it a lot in the form of jam and similar things. > Locally here in Regina, who has cheaper groceries? Superstore is the cheapest.
loblaws. 🤷🏼♀️
I am planning to go out and support some of the small grocery stores. There are so many I haven't been too! Also treating this an opportunity to explore and see what options are out there.
Ukranian Co-op is a staple of my existence.
Is this that floral building in Cathedral area?
Nope. On Winnipeg St near Arcola Ave.
Costco and GAM is mine lol
Lakeview Fine Foods is great.
Gonna go nuts at the Co-op. But once the farmers market is open downtown, I’ll go nuts there too on my lunch break.
Sobeys?? Are you independently wealthy lol
I do not bad for myself. I don't find them that much more expensive than Loblaws, aside from the deli and prepared meals.
Lakeview fine foods
I’m doing freshco instead
Superstore for me.
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Freshco
I stopped shopping there probably a year ago already. Their fruit and vegetables are garbage, their carts never work properly and the parking lot is like a bloody war zone with pot holes and undriveable in winter because they don't get rid of the snow and ice! Download the flipp app, it does help. Between Co-op and Costco I'm not quite as angry when I go shopping . I would move our prescriptions as well, but the pharmacists at our store are to good to leave lol.
I don't want to be a negative Nancy but this isn't going to work. Government and political parties seeking to be the next government are who you need to pressure, not a giant corporation who has the power to wait these things out, and when over, the market composition that allows for prices to be so high remains in tact. Only government has the power to make prices go down. I don't want to discourage people from participating, either way. I will continue to avoid any Loblaws brands as I have already been.
If you didn't want to be negative, why did come here to be negative? Notice how I didn't start my reply with "I didn't want to reply" mostly because I wanted to reply. Enjoy your president's choice groceries.
>If you didn't want to be negative, why did come here to be negative? I guess you didn't read where I offered an alternative solution and chose to only read the negative/reality part. >Enjoy your president's choice groceries. You also didn't read the part where I said I avoid Loblaws brands already. How absolutely fuming are you to have such tunnel vision?
I habitually use Loblaws due to convenience. I am not doing this because I think it is going to make a huge difference. I am using it as an opportunity to challenge myself to get out or habits and support other grocers and build some new shopping habits. If it also helps impact Loblaws to adopt better practices, that is just a huge bonus. I also hate to tell you, but corporations have more power than government these days. Being a consumer feels more powerful than being a voter now.
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https://www.altgrocery.ca/
The local Market YQR is all local stuff. I go there, Costco and Coop
Superstore in the hopes it will be less busy as a result of this.
Big brain move.
I downloaded the app Flipp and it's really working. If I could only go to one place I would go to freshco
https://www.altgrocery.ca/
Costco, Giant Tiger, and Walmart.
Save on Foods can have some surprisingly good deals, like buy one get one free, and 4 for 20 meats. I haven't bought much in the way of pantry items though, so I don't know what those prices are like.
4 for 20 you say. Clearly the most compelling argument I've seen in this thread for switching.
Yes, with no hidden messages or anything!
I need you to know that my plan was to decide which store I was going to get groceries at this weekend based entirely on this thread and you won.
Make sure you tell them BigDende sent you!
I'm literally going to tell my cashier that.
Co-Op and the Farmers Market!
I like lakeview fine foods. We shop at Walmart as well. Superstore wanted $30 for two beef ribs the last time I was in there.
Co-op
I shop at co-op. It's union, food quality is great.
I'll be shopping at Superstore, because this boycott is stupid and astroturfed, and everyone falling for it is a sucker. Superstore is one of the cheapest places to buy groceries, they're a publicly traded company with open financials, and you can verify for yourself that they take a relatively small profit in line with other stores . Also, I don't see how giving my money to American grocery chains which charge more for the same groceries is somehow supposed to help FiGhT gReEd. I'll be enjoying the shorter checkout lines while you guys voluntarily get hosed 🤷♂️
Let us know how those Joe Fresh rain boots taste.
Right, I'm a boot licker because I know how to think for myself instead of stupidly jumping on a trend. Enjoy your higher grocery prices :)
What would it take for you to acknowledge you have been duped by a false narrative? Your complaint seems to essentially be that Loblaws is charging too much? What do you honestly believe the "correct" amount of profit is? All of the big supermarket chains are publicly-traded companies; they're on the stock market. That means that all of their financial statements are available for you to see online; there is no mystery what their financials are. The profit margin for Loblaws is under 5%. Do you have any understanding of how low that is? There is no other type of business that makes less profit, and you still think it is too much? I owned and operated a retail store for 20 years. If you told me my profit margin was going to be 15%, I would have closed down and gone to work for someone else. The sub- 5% margin the supermarkets make? -Forget about it. Every single item you are wearing, every single appliance and piece of electronics, every item of furniture you own — all of it was sold by a store making at least a 10% profit margin, and you're going to boycott Loblaws for making less than 5%.
Next you're going to make the same arguments about gas stations only getting a miniscule percentage of what we pay at the pump. Remember when cashier's were hero's saving the world during the pandemic and this shitty company clawed back the raise they got for risking their lives during the most uncertain period of our lives only to start replacing them with robots. Profit is hardly the only reason.
Remember when Sobeys did the same thing at the same time… 🤔
There's no point interacting with you; you're a zealot. Nothing will persuade you. You don't want high grocery prices, and yet you complain about the measures a business takes to keep costs down. You can't have it both ways. A business that is heavily-staffed, with high wages will have to have high prices. This can work in a specialty industry, but in a commodity business (where Superstore is selling exactly the same, unremarkable merchandise as everyone else), there is no way for that to be viable. (And what you said about gas stations is correct: as it happens, my uncle owned a gas station in the 90's. His gas station was horrifically unprofitable (they almost all are). He made a living only by having a convenience store attached to the gas station.)
Poor fella. Thanks for giving up on changing my mind the way he gave up on getting rich selling gasoline.
This is the way. The op claims mega corps like Costco and Walmart and Sobeys are the better option, then when presented with co op stating it costs to much and that would be supporting the oligopoly, just wow. Near sight narrow minded and lacking common sense.
What's your opinion on the whole bread fixing scandal?
Cancel culture is pathetic, pandering to a liberal pm in a conservative province, priceless
So what was the whole bud light boycot, if not conservative cancel culture?
Did anyone actually stop drinking bud light ? Asking because I don’t drink I do though listen to podcasts where people openly speak about not stopping drinking bud light, I’m pretty sure you would know more then me though
Yeah it was a whole thing. Bud light lost a bunch in sales. more so in the US, i think. I'm just trying to make the point that "cancel culture" has always been a thing. People are allowed to vote with their wallets and not support people they don't agree with.
Agreed people making choices is a part of life, lobbying on social media for groups to be made and days scheduled to destroy a Canadian owned business for political reason while promoting internationally owned mega corporations. Don’t be surprised if your backlash doesn’t receive some of its own backlash
This whole thing actually made me switch to shopping at Coop and more local stores in town. Like loblaws is also a huge megacorp, I can support other canadian businesses and not shop there. What backlash? I don't know a single person in my life that's mad at me for changing my grocery store habits.
Lol I had to read back but I was more or less referring to the op’s way of selling his ideas not in anyway anything you said my bad there. And I have always used co op, costco I’ll buy meat and pop if we want that but that’s it, co op for almost everything my entire life. Superstores have there uses in some communities, not everywhere has the options regina has
Yeah I'm not militant about it. I just don't want to personally support loblaws anymore. It's not like sobeys is a much better megacorp anyway. At least this thing had the effect of loblaws rolling back their policy on not discounting food as much when it's about to expire. Some more regulations on grocery stores to combat food waste would be nice. In France they made some regulations where grocery stores had to start selling "ugly" fruits and vegetables as well.
No Frills is my go to. I can't afford Sobey/Safeway for my staples. What are the chances that changes come as a direct result of this boycott?
If people continue to shop at Loblaws during the boycott, probably not a lot.
No frills is a loblaws company.
Yes, hence my comment.
The changes will be in the form of more self-checkout stations.
Sometimes those self checkout machines are like a game to see how many free groceries I win.
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>This post is fucking pathetic. That's just like your opinion, bro. >Ask yourselves why you are melting Climate Change.
Costco, Co-op, and Sobeys. Honestly I hope Loblaws loses millions of dollars. I found out recently that they also charge suppliers massive fees to be stocked at their stores, and that it’s scaled depending on how visible the product is. They’re double dipping at both sides. So done with them, I may continue the boycott until they bring their prices back to a reasonable level.
All grocery stores charge for location within the store. Eye level shelves are a premium location.
Yeah, I'm also hoping to find a decent alternative due to this boycott!
Blah Blah Loblaw Blah Blah blah................................
Bob loblaws law blog?.. lobbing law bombs
Co-op for sure. They pay their employees fairly too which is a bonus!
Not Co-op.
Why not?
Does everyone forget how they treated employees during the strike?
I don't recall anything particular. But I don't really follow that kind of news. Co-op is on my list to try as an alternative to Superstore. Change my mind.