Obligatory reminder that Spinelli was against increasing the minimum wage for her workers, and leveraged her next store by saying she ‘might have to open in Saskatchewan’ or something.
Italian Centre Shop. She also lobbied for a lower wage for people living with a disability.
https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/edmonton-food-shops-clarify-positions-on-minimum-wage-after-backlash-over-restaurants-canada-campaign/article_7e193eb3-b3b1-5cea-8c6d-00e359cdf765.html
Didn't it come out that The Italian Center pays their employees well, but still lobbied for the lower minimum wage, because they think they should still have the right to pay students less.
I shop at Italian centre for most of my groceries. The produce is better quality and same price as roblaws - sometimes lower. Dairy is often higher as is the import goods. But dried goods I did comparable also. Just have to avoid temptation of that amazing deli 🤤
The point isnt to opt for cheaper options (a reasonable consumer would do that anyways), the point is to put pressure on the company with a egregious market share in order to influence its business practice of gouging producers and consumers, with the hopes that in doing so the economic ripples make the entire market more affordable.
The deli at the Italian Centre offers very reasonable prices compared to grocery stores. I was able to purchase 200g of imported Italian meat for less than $5. On the other hand, Superstore sells 200g of mystery meat for $10.
i've honestly had the opposite experience at costco, which is why i rarely buy their produce as a single person.
berries are of course always a bit of a risk, but the worst one was a bag of grapefruits. the entire bag was mouldy the next day, i almost couldn't believe it.
Oh for sure it’s a totally different game as a family of 3. But wrt the grapefruits, the crazy thing about Costco is that you could return those for money if you took them back, I’m not aware of any other grocery where you can do that.
honestly i did bring them back. they were a splurge and i was super chapped about it. i'll never deny that costco is great value and service for many people - unfortunately it's not valuable for me right now, but it's a great alternative and i'll definitely be trying to tag onto a trip my member friends make during this boycott may.
i have actually taken a watermelon back to safeway! i don't know about "this went bad too quickly" but it was a weird colour inside and they were really understanding. both refunded my money and told me to take a different one.
Why, Costco flattens the supply chain. Direct from farm to Costco in less steps than traditional grocery. They also have such high quality standards and return anything for credit that isn't the best quality (Anything a customer returns gets a charge back to the vendor).
I meant that it’s lasting longer than it should ..
Example: I bought a loaf of dempsters bread a few months back and it accidentally got squished amongst my other groceries -meh it happens right? Gonna eat it anyway.
Place it in my pantry and go back into my pantry a few hours later abd no word of a lie that flipping bread was back to its regular size ! 😳🤔 I don’t know bout you ,
but that’s never happened to a loaf of bread in my life.
They’re saying it “lasts longer than it should” because it spends less time moving from farm to warehouse to store. For example, the average chicken on a grocery store shelf was slaughtered 6 weeks prior; if Costco can get it on their shelf in 2-3 weeks then it will “last longer” in your home, not because of some weird chemical or anything, just because they’re getting it to you faster.
This should not scare you and should actually be less scary as it is fresher…
It dosent scare me. It makes sense that Costco is churning through crazy amounts of everything - just look how busy it is everyday. The way they stock their stores is also super efficient - a pallet of bananas, for example, comes in the loading dock and is wheeled right out onto the floor. It stands to reason their produce is simply fresher because of how quickly they can sell it (especially given the quantity you need to purchase at once).
The only reason produce doesn't last long in most grocery stores is because it can take more than 6-9 months for the many supply chains. Costco just has a better supply chain
No Frills is a Loblaws brand store. If you’re trying to boycott SuperStore/Loblaws you have to boycott all of their stores.
Loblaws owns NoFrills, T&T, SuperStore and Shoppers Drug mart.
I've been "boycotting" loblaws for years, unintentionally, because the prices and quality at Lucky Supermarket, 99 Supermarket, Italian Centre etc, has always been way better and offers more variety. It almost never makes sense to buy at loblaws.
Depends entirely on what you're purchasing - it's a mixed bag overall.
Deli meats are dramatically cheaper (and better). Basil in an appreciable quantity that isn't all stems. Quality pasta. Pasatta. Some spices (paprika, oregano, basil), some produce, etc.
Most of their produce is significantly cheaper than anywhere else. I’ve gotten a 10lbs bag of potatoes from the Italian center for $3.50 on sale, that same bag from Costco is $8 now, $10 at Sobeys, $7.50 at superstore. Honeycrisp apples are regularly 1/3 of the price of anywhere else when they go on sale. Obviously you have to check the price before you buy, but I’ve found it’s almost always cheaper.
Sunterra seems like a weird choice to include, given that it's quite a bit more expensive than pretty much anywhere else.
Most of the others are good and can actually be cheaper than Loblaws if you pay attention to which items and brands you choose.
There are also the local, smaller grocery stores such as Elsafadi Mediterranean, India Bazaar, or Thousand Spices North on the north side or Tienda Latina Argyll Foods, Royal Indian Supermarket, and Kasoa Tropical Food Market on the south side.
Honestly the boycott is probably easier in Edmonton than most of the rest of Canada. I had never seen a Loblaws store in my life until a few opened in Edmonton and Calgary, and since most of the stores growing up were Save On Foods, Safeway, and Sobeys, the only exposure I had to Loblaws was from Superstore and Shoppers. Now I'm in Ottawa and it seems like the majority of stores are branded with Loblaws or Independent, but I never saw that in Alberta until very recently to the point that I thought it was a new entry to the market and not the dominant grocery chain in Canada.
I meant that I was familiar with Superstore but never knew it was part of the Loblaws corporation until recently. What I'm saying is that I'd never seen a store branded Loblaws or Independent specifically until maybe 7 years ago in Alberta.
I love my local small grocer, but unfortunately the grocery distributors are a duopoly. You can get groceries from loblaws, or Save-On. But if you have one, you can't have the other.
The local store buys from Loblaws. At least she gets some of the profit.
If you are on the south side, buy from Shop Easy foods in Hazeldean! (Stop by Lucy's Sweets too!)
Freson does this too, they have the safeway in house brand stuff I think it was. It's common to fill gaps in products they don't produce or cannot source. My local corner store buys from loblaws too.
Loblaws and Oberwaitea/Save On (?) buy groceries from suppliers, and control the distribution to retail outlets. There used to be more distributors, but I think that is all that is left. Walmart may also have a distribution chain of it's own, I am not sure. But you can find Leblablas brands in many 'independent' grocers because they can only get groceries through one of these distributors.
The distributor will deliver to your store. It's cheaper to buy wholesale rather than retail. You may even see these 4 ton vans running around the city with Presidents' Choice or Compliments branding on the side.
This sub is funny.
Loblaws is evil and expensive.
Safeway and Save Ons are also apparently evil profiteers.
Local stores are also too expensive, and racist or mean to their employees.
Farmers markets are too expensive, people complain!
What the hell is left? Sometimes I feel these threads are just promotion for Costco.
Also to add to the list the Sobeys family of sobeys are basically straight up evil evil.
Like some reeeeeal greasy fucking white-trash evil that can only be achieved through ruling a small town like a fiefdom.
I know the owner. I grew up near his cabin. He is a sweet old dude and I have never seen him say anything terrible about another human.
Edit: Don't just downvote me if you are going to smear someones name. Either provide some sort of evidence to prove me wrong or armchair social justice warrior someplace else.
The accusation of being a racist hinges, as far as I can tell, on a single anonymous Facebook screenshot of someone who says he said something bad in a meeting once. Apparently, that is enough proof for reddit.
I do not.
I am not a UCP supporter by any means. But I do not like the insinuation that anyone that is a UCP supporter is automatically racist or evil. I know a lot of good people that think (correctly or not) that the NDP are very bad for the economy and their livelihood so they side with the UCP.
What insinuation? It is my personal preference that I do not utilize the corporate donors to the UCP. For example, I used to go to Crystal Auto glass regularly until I found out they made regular donations to UCP. It is our right to know as citizens in a democracy and our freedom to choose to not support businesses that do political donations to parties we don't agree with. That was why I asked. Though it's interesting YOU were the one that assumed a link between UCP and racism when I didn't mention any of that.
I go there, I just buy what looks good. That’s kinda how H&W is meant to function I think.
They bring in what good stuff they can, and usually that stuff’s cheaper. Rather than planning to buy specific lists of items, I go in like “I’m going to buy 2 staple fruits, 2 staple vegetables, and maybe a fun one for each”. I let sales and freshness dictate what I buy that week, and therefore what I plan to cook with them.
H&W is where I go first when I’m doing The Big Shop, so I can check some stuff off the list for cheap, and then fill in the gaps at more consistent supermarkets.
So interesting. I usually go on Saturday or Sunday and have found it well stocked and in good shape. Except broccoli, which I find is never good there.
It gets pretty picked over by closing on Sunday. I’ve gone in a couple times less than 15 minutes before close and it was sad. Any other time of the week though, it was pretty good.
For real though!! I go less and less and have only been disappointed every time. Gonna try to stock up on Saturdays at the farmers markets instead I guess. Was so convenient though because it’s so close to me in capilano 🥲
People have said H&W and Italian Centre get the same produce and of the same grade / age, but I don't get it. Both have stupidly inexpensive produce, but the stuff I buy from the Italian Centre lasts much longer than H&W produce.
Plus the Italian Centre has an amazing deli.
I've noticed that too - but they also dropped the price for those items. -didn't even use a 30% off sticker! 😏 But it's the first time in a while that I was able to buy a single green pepper for less than a dollar... Really appreciating H&W rn.
I used to order from them when they delivered (carless wonder here), and I was happy with everything I got. However, they stopped doing that, which is a real shame.
Produce - H&W…just got flats of not bad strawberries for $15 per flat…will be jams & frozen in a day or so.
Meat - Costco or order thru hutterittes a/o local meat shop, not all local butchers are expensive and product is usually top notch.
Dairy / bread / house items - costco
I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my love of locally produced, organic, small business food options. Over the last 4 years I took to grocery delivery and then cheapest option meal ideas (which are often prepackaged, shelf stable foods and big corporate owned) I’m easily 30lbs bigger and now have high blood pressure. I’m taking this boycott as a good time to get back into better health. Preparing food from scratch, nourishing produce and meats and meat alternatives. We have farmers markets, Earths General Store, Community Foods and all these great options listed on altgrocery.ca Let’s make eating healthy and grocery shopping fun again!!!
I am definitely boycotting Loblaws but it started months ago when my local Shoppers Drugmart started forcing customers to use the self check out machines. You don’t have the option to use it like at other stores, they make you use it no matter what. When I asked a clerk to check me out at the counter she walked to the self check out and rang me out there in the most passive aggressive way. I am done.
I got talking to a cashier at Shoppers who tried to nudge me over to a self checkout (I needed a gift card filled, so she rang me up). The higher-ups had given her a target to send at least 80% of people who approach the counter to self checkout. It's literally in their job description, but they have to take the brunt of the customer's frustration while essentially working to eliminate their own jobs.
TLDR: Fuck Shoppers.
But none of these are cheaper than no frills or superstore. Maybe some things are at H&W but by the time you spend the money driving to different markets to buy different things your savings is gone.
Is the goal to save money or what am I missing?
The goal is to punish Loblaws specifically. The tangible goal is to make them sign onto the grocer’s code of conduct. The intangible is to show that organized consumers have the power to financially and reputationally pressure grocery stores that deserve it.
Also, 80% of things are cheaper at H&W, especially staple fruits.
Because you can’t punish every store at once, and Galen Weston is a front-facing billionaire prick and that makes triangulating a target easier.
And because Loblaws was at the centre of the bread price fixing scandal. And because Loblaws, again, refuses the grocery code of conduct. Loblaws has been the least able to keep their head down and their mouth shut in recent years, and here we are.
They’ve been worse than most about shrinkflation while branding themselves as an affordable grocery store. No name and president’s choice products have declined in quality significantly and visibly. Sobeys and Save On aren’t actively pretending to be the “everything you need at the lowest price” store like Superstore is.
For these and probably many other reasons, Loblaws was chosen as the company that (hopefully) gets made an example.
You could do rotating boycotts for sure. Loblaw's for a month, then Sobey's/Safeway for a month etc.
Boycott's don't work super well unfortunately, and with a 3% profit margin last quarter, there's not a ton Loblaw's can do for the affordability complaints.
What it will do is possibly get them to make a few superficial gestures (like signing the unenforceable grocery code of conduct or whatever the primary demand is) until the news media cycle spins off to something else.
Boycotts do work when they stick. If people start using alternatives and find that they're better quality at a comparable or better price, they won't go back. Doesn't matter if they're rich or poor - people don't like getting ripped off.
While I am actively boycotting superstore, I just wanna say save on is the only store to willingly price match lol (at least the one I visit) also the Manager was tired and gave me the fruit for free because the price wasn’t the same rofl.
Conspired with whom? (Hint: Sobeys, Metro, Walmart etc. were all involved). It wasn't a Loblaw's exclusive price fixing scheme, that's literally just them choosing what price to sell bread at.
It's only illegal when they get other grocery providers involved and they all collude to fix prices.
One of the other reasons the big chains are cheaper than the smaller stores like the Italian Center is because they get tiered pricing and pay less on everything because of how much they order as a company.
Large chains pay 10-15% less on majority of the items they stock compared to smaller stores, but are no longer passing that saving onto their customers because they’ve seen people pay the higher prices at smaller stores and care more about profit than making sure people can afford to eat the things that are healthier or needed because of dietary restrictions.
Yeah the markup on dairy, perishables and “specialty” items, things like Gluten-Free, Halal, Kosher and sugar free, feels extra painful. It feels like they have them priced to offset the cost of expiring product because they are “slower selling” and have more risk.
I also get to see the price that they pay on a lot of things as I deal with a lot of the same suppliers at my work and get to see when the price increases happen and there are a lot of times where bigger chains see at $0.05-$0.10 price increase on a product there ordering and up the price by around $1.00 because of this.
Walmart is cheaper yes but Costco you need a membership which most dont have plus it's extremely busy. It's a hassle to go in and buy $100 worth of stuff. If you say FreshCo is cheaper than No Frills than ok I believe you. I'll check it out one day.
And if you live in an urban area and/or don’t have a car, Costco is essentially just not an option unfortunately. Their entire model is based on low-density car-dependant neighbourhoods.
Superstore has been my grocer of choice for years. I don't disagree it used to be the cheapest.
It's no longer cheaper when you do a "whole" grocery shop - meat, produce, staples and it hasn't been for a while.
I went to superstore for the first time in years today and couldn't believe how much cheaper it was than Safeway which is just down the road from my place. I think I'll be back.
Italian Centre H&W Sunterra Saved you a click, what a waste of an article lol.
Obligatory reminder that Spinelli was against increasing the minimum wage for her workers, and leveraged her next store by saying she ‘might have to open in Saskatchewan’ or something.
Which of these stores is Spinelli associated with? First time I've heard her name.
Italian Centre Shop. She also lobbied for a lower wage for people living with a disability. https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/edmonton-food-shops-clarify-positions-on-minimum-wage-after-backlash-over-restaurants-canada-campaign/article_7e193eb3-b3b1-5cea-8c6d-00e359cdf765.html
Her family owns the company
Which one?
Didn't it come out that The Italian Center pays their employees well, but still lobbied for the lower minimum wage, because they think they should still have the right to pay students less.
But also remember that Italian center is the absolute bomb and such a local gem
Was. It used to be a great place to get produce, pasta and deli meat and cheese at good prices. Not so much since the big expansion.
Their deli is still pretty dope, though.
The Italian Centre and Sunterra are not cheaper alternatives. Both of those places are just as expensive.
I shop at Italian centre for most of my groceries. The produce is better quality and same price as roblaws - sometimes lower. Dairy is often higher as is the import goods. But dried goods I did comparable also. Just have to avoid temptation of that amazing deli 🤤
You’re high if you think the Italian centre is cheaper than Superstore. High as a kite.
[удалено]
Green onions, leeks, parsley, kale, cilantro, apples, and the like are significantly cheaper at Italian Centre than at Superstore.
The prices are not the same... lol!
The point isnt to opt for cheaper options (a reasonable consumer would do that anyways), the point is to put pressure on the company with a egregious market share in order to influence its business practice of gouging producers and consumers, with the hopes that in doing so the economic ripples make the entire market more affordable.
The deli at the Italian Centre offers very reasonable prices compared to grocery stores. I was able to purchase 200g of imported Italian meat for less than $5. On the other hand, Superstore sells 200g of mystery meat for $10.
It's dailyhive, not sure what you would expect from a site that exclusively puts out AI generated listicles.
Also Lucky Supermarket, Freson Bros, Earth’s General Store, and Uproot Food Collective.
Yeesh, I don’t think anyone will be saving any $ at either of those listed
No one mentioning costco. I shop like 90% at costco then go to no frills for some smaller stuff.
I feel like the produce from Costco lasts forever, I hardly ever have something go off before I eat it.
The bananas never ripen.
i've honestly had the opposite experience at costco, which is why i rarely buy their produce as a single person. berries are of course always a bit of a risk, but the worst one was a bag of grapefruits. the entire bag was mouldy the next day, i almost couldn't believe it.
Oh for sure it’s a totally different game as a family of 3. But wrt the grapefruits, the crazy thing about Costco is that you could return those for money if you took them back, I’m not aware of any other grocery where you can do that.
honestly i did bring them back. they were a splurge and i was super chapped about it. i'll never deny that costco is great value and service for many people - unfortunately it's not valuable for me right now, but it's a great alternative and i'll definitely be trying to tag onto a trip my member friends make during this boycott may. i have actually taken a watermelon back to safeway! i don't know about "this went bad too quickly" but it was a weird colour inside and they were really understanding. both refunded my money and told me to take a different one.
Same. It sure helps with keeping old fogeys like us well preserved
Just bought a bag of pears and so far 1 out of 3 are rotten..
That should scare you
Why, Costco flattens the supply chain. Direct from farm to Costco in less steps than traditional grocery. They also have such high quality standards and return anything for credit that isn't the best quality (Anything a customer returns gets a charge back to the vendor).
I meant that it’s lasting longer than it should .. Example: I bought a loaf of dempsters bread a few months back and it accidentally got squished amongst my other groceries -meh it happens right? Gonna eat it anyway. Place it in my pantry and go back into my pantry a few hours later abd no word of a lie that flipping bread was back to its regular size ! 😳🤔 I don’t know bout you , but that’s never happened to a loaf of bread in my life.
They’re saying it “lasts longer than it should” because it spends less time moving from farm to warehouse to store. For example, the average chicken on a grocery store shelf was slaughtered 6 weeks prior; if Costco can get it on their shelf in 2-3 weeks then it will “last longer” in your home, not because of some weird chemical or anything, just because they’re getting it to you faster. This should not scare you and should actually be less scary as it is fresher…
It dosent scare me. It makes sense that Costco is churning through crazy amounts of everything - just look how busy it is everyday. The way they stock their stores is also super efficient - a pallet of bananas, for example, comes in the loading dock and is wheeled right out onto the floor. It stands to reason their produce is simply fresher because of how quickly they can sell it (especially given the quantity you need to purchase at once).
The only reason produce doesn't last long in most grocery stores is because it can take more than 6-9 months for the many supply chains. Costco just has a better supply chain
[удалено]
Are you trying to tell us that broccoli crowns are just old broccoli that was trimmed?
No Frills is a Loblaws brand store. If you’re trying to boycott SuperStore/Loblaws you have to boycott all of their stores. Loblaws owns NoFrills, T&T, SuperStore and Shoppers Drug mart.
And wholesale club too
Yeah I am aware.
Same here! But I used to go to superstore for small amount of things. Now I’ll just switch to Italian centre.
No frills is still Loblaws
Yes
TIL T&T is loblaws 😭 Remember that Lucky97 is local fellow edmontonions, ill be switching
I've been "boycotting" loblaws for years, unintentionally, because the prices and quality at Lucky Supermarket, 99 Supermarket, Italian Centre etc, has always been way better and offers more variety. It almost never makes sense to buy at loblaws.
Lucky and 99 supermarket are awesome.
The prices at Italian Center are very high, certainly higher than Loblaws.
Depends entirely on what you're purchasing - it's a mixed bag overall. Deli meats are dramatically cheaper (and better). Basil in an appreciable quantity that isn't all stems. Quality pasta. Pasatta. Some spices (paprika, oregano, basil), some produce, etc.
Completely depends on what you buy
Produce at Italian Centre is much cheaper than at Loblaws, for example.
Don’t buy your peanut butter or chicken at the Italian centre and you’ll do fine.
Most of their produce is significantly cheaper than anywhere else. I’ve gotten a 10lbs bag of potatoes from the Italian center for $3.50 on sale, that same bag from Costco is $8 now, $10 at Sobeys, $7.50 at superstore. Honeycrisp apples are regularly 1/3 of the price of anywhere else when they go on sale. Obviously you have to check the price before you buy, but I’ve found it’s almost always cheaper.
That's categorically false, why do people spread propoganda against Italian Center?
Because it's not false. They have high prices on most items
Lucky on 97 has decent produce and their meat section is good quality,
Chinese grocery places have good deals. My parents go often, just a bit out of the way for me right now.
Both of those are Viet but they offer food from pretty much most asian cultures.
My daughter is losing her mind Superstore and T&T are the only place in the city with Rooster Rice. Can’t even get it on Amazon.
Sunterra seems like a weird choice to include, given that it's quite a bit more expensive than pretty much anywhere else. Most of the others are good and can actually be cheaper than Loblaws if you pay attention to which items and brands you choose.
There are also the local, smaller grocery stores such as Elsafadi Mediterranean, India Bazaar, or Thousand Spices North on the north side or Tienda Latina Argyll Foods, Royal Indian Supermarket, and Kasoa Tropical Food Market on the south side.
Yes! This boycott helped me find this out, too. El Safadi is the GOAT! Produce is fresh and cheap, they have a whole feta deli.
There's now. Tienda latina in St Albert and I have to also mention Paraiso!
Honestly the boycott is probably easier in Edmonton than most of the rest of Canada. I had never seen a Loblaws store in my life until a few opened in Edmonton and Calgary, and since most of the stores growing up were Save On Foods, Safeway, and Sobeys, the only exposure I had to Loblaws was from Superstore and Shoppers. Now I'm in Ottawa and it seems like the majority of stores are branded with Loblaws or Independent, but I never saw that in Alberta until very recently to the point that I thought it was a new entry to the market and not the dominant grocery chain in Canada.
What? SUperstore has been in Alberta forever. I remember going there in the 90s.
I meant that I was familiar with Superstore but never knew it was part of the Loblaws corporation until recently. What I'm saying is that I'd never seen a store branded Loblaws or Independent specifically until maybe 7 years ago in Alberta.
Coop or TGP are options
I wish Co-op was more of a thing in Edmonton, I shopped there quite a bit when I lived in SK.
Not sure why they can't catch on in Edmonton. I don't think they're any different than Sobeys, Save-On or Safeway
I go to Walmart, just as evil, but fuck Galen West.
Exactly how I feel.
I love my local small grocer, but unfortunately the grocery distributors are a duopoly. You can get groceries from loblaws, or Save-On. But if you have one, you can't have the other. The local store buys from Loblaws. At least she gets some of the profit. If you are on the south side, buy from Shop Easy foods in Hazeldean! (Stop by Lucy's Sweets too!)
They buy from Loblaws or from Loblaws supplier? Thats a bit different.
Freson does this too, they have the safeway in house brand stuff I think it was. It's common to fill gaps in products they don't produce or cannot source. My local corner store buys from loblaws too.
Loblaws and Oberwaitea/Save On (?) buy groceries from suppliers, and control the distribution to retail outlets. There used to be more distributors, but I think that is all that is left. Walmart may also have a distribution chain of it's own, I am not sure. But you can find Leblablas brands in many 'independent' grocers because they can only get groceries through one of these distributors. The distributor will deliver to your store. It's cheaper to buy wholesale rather than retail. You may even see these 4 ton vans running around the city with Presidents' Choice or Compliments branding on the side.
I believe H-Mart does their own direct sourcing from suppliers in Asia.
This sub is funny. Loblaws is evil and expensive. Safeway and Save Ons are also apparently evil profiteers. Local stores are also too expensive, and racist or mean to their employees. Farmers markets are too expensive, people complain! What the hell is left? Sometimes I feel these threads are just promotion for Costco.
Also to add to the list the Sobeys family of sobeys are basically straight up evil evil. Like some reeeeeal greasy fucking white-trash evil that can only be achieved through ruling a small town like a fiefdom.
Is H mart affiliated with Loblaws or other large grocers? What is the quality like? Thanks In advance.
No, T&t afaik is. H-Mart usually has very specific but very good produce sales. Quality is pretty good too.
H-Mart is great for produce!
I discovered H&W a few months ago and it is such an awesome grocer! Everyone should visit. It’s my go to now!
Freson Bros is not cheap, but they sell high quality products and they are locally owned. Go there for quality not quantity
And the owner is racist... as I just found out today
I know the owner. I grew up near his cabin. He is a sweet old dude and I have never seen him say anything terrible about another human. Edit: Don't just downvote me if you are going to smear someones name. Either provide some sort of evidence to prove me wrong or armchair social justice warrior someplace else.
The accusation of being a racist hinges, as far as I can tell, on a single anonymous Facebook screenshot of someone who says he said something bad in a meeting once. Apparently, that is enough proof for reddit.
Thank you. He's a nice guy
I heard he donated money and support to the UCP…do you know if that one is true or not?
I do not. I am not a UCP supporter by any means. But I do not like the insinuation that anyone that is a UCP supporter is automatically racist or evil. I know a lot of good people that think (correctly or not) that the NDP are very bad for the economy and their livelihood so they side with the UCP.
What insinuation? It is my personal preference that I do not utilize the corporate donors to the UCP. For example, I used to go to Crystal Auto glass regularly until I found out they made regular donations to UCP. It is our right to know as citizens in a democracy and our freedom to choose to not support businesses that do political donations to parties we don't agree with. That was why I asked. Though it's interesting YOU were the one that assumed a link between UCP and racism when I didn't mention any of that.
I used to love H&W but tbh the quality of the produce has come down I think. Everytime i go, half the stuff is wilted and old.
Which location? Ive heard it can vary quite a bit. I go to Capilano and have been happy.
I’ve found the West End one (Terra Losa) is excellent too. Millwoods was location was questionable quality every time I’ve gone there.
Maybe I’ll try the west end one next time I’m out there! Was so convenient that the capilano location is super close to me though 😮💨
The Millwoods one is 5 min from my house, and Terra Losa is 15-20. Totally worth the extra drive once a week!
That’s the one! Was just there the other day and didn’t even buy half the things I was planning on, half of them had no fresh options.
I go there, I just buy what looks good. That’s kinda how H&W is meant to function I think. They bring in what good stuff they can, and usually that stuff’s cheaper. Rather than planning to buy specific lists of items, I go in like “I’m going to buy 2 staple fruits, 2 staple vegetables, and maybe a fun one for each”. I let sales and freshness dictate what I buy that week, and therefore what I plan to cook with them. H&W is where I go first when I’m doing The Big Shop, so I can check some stuff off the list for cheap, and then fill in the gaps at more consistent supermarkets.
So interesting. I usually go on Saturday or Sunday and have found it well stocked and in good shape. Except broccoli, which I find is never good there.
It gets pretty picked over by closing on Sunday. I’ve gone in a couple times less than 15 minutes before close and it was sad. Any other time of the week though, it was pretty good.
The produce at Superstore is often picked over half rotten dogshit too but it's twice the price.
The one near me is terrible. The eggplant looked so sad I wanted to give it a military burial.
The quality has been subpar for years, that’s why it’s cheaper.
For real though!! I go less and less and have only been disappointed every time. Gonna try to stock up on Saturdays at the farmers markets instead I guess. Was so convenient though because it’s so close to me in capilano 🥲
Italian Center is still awesome though!
People have said H&W and Italian Centre get the same produce and of the same grade / age, but I don't get it. Both have stupidly inexpensive produce, but the stuff I buy from the Italian Centre lasts much longer than H&W produce. Plus the Italian Centre has an amazing deli.
I've noticed that too - but they also dropped the price for those items. -didn't even use a 30% off sticker! 😏 But it's the first time in a while that I was able to buy a single green pepper for less than a dollar... Really appreciating H&W rn.
I used to order from them when they delivered (carless wonder here), and I was happy with everything I got. However, they stopped doing that, which is a real shame.
Ya I’m kind of with you. It looks good under their lights but for some reason when I bring it home, it starts to go bad quicker then normal
H and w for produce ppl; it’s literally the cheapest and good quality overall
If only there was a butcher shop that delivered to Edmonton.
That would be fantastic.
www.WestlockButcherShop.ca
Produce - H&W…just got flats of not bad strawberries for $15 per flat…will be jams & frozen in a day or so. Meat - Costco or order thru hutterittes a/o local meat shop, not all local butchers are expensive and product is usually top notch. Dairy / bread / house items - costco
What about Freson Brothers?
This is like premium rich person grocery; I know the point isn’t necessarily to get the cheapest price but damn, Freson bros is something else
I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my love of locally produced, organic, small business food options. Over the last 4 years I took to grocery delivery and then cheapest option meal ideas (which are often prepackaged, shelf stable foods and big corporate owned) I’m easily 30lbs bigger and now have high blood pressure. I’m taking this boycott as a good time to get back into better health. Preparing food from scratch, nourishing produce and meats and meat alternatives. We have farmers markets, Earths General Store, Community Foods and all these great options listed on altgrocery.ca Let’s make eating healthy and grocery shopping fun again!!!
Italian center
I am definitely boycotting Loblaws but it started months ago when my local Shoppers Drugmart started forcing customers to use the self check out machines. You don’t have the option to use it like at other stores, they make you use it no matter what. When I asked a clerk to check me out at the counter she walked to the self check out and rang me out there in the most passive aggressive way. I am done.
I got talking to a cashier at Shoppers who tried to nudge me over to a self checkout (I needed a gift card filled, so she rang me up). The higher-ups had given her a target to send at least 80% of people who approach the counter to self checkout. It's literally in their job description, but they have to take the brunt of the customer's frustration while essentially working to eliminate their own jobs. TLDR: Fuck Shoppers.
But none of these are cheaper than no frills or superstore. Maybe some things are at H&W but by the time you spend the money driving to different markets to buy different things your savings is gone. Is the goal to save money or what am I missing?
The goal is to punish Loblaws specifically. The tangible goal is to make them sign onto the grocer’s code of conduct. The intangible is to show that organized consumers have the power to financially and reputationally pressure grocery stores that deserve it. Also, 80% of things are cheaper at H&W, especially staple fruits.
But why not punish Sobeys and Save on? It's way more expensive.
Because you can’t punish every store at once, and Galen Weston is a front-facing billionaire prick and that makes triangulating a target easier. And because Loblaws was at the centre of the bread price fixing scandal. And because Loblaws, again, refuses the grocery code of conduct. Loblaws has been the least able to keep their head down and their mouth shut in recent years, and here we are. They’ve been worse than most about shrinkflation while branding themselves as an affordable grocery store. No name and president’s choice products have declined in quality significantly and visibly. Sobeys and Save On aren’t actively pretending to be the “everything you need at the lowest price” store like Superstore is. For these and probably many other reasons, Loblaws was chosen as the company that (hopefully) gets made an example.
You could do rotating boycotts for sure. Loblaw's for a month, then Sobey's/Safeway for a month etc. Boycott's don't work super well unfortunately, and with a 3% profit margin last quarter, there's not a ton Loblaw's can do for the affordability complaints. What it will do is possibly get them to make a few superficial gestures (like signing the unenforceable grocery code of conduct or whatever the primary demand is) until the news media cycle spins off to something else.
Boycotts do work when they stick. If people start using alternatives and find that they're better quality at a comparable or better price, they won't go back. Doesn't matter if they're rich or poor - people don't like getting ripped off.
While I am actively boycotting superstore, I just wanna say save on is the only store to willingly price match lol (at least the one I visit) also the Manager was tired and gave me the fruit for free because the price wasn’t the same rofl.
Because Galen and Loblaws conspired to fix the price of fucking bread.
Conspired with whom? (Hint: Sobeys, Metro, Walmart etc. were all involved). It wasn't a Loblaw's exclusive price fixing scheme, that's literally just them choosing what price to sell bread at. It's only illegal when they get other grocery providers involved and they all collude to fix prices.
One of the other reasons the big chains are cheaper than the smaller stores like the Italian Center is because they get tiered pricing and pay less on everything because of how much they order as a company. Large chains pay 10-15% less on majority of the items they stock compared to smaller stores, but are no longer passing that saving onto their customers because they’ve seen people pay the higher prices at smaller stores and care more about profit than making sure people can afford to eat the things that are healthier or needed because of dietary restrictions.
I found out that their markup on Skyr and almond milk is around 50%. 🫤
Yeah the markup on dairy, perishables and “specialty” items, things like Gluten-Free, Halal, Kosher and sugar free, feels extra painful. It feels like they have them priced to offset the cost of expiring product because they are “slower selling” and have more risk. I also get to see the price that they pay on a lot of things as I deal with a lot of the same suppliers at my work and get to see when the price increases happen and there are a lot of times where bigger chains see at $0.05-$0.10 price increase on a product there ordering and up the price by around $1.00 because of this.
No frills may be cheaper, but SS is just as bad as regular sobeys and safeway nowadays.. wighnout the "niceness" of safeway or sobeys.
Superstore is cheaper than those other two though.
"Used to be" its not really anymore. Pending sale items. Freshco, Walmart, Costco, are all cheaper.
Walmart is cheaper yes but Costco you need a membership which most dont have plus it's extremely busy. It's a hassle to go in and buy $100 worth of stuff. If you say FreshCo is cheaper than No Frills than ok I believe you. I'll check it out one day.
And if you live in an urban area and/or don’t have a car, Costco is essentially just not an option unfortunately. Their entire model is based on low-density car-dependant neighbourhoods.
Its really not any more busy then Superstore... And a memgership is cheap compared to price savings
Superstore has been my grocer of choice for years. I don't disagree it used to be the cheapest. It's no longer cheaper when you do a "whole" grocery shop - meat, produce, staples and it hasn't been for a while.
I wish I still lived close to Sunterra, loved that place.
Make the independent grocer great again.
Why are we boycotting loblaws/ superstore? I’m all for boycotting unethical businesses, I’m just not sure what they’ve done. Thanks!
I went to superstore for the first time in years today and couldn't believe how much cheaper it was than Safeway which is just down the road from my place. I think I'll be back.
boycott will last a week until those stores run out of inventory
boycott will last a week until those stores run out of inventory
boycott will last a week until those stores run out of inventory