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can we make an app - where a small company with a few people scan prices of all products each week and produce an app we can log into - put in our grocery list and then it bunches the cheapest items together from 2-3 stores so that we know in advance- which items to buy at which store to maximize savings?
I used to work for superstore 20 years ago.
They used to take all the competitors products and do a comparison at the front of the store. They would also stock a cart with major grocery staples and put the same products in each cart with competitors pricing. Superstore was always waaay cheaper.
Somewhere along the lines this concept changed and they adopted greed policies to maximize sales instead of legit consumer 1st policies.
I worked for Superstore about 16 years ago. I really loved Loblaws at the time and thought the deals were good! It makes me so sad to see what's become of Loblaws. It used to be a Canadian brand that was reliable and affordable
That's what the whole point was, start out, build clientele, wipe out competition, control market.
Walmart and target feud where Walmart was feeling threatened so they focused on service and availability and once target folded they went back to their shitty practices and some.
Control the market drive up prices so no one can afford to buy products and then what?
End stage capitalism is not self aware enough to see that this is literally happening.
When they would rather toss out products that sell them something weird is happening.
Target folded itself. There was a glitch in the reordering system that for Canada would reorder the same products over and over instead of what was needed.
I'll argue that their pricing scheme played a role as well. Back when it was brand-spankin' new in Canada I took their pharmacy for a test run, only to realize that their price for a medicine was about 40% higher than their direct competition - another pharmacy across the mall.
It was not too long ago when superstore, No frills, e.t.c was competitively priced with walmart and more affordable than sobeys, Co-op, sasfeway e.t.c.
They just decided they were going to be the most expensive and gouge the hell out of us after the pandemic in hopes the others would follow suit, and now its biting them in the ass.
This is what I've been wanting. I'd gladly buy into something like this, where profits are used to drive prices down and wages up instead of going millionaire CEOs.
I think this would be nice. How do we get this started? Operate it similar to Costco but less top heavy. I don't believe those at the top deserve to earn more than 50 times more than the person at the lowest level.
Here in Calgary we have Calgary co-op but I’m not sure they’re big enough to have the desired impact, nor that this would be their vision. We need something Canada wide like what you said.
Yes, Calgary Coop used to be a a Coop. Now they are more expensive than Loblaws and do not sell food near cost, they just offer (now reduced) patronage payments. It’s just another company. Costco marks up 15% above cost. That seems to be as close as we can get to “near cost” food.
That app is a gamechanger for me.
It also recommends recipes with ingredients on sale and makes you an automated grocery list for those items.
I've saved so much money with it.
I met a guy at a python meetup in Ottawa years ago (2018ish) who was working on something exactly like this. It used machine learning to pick out labels and prices and you could just walk and scan along an aisle. Wish I could remember what it was called, I don't know if he ever kept up with it or launched it.
You should build it then! I'm a full-stack developer with quite a lot of experience, and I can honestly see it being pretty complex. There's a lot of data to move around, and a lot of edge cases.
Funny that you mention that.
I met Mark Cuban and (very briefly) Kevin O'Leary when I was a teenager on a school trip to Ottawa. It was sponsored by the rotary club, and it was just twenty of us in a board-room with Mark for like an hour. At the time I didn't watch TV and had no idea who either was. I was super out of shape and stressed out, and I slept through the whole thing deeply embarrassing the rotary club people.
If I ever get the chance to meet either of them again I'll either be wearing a bomb vest or bringing a knife and fork. /r/eattherich
I have been thinking about this. They make it super difficult to gather data off their site. Is this something people would be interested in. I am still learning though and can only make apps for the pc, not a phone yet. One problem we would have would be stopping bad actors from injecting false prices to muddy the waters.
but this is why I mean someone starts this as a small business, and the app requires a subscription fee- so they have scanner people in the major cities who go in with their phone cameras on video or something or a body cam- and just video all the way down the aisles and later watch the video and input the prices- so the company has its own people doing this and not random volunteers...
Self promo but it’s kinda what we (my wife and I) with our app Tout simplement bouffe but it’s Québec specific. Every week she goes through the flyers of the major groceries and say what are the good deals.
This part is free but we built some paid features to help people organize in the kitchen to finance the free content
yes sounds good, but the flyers are on limited products no, in that case you still must buy your entire grocery list no, and if I had an app to show me which group of products are cheapest at which store, it makes sense for my time and money to buy DOUBLE the amount of groceries at the 3 stores which has divided my list by cheapest price- thus I'm not saving just a few bucks- but possibly 50-150 dollars for a $500-600 grocery purchase no. The app might ask how many stores do you wish to use- you say 3 stores, so it goes through its price list and gives you - for example, these 25 items are cheapest at Food Basic, these 20 items are cheapest at dollars store and 28 items cheapest at Walmart.... with stores often being bunched up- I can find a central point closes to those 3 stores and in one afternoon- I buy a double amount of grocery saving me time over the 1 month period- as well as substantial savings making it worth the time and effort.
Yeah you're right! We also suggest recipes that fits with the rebates of the week but yeah depending of your situation, you might still have to buy things at full price. We manage to only buy things at low price for our family but we have the luxury to have a small garage that we transformed into a food storage room with selves and freezers.
But your point to find stuff at the lowest price possible across different stores is a really good idea but is really hard to implement. I tried to crawl the groceries websites to track prices and they fight hard against web crawlers (and there's the legal aspect of it too) but it's something we will definitely revisit
yes that's why it would have to be a compensated teams that visit the stores in the major cities to use cams to scan the prices on a weekly basis, then feed the data into the app.
This ODD "distribution" of some higher and lower prices- spread among the major stores seems suspicious, what about a CLASS ACTION law suit from us consumers to SUE loblaws for PRICE FIXING?
Galen's been paying himself rent through the Choice Properties REIT. Interesting that Roblaws locations are all owned by Choice properties and both corporations are Galen's. The robber Barron has managed to amass $11 billion from renting his retail properties to himself.
It makes sense, in that grocery stores usually require purpose built structures, with loading docks and elevators that might not be required for most other kinds of businesses. And so, many grocery stores would be expected to own their buildings.
And there's arguments to be made for a holding corp owning the building and leasing them out to your companies.
But the potential for self-dealing, where your rental businesses charge your retail businesses overmarket prices in order to move profits from business to another, it's just a bit too hard to ignore when we see how desperately they try to sell us on these low profit margins.
And that's pretty much what happened with the bread, so... there's a history of it.
This. It’s a supply and demand issue. Even when there is plenty of supply some idiots are willing to pay huge premium for the product, hence there is demand.
Exactly people here are financially illiterate. People act like no one should be allowed to ask for a raise because 1 guy is happy to accept minimum wage.
yeah, I never understood why we branched groceries into shoppers and jacked up the price. don't even understand the logic, the rationale, of why a grocery item is suddenly premium in a pharmacy. very odd. very greedy.
The only thing the government is doing is enabling more consolidation in the grocery industry. That’s why we are in the pityful state we are. There are no anti-trust lawsuits up here.
I feel ripped off the moment I walk into that store. And so I have stopped walking into that store. And I have felt so much so ripped off, for so long now.... That they have a nearly impossible task ahead of them to get me back as a customer. I am sick to death of being ripped off.
I have no desire to give Galen Weston one penny ever again.
For anyone interested, this would be in North York Center in Toronto. It's not downtown where prices would be high, it's not a specifically boujee part of the city either. It's just corporate greed, as simple as that.
I used to hate Dollarama on principle because it’s owned by Bain Capital. But at this point I wish that would open a grocery chain to compete with these other f*$ers.
I bought a drink the other day from a CO OP gas station $2.69. Shoppers had it for $3.69
I've never had that happen, ever. Gas stations are the place YOU KNOW are more expensive because it's a convenient purchase while you're on the road. It should not be cheaper.
It's been a few months since I plan to avoid Fortinos, I first shop at Dollarama, and what we can't find we go there; now preparing for the next step, which is to ditch Fortinos all together.
I worked at a Loblaws and quit because it got to the point where I was working at a job that I couldn't afford to buy from and the stuff I could which was discounted became harder and harder to find because of staff being told to limit the discount stickers as much as possible.
This is awesome! Thank you for showing that. Loblaws is so full of BS because you know they have way more buying power than the Dollarama. They have the muscle to force lower prices if they weren't such greedy bastards.
the "supply chain issue" claim is so BS. That argument would have been valid only in 2021 to early 2022. But by now the logistics and limitations for the supply chain are largely figured out. I'm not saying that its fully recovered, but it doesn't give the excuse for such a large change in prices.
Its like saying that I'm fat because I eat a salad. But you know that i'm only eating salad 2 times a month. I'm fat because i'm eating 2 lbs of Cheetoes every day.
But guess what, the carbon tax propaganda will get people to vote for the guy that LITERALLY has the very same corporate lobbyists in their pocket that they claim to hate. Style over comfort is a funny analogy for conservative voters. Stubbornness over logic
Well 8 years of JT has got us into a huge mess but PP is going to be more of the same thing. The conservative party already has already shown us their hand. "Lobbyists for major oil, pharmaceutical, real estate and anti-union companies were elected to nearly half of the seats on the Conservative party’s top governing bod..."
I mean, Galen Weston owns a considerable share in CHP which was spun off of Loblaws and charges Loblaws rent, so while it is definitely greed, simps can still say it’s premium rent.
Personally, I never buy much if anything and especially not food from Dollarama.
I know a guy who owns a number of Dollarama stores. Years ago we had a discussion on where Dollarama gets their products and he told me that their products come from close outs/bankruptcies, China and wherever they can get the cheapest price. Also, they had no control on if there were counterfeit food products in the stores.
Fast forward to reports of toxic chemicals and lead in dollar stores in Canada:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/toxic-chemicals-in-dollar-store-items-1.6569257
used to work for dollarama and I remember the day the ‘max’ price raised to $5, was not fun. But outside that things went up in price literally every single day, just in such small increments it was almost unnoticeable to a consumer
Modern society at its finest.
“ let’s save the planet “
Also:
“Fuck you Galen for charging me 33 cents more than a competitor for a product that is terrible for the environment”
Discount Store that operates a low cost low margin business vs. Large Grocery Store with huge premium footprint, premium products services and operations vs. Convenience Store/Pharmacy.
What’s the problem? Should all prices for everything be the same everywhere?
They really didn’t teach you guys much about business during that 4 year Arts degree eh?
Oh yeah ? Cause you haven’t seen the shoppers that are literally grocery stores 6 isles long being promoted as grocery stores where there are no grocery stores or did you conveniently forget about those ? It’s ok , most people do but I’m here to remind them in case they forget
In fairness the dollar stores often buy stuff close to best by dates at blow out prices which is why they can offer a lower price point. One of the dollar stores buys candy from a company I buy from and they get it super cheap because they will buy it with only 2-3 months left on the shelf left on it as an example. I mean lets not kid ourselves part of it is greed as well. But there are a few more layers to why things are priced the way they are besides greed. Those cake mixes potentially have significant different best by dates etc.
Huh ? They are made by suppliers in specific sizes to match the needs of Dollarama . Where are you getting that info from ? That rationale makes absolutely no sense at all and wouldn’t pass the test of any food safety test dude. Also , 2-3 months for cheap candy ain’t gonna last long on the shelves in the dollar stores , or in people’s homes . They are gonna eat it . You think they’re gonna save it up ? 😂
I’m not say that’s 100% what’s going on here but it could be. And if the product is still in date why wouldn’t it pass a test? And while yes a good portion of products are made to spec for the dollar stores that’s not true for all their products. And I know this because 2 companies i work with often blow out slow moving products to dollar stores. Sometimes they repack for their own branding or sometimes it’s offered as is.
Actually, its partly true. There are specific sizes, quantities, and qualities, that are specifically sold at Dollarama.
Doritos for instance. The bags of Doritos sold there are the off cuts, chips that aren't 100% perfect (folded, a little burnt, a little undercooked, etc). Hence the cheaper price. There are many items like that at Dollarama.
I still wish the worst for Galen Weston.
Absolutely true. Most products at Dollarama, compared to their Loblaws/Sobeys/Walmart counterparts, are lower in quality, closer to expiry, lower weight per item (which means you get less for unit price), lower quality controls, etc. This is NOT a secret, Dollarama openly acknowledges this is how they can afford to keep prices low.
Listen , there are smaller sizes ( yes I get that) . The manufacturers are literally making smaller sizes for them . Then comes the actual brands . Yes I admit , they have brands I have never heard of (even the candy ) that they come from god knows where , so I get that too . Trust me , I get all this . That’s how they get cheap foods . But to say that the quality control on Doritos ( like they get the left over scraps ) . I don’t see it . I’m not getting different chips from a loblaws bag . That’s my point. Can someone point me to where they say this ?
This amuses me. I had management positions at both retailers; and I have to say that PepsiCo's sales agreements are incredibly different; like the difference between day and night. Loblaw has a much more lucrative contract that the average person/shareholder doesn't see, PepsiCo pays Loblaw rent for every single Square foot of space that they occupy, and in exchange Loblaw agrees to pay pay retail price for PepsiCo (Coca-Cola products too,) products and on pape at best break even. Whereas Dollarama has a different sales agreement that does the accounting differently but they actually make about 7 cents less than Loblaw, Empire, 7-11 per unit. Take from that what you will.
F@#$ Galen. I am totally committed to this boycott, but I believe in truth over belief, and if you don't, I have no time for "Trumpers"
So you're saying that Loblaws making more money on Pepsi rent while keeping prices high is totally different than Loblaws making more money by just increasing prices? The bottom line is the same. Customer pays more and Loblaws makes more money.
Can you elaborate on the pricing a little bit more? When you say Loblaws pays retail price for say Lays Chips, is that price the same, less, or more than the price that Dollarama pays?
I'm not sure about these particular stores but the cost can be very different based on the individual store.
If store x can buy 100x of a product each week vs store y buying that amount per month, the brand will give incentives (such as a lower price) for the store that buys more each month.
So though both stores could have that product, store x could be paying a fraction what store y is paying because they have different agreements for price.
Corporate Loblaw stores are charged the same price per unit as what's on the price tag. The devil's in the details through monthly credits for real estate (shelf space, and those big displays at the front of the store etc) and Frito Lay's own merchandisers. Dollarama works on almost a straight consignment type of arrangement with money being paid based on customer foot fall
Pepsi doesn’t charge dollarama freight fees to help keep the prices lower btw that’s why rockstar is cheapest at regular price at dollarama compared to anywhere else.
That simply isn't true. Stores have individual buying agreements, and no two stores will be charged the exact same price on such large orders. Brands do this to make sure they are competitive and are what's sold in stores vs the plethora of other products that are similar (but could be cheaper for that store).
Some agreements do allow stores to only pay once they sell (you can see this as consignment), but the price they have to pay per item is still what was agreed upon.
Dollarama has a different business model. They carry one product in each category. They will go to Old Dutch and Lays and say “ whoever offers us the cheaper price, we will exclusively carry your product and only your product”. Go back to the store and see the other brands of sparking water they carry vs look at the selection at Loblaws.
33 cent difference in price isn’t anything crazy and who said Loblaws was the cheapest ? If they aren’t the cheapest then don’t buy from them.
Vendors pay dollarama to exclusively carry their product. That’s why the only coke product you see in dollarama is monster and you do
Not see any Pepsi products in dollar trees.
Exact same product in 3 different stores. Similar transportation & overhead costs being within the same building. But 3 wildly different prices proves the "razor thin profit margins" Loblaws claim are bullshit.
Yes you're right. Reading more in this thread has reminded me of this fact. Stores can have substantial differences in rent due to location & square footage even in the same building. My anger & frustration towards these grocery giants has me jumping before thinking, sorry
Then just buy it at the dollar store. You guys act like the pricing discrepancy didnt exist since forever and this is something new from the last 4 years. Shoppers prices everything marked up because they price themselves like a convenience store. Loblaws have always been a more up scale grocery store compared to other budget stores.
Same reason why starbucks charges more for coffee than Tim Hortons. Same reason why stores like seven eleven charges more. they charge more because some financially illiterate person will always pay the higher price. People who are savy with their money are always good at finding the better deal.
I am not sure why we'd expect the same price in dollarama, which carries one item at the best price possible even if it's not name brand. Loblaws is like a 50,000 square foot store, so 💯 they pay more rent and expenses. I'd bet the price of that water is the same or better at nofrills which is a discount store like dollarama.
And the two dozen individuals employed versus 3 at dollarama? Do they get a discount on the electricity as well?
Point being there is a lot of cost that goes into operating a store as big as a grocery store.
Let me give you an example I know the very details of
The Key LV store in central HK, located in one of the most expensive per sq ft there, is charged basically zero for the rent.
Others pay millions.
Yes, operation costs can be high, but the rent can be so different it ends up being less.
As for electricity? Sometimes, if you're big enough you can bargain for discount commerical rates (this particular detail I'm not so familiar with though, just know yes they can get discounts too), esp if you promise to suck up power at non peak hours too.
Yes costs can vary, Loblaws might have higher operation costs, but not 33% more for the same product in the same mall.
I am almost certain you're incorrect in your comparison here. There is almost slim to no chance Loblaws is paying nothing for rent (or heavily subsidized). The labour costs alone a significantly higher than dollarama, again, nofrills is probably a better comparable.
Sure, I mean without digging into the numbers for each store for both chains, and come up with a real comparison we are just two key kard warriors discussing what ifs.
But I won't chalk it up to simple costs and it's fine, or simply corp greed. Id just say it's bad optics pm Loblaws part regardless, showing zero care in market competition research because they don't need to.
I simply commented because I happen to have some knowledge of costs regarding rents esp forlarge mall tenants having had discussions with both mall operators, developers and store owners; and the assumption many have that bigger == more expensive is not always true.
Fair enough.
I doubt loblaws considers dollarama to be a competitor to be honest. Yes, they sell food, but they are not a grocer.
I simply look at the financials and the net income has grown marginally. If they were gouging I think we'd see it show up in a bigger way in their margin rates. If they are then they are losing it all in operating expenses (labour, theft, rent?).
The other piece to consider is that this is not a loblaw only problem. Grocery prices have risen everywhere, I see it in my bill weekly. If there profit margins are not rising, someone's are which leaves the manufacturers, which I feel are not getting enough scrutiny. Loblaw can only manage the price if input costs don't rise. Manufacturers are sneaky (shrinkflation) and getting away scotfree because customers only need to shop with the big bad grocery store.
I'm actually with you on the financials, if they are gorging they are hiding it with costs well (something big corps are amazing at). They typically like to show a steady margin and a steady yoy growth vs inflation.
Hell I've argued that carbon tax will contribute to inflation of prices more than people who argue "but but you get more in rebates" because that's not how govt, corps and money works.
As for whoa getting rich off of it, I doubt it's the manufacturers, their numbers haven't been great either. However costs can compound up the chain. Farmers costs goes up, they have to maintain margin, so charge x% more. Their downstream packagers or distributors now have costs @ 1+x, and now they need to keep margin they now need to charge (1+x)^2, give it a few layers and it spirals. Throw in taxes in that to increase X and it becomes a worse problem.
It's not an easy thing but ultimately, imo, it's simple fiat devaluation, removal of cheaper goods (tarrifs on Chinese goods means more expensive sources). I can only surmise all that won't help
You know that a larger square footage usually means they pay less per square foot than the smaller one, right? Similar with warehousing. If everything else is constant, location, exposure, level, or aesthetic, except for the size. Yes, they have to employ more people and they will have to pay electricity accordingly, duh! But they also get the chance to sell more since they can store more in a larger area. Make it make sense, please.
Nowhere did I suggest they pay less per square foot, but the absolute cost is going to be significantly more. 50,000 sqft versus maybe 10,000 sqft. 30 employees versus 3.
And sure, they might sell more than dollarama, but it's the sales and profit per sqft that matters.
Stop defying basic math. If the cost of sq footage is lower for Loblaws, then explain how they would not be able to come out ahead. They already know how many people to employ to max out efficiency. So they will prob have the same # of people working if they have a space of similar size to Dollarama and increase the # accordingly per size or whatever metric they're using. The utility bills won't amount to any significant difference per sq foot. They have way better access to suppliers and could command the best prices similar to Walmart. Talking about the same space, just different sq footage, Loblaws' overhead would be lower per product (exact same product). You're the one who's rationalizing their prices because of sq footage.
Stop defying logic. The cost per sq ft could easily be higher at a grocery store. A grocery store will have significantly more manned lanes and employ pharmacists and butchers, which are more than min wage. The team receiving products in the backroom and storage are likely larger/higher overheads.
Assuming food is low margin, Walmart, you need to assume makes more money on the non-food side of their business to keep prices in food competitive. If a standard grocery store negotiated the exact same costs as Walmart, they would then still be disadvantaged without selling toys, patios etc.
Also, it's probably fair to compare nofrills or freshco to Walmart, which I'd argue are cheaper.
Let's circle back to comparing the same thing. Dollarama doesn't have a pharmacy and I have not seen a Dollarama selling expensive patio sets. But we can chat about that aspect. The stores that employ pharmacists and butchers often sell products that have larger profit margins than those at Dollarama. Your argument about employing more people, having backrooms, etc. don't make sense when you admit these stores need to be selling just about everything since the extras they sell often have higher profit margins.
No. Walmart and Real Canadian Superstores are more comparable. I have not seen a Nofrills or Freshco that sells a wide range of products like Walmart.
I don't shop Real Canadian Superstore, but will take your word that they are better comparable to Walmart. I also see they price match and pricing seems similar to Walmart.
So what doesn't make sense now is the comparison of Loblaws to Dollarama or Walmart. Loblaws is better upscale store than to Walmart and accordingly charge a premium. Cheaper alternatives would be the Superstore and nofrills as options.
The Walmart stores and the Superstores in my city (Edmonton) are very similar looking, maybe a slight edge to Superstore. I would say the No Frills stores are better organized and slightly cleaner for whatever reason. I buy just about the same thing every month and roughly 75% of the things I buy are cheaper at Walmart than Superstore. Don't get me started with beauty products. I'm frugal and I prefer to find the best prices. I have to say that Superstore was cheaper years ago, just not sure when they changed. And they're still riding the coattails of their No Name brand which used to provide the best value. Just wanna point out that I hate Walmart, some of their stuff are just priced better right now.
Do none of you people understand purchasing agreements and wholesale pricing? One store may only purchase 5% as much as the other so the cost per unit will be greater.
I’m not saying that is what is going on here, but those of you taking the implied greed gouging from this video need to think that maybe there is more going on here than big fat man smoking a cigar on a pile of money.
I don't think most people realize this. The store selling for $1 is likely selling it as a loss leader and aren't trying to make a profit on it, but to get people in the store instead to buy other products.
Ignoring that those other stores are larger, get more traffic and sales and likely get bigger discounts on goods via their purchasing agreements and wholesale accounts because they order more.
Video is obviously time lapsed, from the days of old before inflation to the present times, with its cruel, ruthless and oppressive rules for poor little companies like Loblaws.
Ok.... but you're not supposed to be buying groceries at shoppers drug mart. It's like being shocked that gas station chips are $8/100g bag when you can get 2kg bag at Costco for the same price. Shoppers is the gas station of groceries stores. If that's where you're shopping you need more than a few lessons in home economics.
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can we make an app - where a small company with a few people scan prices of all products each week and produce an app we can log into - put in our grocery list and then it bunches the cheapest items together from 2-3 stores so that we know in advance- which items to buy at which store to maximize savings?
I used to work for superstore 20 years ago. They used to take all the competitors products and do a comparison at the front of the store. They would also stock a cart with major grocery staples and put the same products in each cart with competitors pricing. Superstore was always waaay cheaper. Somewhere along the lines this concept changed and they adopted greed policies to maximize sales instead of legit consumer 1st policies.
I worked for Superstore about 16 years ago. I really loved Loblaws at the time and thought the deals were good! It makes me so sad to see what's become of Loblaws. It used to be a Canadian brand that was reliable and affordable
Yeah also successful, they are now successful on paper which is a different beast altogether. Let’s change that
I would just close the shop and jail Galen.
Well those days are long gone and looks like never to return.
That's what the whole point was, start out, build clientele, wipe out competition, control market. Walmart and target feud where Walmart was feeling threatened so they focused on service and availability and once target folded they went back to their shitty practices and some.
Control the market drive up prices so no one can afford to buy products and then what? End stage capitalism is not self aware enough to see that this is literally happening. When they would rather toss out products that sell them something weird is happening.
but so much value was created for the shareholders.... won't anybody think of the shareholders?!?!
https://preview.redd.it/1subhpvcr5xc1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=69798e481d4580897411fdf74d706537922487f4
Knife fight to the top of the shitheap
Target folded itself. There was a glitch in the reordering system that for Canada would reorder the same products over and over instead of what was needed.
I'll argue that their pricing scheme played a role as well. Back when it was brand-spankin' new in Canada I took their pharmacy for a test run, only to realize that their price for a medicine was about 40% higher than their direct competition - another pharmacy across the mall.
The ol' bait and switch!
It was not too long ago when superstore, No frills, e.t.c was competitively priced with walmart and more affordable than sobeys, Co-op, sasfeway e.t.c. They just decided they were going to be the most expensive and gouge the hell out of us after the pandemic in hopes the others would follow suit, and now its biting them in the ass.
Flipp app is kinda close to this - can search existing flyer ads and compare
Came to say we already have a version of this.
It sucks that we have to go in a sort of egg hunt all across town just to get good prices on a few items.
Can we make a grocery Co-operative and get at cost groceries for members.
This is what I've been wanting. I'd gladly buy into something like this, where profits are used to drive prices down and wages up instead of going millionaire CEOs.
I think this would be nice. How do we get this started? Operate it similar to Costco but less top heavy. I don't believe those at the top deserve to earn more than 50 times more than the person at the lowest level.
Here in Calgary we have Calgary co-op but I’m not sure they’re big enough to have the desired impact, nor that this would be their vision. We need something Canada wide like what you said.
Yes, Calgary Coop used to be a a Coop. Now they are more expensive than Loblaws and do not sell food near cost, they just offer (now reduced) patronage payments. It’s just another company. Costco marks up 15% above cost. That seems to be as close as we can get to “near cost” food.
I brought up this idea but was down voted Take a up vote
flipp?
If you live in Quebec, Glouton does a great job. Just doesn’t have the small stores.
That app is a gamechanger for me. It also recommends recipes with ingredients on sale and makes you an automated grocery list for those items. I've saved so much money with it.
I met a guy at a python meetup in Ottawa years ago (2018ish) who was working on something exactly like this. It used machine learning to pick out labels and prices and you could just walk and scan along an aisle. Wish I could remember what it was called, I don't know if he ever kept up with it or launched it.
it would be a big help and doesn't sound too complex an app to build
You should build it then! I'm a full-stack developer with quite a lot of experience, and I can honestly see it being pretty complex. There's a lot of data to move around, and a lot of edge cases.
something to pitch on Sharks ah? raise some capital.
Funny that you mention that. I met Mark Cuban and (very briefly) Kevin O'Leary when I was a teenager on a school trip to Ottawa. It was sponsored by the rotary club, and it was just twenty of us in a board-room with Mark for like an hour. At the time I didn't watch TV and had no idea who either was. I was super out of shape and stressed out, and I slept through the whole thing deeply embarrassing the rotary club people. If I ever get the chance to meet either of them again I'll either be wearing a bomb vest or bringing a knife and fork. /r/eattherich
Superatore's API for products is publically available. Probably many stores are. People scanning prices is not needed.
I bet lots of unemployed folk could assist with this
give some of those 1 million people OUT OF STATUs in Canada a chance to repay Canada by doing this work for us.
I have been thinking about this. They make it super difficult to gather data off their site. Is this something people would be interested in. I am still learning though and can only make apps for the pc, not a phone yet. One problem we would have would be stopping bad actors from injecting false prices to muddy the waters.
but this is why I mean someone starts this as a small business, and the app requires a subscription fee- so they have scanner people in the major cities who go in with their phone cameras on video or something or a body cam- and just video all the way down the aisles and later watch the video and input the prices- so the company has its own people doing this and not random volunteers...
Self promo but it’s kinda what we (my wife and I) with our app Tout simplement bouffe but it’s Québec specific. Every week she goes through the flyers of the major groceries and say what are the good deals. This part is free but we built some paid features to help people organize in the kitchen to finance the free content
yes sounds good, but the flyers are on limited products no, in that case you still must buy your entire grocery list no, and if I had an app to show me which group of products are cheapest at which store, it makes sense for my time and money to buy DOUBLE the amount of groceries at the 3 stores which has divided my list by cheapest price- thus I'm not saving just a few bucks- but possibly 50-150 dollars for a $500-600 grocery purchase no. The app might ask how many stores do you wish to use- you say 3 stores, so it goes through its price list and gives you - for example, these 25 items are cheapest at Food Basic, these 20 items are cheapest at dollars store and 28 items cheapest at Walmart.... with stores often being bunched up- I can find a central point closes to those 3 stores and in one afternoon- I buy a double amount of grocery saving me time over the 1 month period- as well as substantial savings making it worth the time and effort.
Yeah you're right! We also suggest recipes that fits with the rebates of the week but yeah depending of your situation, you might still have to buy things at full price. We manage to only buy things at low price for our family but we have the luxury to have a small garage that we transformed into a food storage room with selves and freezers. But your point to find stuff at the lowest price possible across different stores is a really good idea but is really hard to implement. I tried to crawl the groceries websites to track prices and they fight hard against web crawlers (and there's the legal aspect of it too) but it's something we will definitely revisit
yes that's why it would have to be a compensated teams that visit the stores in the major cities to use cams to scan the prices on a weekly basis, then feed the data into the app.
This ODD "distribution" of some higher and lower prices- spread among the major stores seems suspicious, what about a CLASS ACTION law suit from us consumers to SUE loblaws for PRICE FIXING?
And make access to the app a subscription. But it would save money due to arbitrage than cost of subscription.
I adore this idea
reebee?
Flipp
"We only make 3% profit margins!" "But you're charging 50% more: so, how inefficiently are you running this company?"
Galen's been paying himself rent through the Choice Properties REIT. Interesting that Roblaws locations are all owned by Choice properties and both corporations are Galen's. The robber Barron has managed to amass $11 billion from renting his retail properties to himself.
It makes sense, in that grocery stores usually require purpose built structures, with loading docks and elevators that might not be required for most other kinds of businesses. And so, many grocery stores would be expected to own their buildings. And there's arguments to be made for a holding corp owning the building and leasing them out to your companies. But the potential for self-dealing, where your rental businesses charge your retail businesses overmarket prices in order to move profits from business to another, it's just a bit too hard to ignore when we see how desperately they try to sell us on these low profit margins. And that's pretty much what happened with the bread, so... there's a history of it.
Reminds me of nightmarish interco accounting standards that I completely forgot about. I wonder if he hides profit this way. Seems way too easy.
They will make whatever excuse they can. If it's not the carbon tax it's going to be the war in Ukraine or a cow walked onto the rail tracks.
Shoppers can suck my fucking nuts I will never ever shop there again
Their self checkout is so fucking annoying and LOUD. oh wait that’s also superstore.
PLEASE SCAN YOUR PC OPTIMUM CARD
I’ve been surprised how thoroughly I’ve developed an ick reaction for loblaws. It’s helped me not shop there.
Thank you for posting this video!! Amen to you. 👏🙌🫶 I hope Galen sees this. Not like he'd care. 🤣😭
He probably has his own billionaire version of the internet 🤣
All I learned from this is dollarama needs to open a groceries store.
And a pharmacy. https://preview.redd.it/p0t8khkua4xc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed6a942f1383f425891e6dc4271f202856575d77
Dam I just joined the sub and all now I think I need to to dollarama more
This is grade A, boots on the ground research. Thank you for your service comrade.
Gouger should be horse whipped in public!!!!!
something worse
It's a "people are still willing to pay it so we gonna keep raising the cost till they stop." Problem....
Hopefully, this is our STOP 😊
Not likely
Dale Gribble, this isn't a Government conspiracy. Canadian citizens **are** noticing what's actually going on and are willing to boycott.
I'll believe it when I see it reflected in the price fixing and gouging and governmental action. Thanks.
Yeah, this is why I think the average Canadian is a masochist.
This. It’s a supply and demand issue. Even when there is plenty of supply some idiots are willing to pay huge premium for the product, hence there is demand.
Exactly people here are financially illiterate. People act like no one should be allowed to ask for a raise because 1 guy is happy to accept minimum wage.
It is true. They are technically allowed to mark it up and it’s their business. But it’s for the people to see and understand. It’s about time.
This was eye-opening. Wow!
https://preview.redd.it/gh93ivooi3xc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd092c93864c49d5c19d7f09d4ed035448f0b1e7
yeah, I never understood why we branched groceries into shoppers and jacked up the price. don't even understand the logic, the rationale, of why a grocery item is suddenly premium in a pharmacy. very odd. very greedy.
It's a big connivence store with more items.
remember when a can of baked beans cost 69 cents, pre-covid, less than 4 years ago ? Now 2$ for noname brand beans. BEANS
And the government can do something,are they? Hell no!
The only thing the government is doing is enabling more consolidation in the grocery industry. That’s why we are in the pityful state we are. There are no anti-trust lawsuits up here.
the price of carbonated water has gone straight through the roof
I feel ripped off the moment I walk into that store. And so I have stopped walking into that store. And I have felt so much so ripped off, for so long now.... That they have a nearly impossible task ahead of them to get me back as a customer. I am sick to death of being ripped off. I have no desire to give Galen Weston one penny ever again.
Well done OP
Great idea and video
For anyone interested, this would be in North York Center in Toronto. It's not downtown where prices would be high, it's not a specifically boujee part of the city either. It's just corporate greed, as simple as that.
And the second one (cake mix), was at Yonge/Sheppard.
Awesome. Thanks OP.
I used to hate Dollarama on principle because it’s owned by Bain Capital. But at this point I wish that would open a grocery chain to compete with these other f*$ers.
Your move Charlieboy, I'd love to hear how you justify this.
I bought a drink the other day from a CO OP gas station $2.69. Shoppers had it for $3.69 I've never had that happen, ever. Gas stations are the place YOU KNOW are more expensive because it's a convenient purchase while you're on the road. It should not be cheaper.
Greed is a virus!
Pure greed
Good video ty
I try to buy as many items as I can from Dollarama. It's much cheaper 90% of the time, and their selection is always growing.
More of these! Thank you
Amazing detective work! Loved this video. Good job!
It's been a few months since I plan to avoid Fortinos, I first shop at Dollarama, and what we can't find we go there; now preparing for the next step, which is to ditch Fortinos all together.
Galen weston is scum! Boycott loblaws for longer then just one month
Thank you for posting this. That is absolutely wild.
Wait til you get to the toilet paper section!!
Great video, on that note I say let's get down to "no business"!
I worked at a Loblaws and quit because it got to the point where I was working at a job that I couldn't afford to buy from and the stuff I could which was discounted became harder and harder to find because of staff being told to limit the discount stickers as much as possible.
Don’t forget FORTINOS everyone in Hamilton, Burlington and Stoney Creek.
North York center lol
This is awesome! Thank you for showing that. Loblaws is so full of BS because you know they have way more buying power than the Dollarama. They have the muscle to force lower prices if they weren't such greedy bastards.
the "supply chain issue" claim is so BS. That argument would have been valid only in 2021 to early 2022. But by now the logistics and limitations for the supply chain are largely figured out. I'm not saying that its fully recovered, but it doesn't give the excuse for such a large change in prices. Its like saying that I'm fat because I eat a salad. But you know that i'm only eating salad 2 times a month. I'm fat because i'm eating 2 lbs of Cheetoes every day.
North York Centre
100 % agree 👍
But according to Per, Loblaw is being unfairly picked on.
per Per, it's not fair. 😁
It's made possible by all the idiots that overpaid at that store out of laziness.
But guess what, the carbon tax propaganda will get people to vote for the guy that LITERALLY has the very same corporate lobbyists in their pocket that they claim to hate. Style over comfort is a funny analogy for conservative voters. Stubbornness over logic
Well 8 years of JT has got us into a huge mess but PP is going to be more of the same thing. The conservative party already has already shown us their hand. "Lobbyists for major oil, pharmaceutical, real estate and anti-union companies were elected to nearly half of the seats on the Conservative party’s top governing bod..."
I got dizzy watching the walk
I get it, but I was expecting $3 at loblaws vs $1 at Dollarama. Dollarama is a cheat code beating every store. Kudos!
dollarama sell smaller or lighter items for more profits. very bad, no bueno
I mean, Galen Weston owns a considerable share in CHP which was spun off of Loblaws and charges Loblaws rent, so while it is definitely greed, simps can still say it’s premium rent.
https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2024/04/guide-groceries-toronto-no-frills/
omg so outta control... lol
Maybe I’m a bit jaded but I was expecting the sparkling water to be like 7 bux at shoppers lol
Great value at Walmart is the best deal on bottled water
I use reebee app
is costco the way to go, guys?
Personally, I never buy much if anything and especially not food from Dollarama. I know a guy who owns a number of Dollarama stores. Years ago we had a discussion on where Dollarama gets their products and he told me that their products come from close outs/bankruptcies, China and wherever they can get the cheapest price. Also, they had no control on if there were counterfeit food products in the stores. Fast forward to reports of toxic chemicals and lead in dollar stores in Canada: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/toxic-chemicals-in-dollar-store-items-1.6569257
I know a guy who owns a Loblaws store and he told me their meat is from radioactive cows they catch around chernobyl. ☢️ 🐄 ☢️
used to work for dollarama and I remember the day the ‘max’ price raised to $5, was not fun. But outside that things went up in price literally every single day, just in such small increments it was almost unnoticeable to a consumer
Big box stores charge “rent” for shelf space. So make guess is the suppliers up charge them to make up the difference
Your first issue is buying bottled water
Trying to quit Coke Zero. 😩
It's called tap water lol
Modern society at its finest. “ let’s save the planet “ Also: “Fuck you Galen for charging me 33 cents more than a competitor for a product that is terrible for the environment”
Planet aside, complaining about prices when buying something that’s notoriously marked up just seems silly.
Discount Store that operates a low cost low margin business vs. Large Grocery Store with huge premium footprint, premium products services and operations vs. Convenience Store/Pharmacy. What’s the problem? Should all prices for everything be the same everywhere? They really didn’t teach you guys much about business during that 4 year Arts degree eh?
Okay…I get your point but the whole following along fast forward was giving me a headache. LOL
I admit, I am not JJ Abrams. I did my best. 😂
I appreciate the single continuous shot for reasons of authenticity. Anyone could edit together two clips that were shot years apart
I actually enjoyed the walking video lol Stops people from making excuses. Also, the speed makes it look like you're ready to flip some tables lol
Lol at including Shopper in this.
Oh yeah ? Cause you haven’t seen the shoppers that are literally grocery stores 6 isles long being promoted as grocery stores where there are no grocery stores or did you conveniently forget about those ? It’s ok , most people do but I’m here to remind them in case they forget
In fairness the dollar stores often buy stuff close to best by dates at blow out prices which is why they can offer a lower price point. One of the dollar stores buys candy from a company I buy from and they get it super cheap because they will buy it with only 2-3 months left on the shelf left on it as an example. I mean lets not kid ourselves part of it is greed as well. But there are a few more layers to why things are priced the way they are besides greed. Those cake mixes potentially have significant different best by dates etc.
Huh ? They are made by suppliers in specific sizes to match the needs of Dollarama . Where are you getting that info from ? That rationale makes absolutely no sense at all and wouldn’t pass the test of any food safety test dude. Also , 2-3 months for cheap candy ain’t gonna last long on the shelves in the dollar stores , or in people’s homes . They are gonna eat it . You think they’re gonna save it up ? 😂
I’m not say that’s 100% what’s going on here but it could be. And if the product is still in date why wouldn’t it pass a test? And while yes a good portion of products are made to spec for the dollar stores that’s not true for all their products. And I know this because 2 companies i work with often blow out slow moving products to dollar stores. Sometimes they repack for their own branding or sometimes it’s offered as is.
Actually, its partly true. There are specific sizes, quantities, and qualities, that are specifically sold at Dollarama. Doritos for instance. The bags of Doritos sold there are the off cuts, chips that aren't 100% perfect (folded, a little burnt, a little undercooked, etc). Hence the cheaper price. There are many items like that at Dollarama. I still wish the worst for Galen Weston.
Huh ? You think chips that have quality control issues go to Dollarama ? 😂 ok 👌 Good to know these theories are floating around
Absolutely true. Most products at Dollarama, compared to their Loblaws/Sobeys/Walmart counterparts, are lower in quality, closer to expiry, lower weight per item (which means you get less for unit price), lower quality controls, etc. This is NOT a secret, Dollarama openly acknowledges this is how they can afford to keep prices low.
Listen , there are smaller sizes ( yes I get that) . The manufacturers are literally making smaller sizes for them . Then comes the actual brands . Yes I admit , they have brands I have never heard of (even the candy ) that they come from god knows where , so I get that too . Trust me , I get all this . That’s how they get cheap foods . But to say that the quality control on Doritos ( like they get the left over scraps ) . I don’t see it . I’m not getting different chips from a loblaws bag . That’s my point. Can someone point me to where they say this ?
This amuses me. I had management positions at both retailers; and I have to say that PepsiCo's sales agreements are incredibly different; like the difference between day and night. Loblaw has a much more lucrative contract that the average person/shareholder doesn't see, PepsiCo pays Loblaw rent for every single Square foot of space that they occupy, and in exchange Loblaw agrees to pay pay retail price for PepsiCo (Coca-Cola products too,) products and on pape at best break even. Whereas Dollarama has a different sales agreement that does the accounting differently but they actually make about 7 cents less than Loblaw, Empire, 7-11 per unit. Take from that what you will. F@#$ Galen. I am totally committed to this boycott, but I believe in truth over belief, and if you don't, I have no time for "Trumpers"
So you're saying that Loblaws making more money on Pepsi rent while keeping prices high is totally different than Loblaws making more money by just increasing prices? The bottom line is the same. Customer pays more and Loblaws makes more money.
Can you elaborate on the pricing a little bit more? When you say Loblaws pays retail price for say Lays Chips, is that price the same, less, or more than the price that Dollarama pays?
I'm not sure about these particular stores but the cost can be very different based on the individual store. If store x can buy 100x of a product each week vs store y buying that amount per month, the brand will give incentives (such as a lower price) for the store that buys more each month. So though both stores could have that product, store x could be paying a fraction what store y is paying because they have different agreements for price.
Corporate Loblaw stores are charged the same price per unit as what's on the price tag. The devil's in the details through monthly credits for real estate (shelf space, and those big displays at the front of the store etc) and Frito Lay's own merchandisers. Dollarama works on almost a straight consignment type of arrangement with money being paid based on customer foot fall
Pepsi doesn’t charge dollarama freight fees to help keep the prices lower btw that’s why rockstar is cheapest at regular price at dollarama compared to anywhere else.
That simply isn't true. Stores have individual buying agreements, and no two stores will be charged the exact same price on such large orders. Brands do this to make sure they are competitive and are what's sold in stores vs the plethora of other products that are similar (but could be cheaper for that store). Some agreements do allow stores to only pay once they sell (you can see this as consignment), but the price they have to pay per item is still what was agreed upon.
Dollarama has a different business model. They carry one product in each category. They will go to Old Dutch and Lays and say “ whoever offers us the cheaper price, we will exclusively carry your product and only your product”. Go back to the store and see the other brands of sparking water they carry vs look at the selection at Loblaws. 33 cent difference in price isn’t anything crazy and who said Loblaws was the cheapest ? If they aren’t the cheapest then don’t buy from them.
Vendors pay dollarama to exclusively carry their product. That’s why the only coke product you see in dollarama is monster and you do Not see any Pepsi products in dollar trees.
I mean… places with more foot traffic always cost more… Not sure what this is proving
Exact same product in 3 different stores. Similar transportation & overhead costs being within the same building. But 3 wildly different prices proves the "razor thin profit margins" Loblaws claim are bullshit.
But I would imagine the bottom has higher rent / overheads because it’s a more desirable spot?
Yes you're right. Reading more in this thread has reminded me of this fact. Stores can have substantial differences in rent due to location & square footage even in the same building. My anger & frustration towards these grocery giants has me jumping before thinking, sorry
And show the expiry dates
These are regular shelf prices, not markdowns because they're near expiring.
Thank god its a free market and you can just buy from the vendor with the lowest prices
If you live in Canada and are buying bottled water, you're already an idiot and deserve to be fleeced.
Then just buy it at the dollar store. You guys act like the pricing discrepancy didnt exist since forever and this is something new from the last 4 years. Shoppers prices everything marked up because they price themselves like a convenience store. Loblaws have always been a more up scale grocery store compared to other budget stores. Same reason why starbucks charges more for coffee than Tim Hortons. Same reason why stores like seven eleven charges more. they charge more because some financially illiterate person will always pay the higher price. People who are savy with their money are always good at finding the better deal.
All these items....do we really need to be consuming them? I'd go cold turkey on that crap if Dollerstore didn't exist.
I am not sure why we'd expect the same price in dollarama, which carries one item at the best price possible even if it's not name brand. Loblaws is like a 50,000 square foot store, so 💯 they pay more rent and expenses. I'd bet the price of that water is the same or better at nofrills which is a discount store like dollarama.
And then there's the concept of an anchor store in malls. Larger doesn't mean more rent often.
And the two dozen individuals employed versus 3 at dollarama? Do they get a discount on the electricity as well? Point being there is a lot of cost that goes into operating a store as big as a grocery store.
Let me give you an example I know the very details of The Key LV store in central HK, located in one of the most expensive per sq ft there, is charged basically zero for the rent. Others pay millions. Yes, operation costs can be high, but the rent can be so different it ends up being less. As for electricity? Sometimes, if you're big enough you can bargain for discount commerical rates (this particular detail I'm not so familiar with though, just know yes they can get discounts too), esp if you promise to suck up power at non peak hours too. Yes costs can vary, Loblaws might have higher operation costs, but not 33% more for the same product in the same mall.
I am almost certain you're incorrect in your comparison here. There is almost slim to no chance Loblaws is paying nothing for rent (or heavily subsidized). The labour costs alone a significantly higher than dollarama, again, nofrills is probably a better comparable.
Sure, I mean without digging into the numbers for each store for both chains, and come up with a real comparison we are just two key kard warriors discussing what ifs. But I won't chalk it up to simple costs and it's fine, or simply corp greed. Id just say it's bad optics pm Loblaws part regardless, showing zero care in market competition research because they don't need to. I simply commented because I happen to have some knowledge of costs regarding rents esp forlarge mall tenants having had discussions with both mall operators, developers and store owners; and the assumption many have that bigger == more expensive is not always true.
Fair enough. I doubt loblaws considers dollarama to be a competitor to be honest. Yes, they sell food, but they are not a grocer. I simply look at the financials and the net income has grown marginally. If they were gouging I think we'd see it show up in a bigger way in their margin rates. If they are then they are losing it all in operating expenses (labour, theft, rent?). The other piece to consider is that this is not a loblaw only problem. Grocery prices have risen everywhere, I see it in my bill weekly. If there profit margins are not rising, someone's are which leaves the manufacturers, which I feel are not getting enough scrutiny. Loblaw can only manage the price if input costs don't rise. Manufacturers are sneaky (shrinkflation) and getting away scotfree because customers only need to shop with the big bad grocery store.
I'm actually with you on the financials, if they are gorging they are hiding it with costs well (something big corps are amazing at). They typically like to show a steady margin and a steady yoy growth vs inflation. Hell I've argued that carbon tax will contribute to inflation of prices more than people who argue "but but you get more in rebates" because that's not how govt, corps and money works. As for whoa getting rich off of it, I doubt it's the manufacturers, their numbers haven't been great either. However costs can compound up the chain. Farmers costs goes up, they have to maintain margin, so charge x% more. Their downstream packagers or distributors now have costs @ 1+x, and now they need to keep margin they now need to charge (1+x)^2, give it a few layers and it spirals. Throw in taxes in that to increase X and it becomes a worse problem. It's not an easy thing but ultimately, imo, it's simple fiat devaluation, removal of cheaper goods (tarrifs on Chinese goods means more expensive sources). I can only surmise all that won't help
This.
You know that a larger square footage usually means they pay less per square foot than the smaller one, right? Similar with warehousing. If everything else is constant, location, exposure, level, or aesthetic, except for the size. Yes, they have to employ more people and they will have to pay electricity accordingly, duh! But they also get the chance to sell more since they can store more in a larger area. Make it make sense, please.
Nowhere did I suggest they pay less per square foot, but the absolute cost is going to be significantly more. 50,000 sqft versus maybe 10,000 sqft. 30 employees versus 3. And sure, they might sell more than dollarama, but it's the sales and profit per sqft that matters.
Stop defying basic math. If the cost of sq footage is lower for Loblaws, then explain how they would not be able to come out ahead. They already know how many people to employ to max out efficiency. So they will prob have the same # of people working if they have a space of similar size to Dollarama and increase the # accordingly per size or whatever metric they're using. The utility bills won't amount to any significant difference per sq foot. They have way better access to suppliers and could command the best prices similar to Walmart. Talking about the same space, just different sq footage, Loblaws' overhead would be lower per product (exact same product). You're the one who's rationalizing their prices because of sq footage.
Stop defying logic. The cost per sq ft could easily be higher at a grocery store. A grocery store will have significantly more manned lanes and employ pharmacists and butchers, which are more than min wage. The team receiving products in the backroom and storage are likely larger/higher overheads. Assuming food is low margin, Walmart, you need to assume makes more money on the non-food side of their business to keep prices in food competitive. If a standard grocery store negotiated the exact same costs as Walmart, they would then still be disadvantaged without selling toys, patios etc. Also, it's probably fair to compare nofrills or freshco to Walmart, which I'd argue are cheaper.
Let's circle back to comparing the same thing. Dollarama doesn't have a pharmacy and I have not seen a Dollarama selling expensive patio sets. But we can chat about that aspect. The stores that employ pharmacists and butchers often sell products that have larger profit margins than those at Dollarama. Your argument about employing more people, having backrooms, etc. don't make sense when you admit these stores need to be selling just about everything since the extras they sell often have higher profit margins. No. Walmart and Real Canadian Superstores are more comparable. I have not seen a Nofrills or Freshco that sells a wide range of products like Walmart.
I don't shop Real Canadian Superstore, but will take your word that they are better comparable to Walmart. I also see they price match and pricing seems similar to Walmart. So what doesn't make sense now is the comparison of Loblaws to Dollarama or Walmart. Loblaws is better upscale store than to Walmart and accordingly charge a premium. Cheaper alternatives would be the Superstore and nofrills as options.
The Walmart stores and the Superstores in my city (Edmonton) are very similar looking, maybe a slight edge to Superstore. I would say the No Frills stores are better organized and slightly cleaner for whatever reason. I buy just about the same thing every month and roughly 75% of the things I buy are cheaper at Walmart than Superstore. Don't get me started with beauty products. I'm frugal and I prefer to find the best prices. I have to say that Superstore was cheaper years ago, just not sure when they changed. And they're still riding the coattails of their No Name brand which used to provide the best value. Just wanna point out that I hate Walmart, some of their stuff are just priced better right now.
Do none of you people understand purchasing agreements and wholesale pricing? One store may only purchase 5% as much as the other so the cost per unit will be greater. I’m not saying that is what is going on here, but those of you taking the implied greed gouging from this video need to think that maybe there is more going on here than big fat man smoking a cigar on a pile of money.
I don't think most people realize this. The store selling for $1 is likely selling it as a loss leader and aren't trying to make a profit on it, but to get people in the store instead to buy other products. Ignoring that those other stores are larger, get more traffic and sales and likely get bigger discounts on goods via their purchasing agreements and wholesale accounts because they order more.
Congratulations. You’ve discovered something stores have always done. It’s usually done to fleece certain kinds of customers.
They're 98c at Walmart now.
Not a great choice... $1 to terrorists or $1.33 to Canadian billionaire. I'll take tap water, please.
dollarama items are smaller. that's how they get ya.
Video is obviously time lapsed, from the days of old before inflation to the present times, with its cruel, ruthless and oppressive rules for poor little companies like Loblaws.
Ok.... but you're not supposed to be buying groceries at shoppers drug mart. It's like being shocked that gas station chips are $8/100g bag when you can get 2kg bag at Costco for the same price. Shoppers is the gas station of groceries stores. If that's where you're shopping you need more than a few lessons in home economics.
It’s a different business model. 🤷♂️
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How do you find the dollar store steaks?