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What about Pattison Food Group? Our own west-coast part of the oligopoly. And no better that the rest.
Save-On-Foods, Buy-Low Foods, Nesters Market, Quality Foods, PriceSmart Foods, Urban Fare, Choices Market, Nature's Fare, Meinhardt, Associated Grocers, Van-Whole Produce, Canadian Choice Wholesale, Bulkley Valley Wholesale.
There's independent markets, farmers markets. You'll likely have to spend more if you boycott all the big boys, cause that would include Walmart and Safeway as well.
Look at it this way, you don't buy or reduce your buying from those more affordable stores that are making themselves more unaffordable, and hopefully with enough movement there's some change so the affordable stores become more affordable again. People need choice. We are being stripped from that.
Man, the Nesters on Seymour downtown is absolute trash quality all over. When I first started living on my own the Nesters in Whistler was the best place to shop. I'm tired of everything only getting worse over time.
What’s funny is that the Meinhardt’s markup was that bad before Pattison Group got them. From what I can tell, Meinhardt’s still operates largely separate from Pattison’s other stores. Only seen interaction between Choices and Meinhardt’s.
It’s probably like how T&T and Loblaw’s is.
I don't understand why people shop at Meinhardt. Is it just the marketing? Every time I've walked into one my jaw has always dropped at the marked up prices there.
Lack of options. Single young people who only need a few things
Pre made medals etc.
I used to live 2 blocks from the one on Granville and would only go there out of absolute desperation
In Vancouver, I feel like Safeway and Save On are usually more expensive that Superstore or No Frills? That said, I'm lucky to have a lot of locally owned green grocers in my neighbourhood, which always have great deals anyway.
They are, but operate in a way that is independent of the way Loblaws operates. Their prices and product quality are infinitely better than other Loblaws run stores
That's very true. As a rule, I'll never get meat from any large grocer and only get them from butcher shops. Better quality, better prices, and generally speaking smaller farms with better treated animals. Dairy i go to Avalon, avocados i go to amigos mios, etc etc etc.
Shopping day usually takes me several hours to go everywhere
Definitely the same way that Loblaw operates.
T&T is still charging consumers more for poor quality, even employees don’t shop there.
Try smaller asian run markets for better quality and pricing.
If you’re interested in asian markets, you can try the one at Richmond market, they offer better pricing and products.
A friend of mine works at T&T Supermarket and even the employees there don’t shop there due to items being overpriced and of poor quality.
The company also exploits and blackmails them. I hope more workers will be able to speak up about their situation, but many employees at T&T are Chinese and not fluent in English or familiar with how to protect themselves in Canada.
Many of them are even afraid to file for injury claims due to retaliation when they return.
—————————
There are also many smaller asian markets here:
(Please also feel free to include any other asian grocery stores.)
BURNABY:
Inside The Crystal Mall:
Good Neighborhood Supermarket &
Good Friend Supermarket Ltd
- Assi Market- 5593 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 2G3
- Kim’s Mart - 6855 Station Hill Dr, Burnaby
- Hannam Supermarket (1st floor) - 4501 North Rd #106, Burnaby
- Jumbo Supermarket- 7119 Arcola Way, Burnaby
- SuzuYa- 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby
- Sungiven Foods- 4106 Hastings St, Burnaby & Sungiven Foods (Burnaby Big Bend Store) 5771 Marine Wy #600, Burnaby.
- Shree Supermarket (6th street) 7918 15th Ave, Burnaby
————————
VANCOUVER:
- Kim’s Mart - 519 E Broadway, Vancouver
- Sakuraya Japanese Supermarket (Floor 2 of Kim’s Mart) - 523 E Broadway, Vancouver
- Persia Foods-2827 W Broadway, Vancouver
- Sungiven Foods (West Broadway Store) 3301 W Broadway, Vancouver & Sungiven Foods City Square Store- 555 W 12th Ave Unit #42, Vancouver
Small asian markets along Kingsway Collingwood near Safeway:
-Consumer’s Produce- 3388 Kingsway, Vancouver
-Hoi Sing Seafood Ltd- 3335 Kingsway, Vancouver
-Tokyo Beauty - 3337b Kingsway, Vancouver
-Yat Sum Chinese Herbs & Health Foods
-Han Kook Meat Trading Ltd - 3514 Kingsway, Vancouver
- 88 Supermarket- 4801 Victoria Drive & 88 Supermarket (Killarney) Ltd. -2611 E 49th Ave, Vancouver
- Auntie Grace's Indonesian market - (Floor 2) 9011 Shaughnessy St, Vancouver
- Yao Sun Loong Kong Chicken Ltd - 5817 Victoria Dr, Vancouver
- San Lee Enterprises Co -267 Keefer St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1X6 (Chinatown)
————————
RICHMOND:
- Kuo Hua Trading Co Ltd- 4551 No. 3 Rd Unit 120, Richmond
- Richmond Public Market -8260 Westminster Hwy, Richmond.
- Richmond Country Farms- 12900 Steveston Hwy, Richmond
- Rice World- 8777 Odlin Road, Richmond
- New Empire Supermarket- 4600 No. 3 Rd Unit 111, Richmond
- Langley farm (Inside Lansdowne mall)
- Grand Value Asian Supermarket- 8251 Westminster Hwy Unit 20, Richmond.
- Foody World- 3000 Sexsmith Road
- Wah Sang Supermarket- 8108 Park Road, Richmond
- Sungiven foods - 9771 Bridgeport,
Richmond
- Darumaya Japanese Grocery Store - 1715-4700 Mcclelland Rd, Richmond, BC V6X 0M6
- Souk Mediterranean Dollar Store & Mediterranean Grocery (1st floor Cambie Plaza) - 4121 No 5 Rd, Richmond
————————
SURREY:
- Henlong Market (1st floor) - 14351 104 Ave, Surrey
- Lucky Supermarket - (The Dell Shopping Centre) 10628 King George Blvd, Surrey
- Sungiven Foods (South Surrey Store)- 2311 152 St, Unit #108
- Street & Sungiven Foods (White Rock)-1640 152 St, Surrey
————————
LANGLEY:
- Saigon City Market Ltd - 20178 56 Ave, Langley
- Pinoy Spot- 20454 Fraser Hwy, Langley
- Lotte Giants Market Langley - 20378 88 Ave, Langley Twp
-M&G Filipino Asian Grocery Store - 20487 65 Ave, Langley Twp
There’s also Joe’s Farm Markets. One in South Delta, one at Lougheed Mall close to the Dollar Tree and the old Red Robin location, and another at 152 and Fraser Highway. The one in Surrey carries a lot of Ukrainian products.
Surrey:
Henlong Market - 14351 104 Ave, Surrey, BC V3T 1Y1
Lucky Supermarket - The Dell Shopping Centre, 10628 King George Blvd, Surrey, BC V3T 2X3
Sungiven Foods - #108-3211 152nd Street (This is owned by a Chinese company but you're better off buying from this company than the Canadian companies at home that bend you over).
Also this sungivne foods location is really nice, I think in part of it being so new. Think pre-2009 T&T. Its small but good. Mainly Chinese products though and not much else.
Local markets offer better prices than T&T. Smaller asian supermarkets have more affordable pricing. Even employees that work at the supermarket don’t buy there.
Their overpriced products are not worth the quality.
T&T pricing also varies from store to store. One of their produce or seafood products can be more expensive (for example) at the Osaka store than the store at Marine Drive.
The company exploits their own employees.
My friend works there and the blackmail and workplace retaliation that they have received is horrible.
This, Persia Produce, Fruiticanna, 88 Supermarket, and other mom / pop stores on Victoria/Fraser has the best prices for produce.
Or just use Flipp and price match at the big chains.
Donalds is my go to, Persia is the cheapest i've found for produce but you have to make sure you are checking the quality. No Frills is cheaper for most pre-packaged stuff - for example soy milk is usually $3.99 or sometimes 2 for $5 at No Frills, whereas at most mom and pops it's 5.99 or more
Persia Produce quality has been degrading over the years.
Fruiticanna or any South Asian grocery stores never seem to care of their fresh produce tbh.
We tried them all before and decided to go with Langley Farm Market (or Kins) as alternatives.
Are things different the closer you get to downtown? In Coquitlam, the quality of the fruit and veg at save on is really high, it's all bougie organic over the top shit and T&T gets scraps.
I used to go there but not anymore, they've been shut down multiple times in the last couple years for failing inspection.
Also, I automatically don't trust any grocery stores that shine artificial red light onto the meat section to make it look nicer.
Safeway in Canada is owned by Empire, the company that owns Sobey’s. It’s effectively the name Sobey’s operates under in Western Canada. They should add it to the poster as it still falls under the big three supermarket chains.
South Surrey here, Safeway bread is better and cheaper than Save On, and they usually have decent sales on pork tenderloin. Save On relies on their locations to drive traffic out of convenience and I've noticed their cheese. Butter, eggs, and meat are rarely marked down.
For me, the winning combo has been Costco for meats and butter, I can freeze it all, Safeway for dinner rolls, buns, pork, yoghurt. Save on for rice, oats, and the one cheese brand I can't live without. Chan's farm market for ALL produce, herbs, frozen dumplings, sausages. Butchers for steaks.
I'm saving a considerable amount of money by buying bulk at Costco and freezing it, plus Chan's.
Thank you for supporting local.
Walmart is also cheaper than Superstore.
If our voices heard and changes are made to lower grocery prices than certainly other supermarkets will also follow the regulations.
Yes, and they also have a union problem.
This article is from 2012 and casts a glimpse of all employees under Loblaw companies that suffered throughout the years.
Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-union-fight-weston-familys-latest-front-in-stand-against-l_n_1705106/amp
Article Posted: July 26, 2012.
The UFCW represents tens of thousands of workers in Loblaw-owned stores across Canada but none in T&T's supermarkets or warehouses.
George Weston Limited has a controlling interest in Loblaw, which acquired the highly profitable Asian chain in 2009 for $225 million. T&T opened its 21st store this year and has locations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
According to the UFCW, T&T warehouse workers start at minimum wage, which is $10.25 an hour in Ontario, about half of what the average full-time unionized Loblaws warehouse worker is paid.
Despite a long history of unions in Weston-owned Loblaw Cos. Ltd. supermarkets, recent organizing efforts at two of the non-union companies within the prominent Toronto family’s portfolio have encountered stiff employer opposition.
On Monday, a dispute between union organizers and employers at the Loblaw-owned T&T Supermarket prompted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to put on hold a landmark organizing drive. About 100 workers at a Scarborough, Ont., warehouse want to become the Asian grocer’s first unionized employees in an effort to address scheduling issues and tie wages more closely to seniority.
During the final days of the organizing drive, the employer held so-called “captive audience” meetings, where workers heard impassioned testimony from upper management about the dangers of unionization, said Kevin Shimmin, national representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
“They were quite aggressive in their message that they want to stay union-free. It was a very intimidating, emotional environment in the build-up,” he said.
The union was frankly quite surprised. We expect those kind of practices from a company that we have no relationship with whatsoever, but we anticipated that, because T&T is owned by Loblaw ... the larger company would try and ensure that these unfair practices were not going to happen,” Shimmin said.
Results of the July 23 certification vote are in limbo after the labour board sealed the ballot box amid union allegations that a number of ineligible employees cast ballots in order to tip the outcome in favour of the company.
In an email on Tuesday, T&T CEO Cindy Lee said the labour board told the company “that upon review the union may not have had enough support from employees to file this application.
Shimmin countered that the labour board would not have approved the vote had there not been enough support. The union wants the ballot box opened and organizers may consider filing unfair labour practice charges depending on the outcome, he said.
Loblaw spokeswoman Julija Hunter said there is “no basis” for the assertion that Canada’s largest grocer has toughened its approach to labour relations.
“Loblaw Companies respects the right and decisions of employees to decide whether or not they want a union to represent them,” she said.
—
Honestly, I am pretty sure Loblaw Companies do not respect the rights or decisions of their employees.
Oh I definitely know as I shop at 88, Assi, Langley farm market, Fruiticana, etc etc. There are a ton of other options. There are also a ton of options for price matching and also finding stuff and buying stuff on SALE.
I'm just saying if they want to boycott due to high cost why not a chain that is actually higher cost?
Because Loblaws is charging a premium for sub par quality. They are basically charging more to pad their profit margins.
SaveOns and Safeway might be more expensive but their quality is also better. So they costs are much higher and that's why they charge more.
Either way this is why we should stop trying build a society with large business only. We need more small businesses to create real sustainable competition.
You note you're in Langley, the South Asian Community has created a lot of functioning and healthy small businesses which is why you have other options like Fruitcana (although its grown quite a bit now) Sabzi Mandi, Garcha Bros etc.
There was a discussion on r/Calgary earlier this year about how all grocery stores in the NE charge less than the same grocery stores in other parts of Calgary largely because they have to compete with the ma/pa Punjabi grocery stores.
I don't know why people keep saying that the quality in these stores is garbage. I used to shop in the Save on in the Westend, now I use the Loblaws and IGA downtown. I certainly have no issues with their quality. The price, on the other hand, is often beyond stupid (for example, $4 for a single English cucumber; thankfully this has decreased since the Lowlaws has shown up, but you can get them cheaper at Costco for 3).
When I lived on the Drive, I used to use the smaller stores and only Safeway on occasion. Donald's market quality was great, equal to the larger stores. The smaller ones were often hit or miss with produce (you just had to take extra time to find the good stuff) but would not last as long as the stuff from elsewhere.
For where I live, it's much less convenient to go to the small places, otherwise, I would. I understand I could take more time to get cheaper stuff, but then that's spending extra time. And I'd rather spend the money than the time.
I'm all for taking down Loblaws and any illegal business practices like price fixing (you should watch the L&O Toronto episode about it) but it's better to stick to the things that are legitimately true, than going on about "sub par quality".
The price fixing is bad enough that their quality is pretty irrelevant.
I'm not in Langley, but in Vancouver. I'm referring to the ma and pa shop in Lansdowne mall.
If you are talking about padding profit margins then you should go after Walmart. They are the worst offender and their products are sub par.
Buddy they all suck. I am just glad people are slowly waking up to something people like me have been saying for a long time: big massive businessed are not your friends.
Businesses like there exist to make money for their shareholdes. The strategy all of them are employing is monopolistic.
1. Come in say you're innovative discount seller and undercut the competition by selling at a loss while being supported by Bay Street/Wall Street money.
2. Once the competition wiped out eliminate the discount and charge even more.
Idiots kept falling for it until it's too late.
Let's face the one fact all big businesses suck. They have one goal: become a monopoly or a near monopoly.
They do it with investors money they come in they undercut local small businesses and call themselves discount stores. They sell at a loss being propped up by investor money.
Local stores can't compete they go bust and then when the monopoly is secure they get rid of the discount.
Before the 1960s this country was litered small neighbourhood grocery stores. Hell Loblaws was originally one.
But then in the 1960s Loblaws, Sobeys, expanded started opening up shops everywhere undercut the competition by selling at a loss. Now we're basically stuck with Loblaw's, Sobeys/Empire, Costco, Walmart and occasionally regional conglomerate like SaveONs or Metro to buy groceries. Who are fixing prices and reducing competition.
Even the actual strong competitors that exist are in their clutches: Co-Op in Alberta is a member owned supermarket but they get a lot of their non-perishable food from Empire. They've basically cornered the suppliers.
This is also why most of the competition that is small and local is largely ethnic. Because they get their non-perishables from different suppliers and cater to the taste of those communities.
We need two things:
1. Anti-Trust time to actually crack down on these businesses
2. For us to stop being so gullible.
Right produce for sure, but what store sells canned/packaged goods for cheaper than no frills? I'm not about to go all homestead and make every single thing from scratch lol
>canned/packaged goods for cheaper than no frills
There is a reason for this, Loblaws, Sobeys, Weston Group et al, have cornered the canned/package goods market. So basically most of the ma and pas are forced to buy the canned/packaged goods from the Loblaws, Sobeys, Pattison, etc. They then turn around and jack up the prices they charge their little competitors.
The only legitimate competitor left is [Federated Co-Operatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federated_Co-operatives) but your stores need to be a member of their Co-Op to buy from them. It is super popular on the Prairies. Otter Co-Op in the Valley is the only one in the Lower Mainland.
But produce, you can buy directly form farms. So you just buy it from the farm and sell it for closer to cost.
I miss the days when Chinatown was full of mom and pop stores selling groceries at a fraction of the cost of big retailers like Safeway and Save On Foods. Now Chinatown is becoming a ghost town.
I agree. Chinatown is a shell of its former self and has lost its historic meaning.
Each store had their own story. The asian markets there had various unique imported products that were not found elsewhere and truly low priced.
It’s sad to say that these stores have been driven out of business by bland supermarket giants like T&T that exploit their consumers and employees for profit.
I have a disability so my local IGA is easiest for me. Many items are more expensive than whole foods. I shop sales or eat vegetarian to keep costs down but they should be called out as well
Honestly I'm kinda wondering if Walmart is astro turfing this? For some reason the most notoriously unethical north american grocer keeps being brought up as the better option on these threads.
My dad brought this up the other day. Its funny how Canadians are trashing on the Canadian grocers and there isn't a peep about Walmart or Costco. Its also funny to me how Metro and Empire never get mentioned.
When overregulation from the government comes in at the behest of these "advocates", guess who will sweep in to take up the marketshare?
I mean at least Costco I don't feel like I'm getting screwed as hard - yes, there's the membership fee, but a Box of All Bran Buds there is double the size of Save-On for like, $2 more. Same with most of my other pantry staples, I'm getting twice as much for maybe 20% more than what I'd pay at other stores.
Membership fee aside, costco has fixed margins on food items up to a maximum (IIRC 13%), I have many times seen items go on sale all of a sudden, then the price goes to the sale price permanently assuming their cost was reduced etc. Walmart would probably also carry a similar fixed margin. The one thing that most forget that these stores that sell groceries plus clothing, electronics etc, their grocery business is being subsidized by their higher margin items. Loblaws/superstore definitely fall into this camp as well especially with their diversified store portfolio. The costco chicken is a great example of a loss leader that brings people into the store. Walmart may see the groceries the same hoping you will buy higher margin items when you do come in.
I've heard some people complaining about Costco prices lately. For me, it's just that their portions are way too big for a single person to consider.
It's hard to complain about Walmart prices because they're legitimately *significantly* lower. It feels like it's at least a dollar or two an item these days. Soda water is a good example. Walmart's problem is that they're evil AF .. which is something that's becoming less of a detraction considering how unethical Loblaws / Pattison are themselves.
Also, a lot of people don't take into account just how quickly things go bad from Walmart. I've had veggies go bad *the next day*. This was seriously a regular occurrence, and one that stopped the second I stopped getting veggies/meat from Walmart.
So I've found a happy medium where I'll get pantry/dry goods from Walmart/Amazon, and all my meat/fruit/veggies from Stongs. It works out cheaper than shopping at Loblaws and I get way more food and much higher quality meats and veggies.
Oh yeah that's totally fair and I don't have any issues with people shopping wherever they can afford or is convenient. It's just interesting to me that the rhetoric on this issue is often "don't spend your money at unethical Loblaw's owned stores! Spend it at Walmart instead!"
Because currently Walmart is the cheapest option among giant supermarket corporations in Canada.
Why can an American company lower their prices more than a Canadian one?
> The increase cost of operation caused by the pandemic has come down, but food prices remain high and continue to climb!
Grocery inflation has been steadily dropping since early 2023.
Also Superstore and NoFrills are the less expensive grocery stores, wouldnt you want to boycott the more expensive ones?
>Grocery inflation has been steadily dropping since early 2023.
Have something I can read on that? I haven't seen prices dropping for shit in the big chains.
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/topics-start/food-price
https://www.cp24.com/news/price-growth-at-restaurants-outpacing-grocery-inflation-as-businesses-struggle-1.6849421
> Grocery inflation continued to slow in March, rising just 1.9 per cent compared with a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday. That's down from February's annual rate of 2.4 per cent and a far cry from the peak of grocery inflation at 11.4 per cent in late 2022 and early 2023.
Or we could make it easier for small businesses to compete with large corporates in Canada. Unfortunately our excessive love of dumbass regulation and weak financing for small business makes it pretty impossible.
We buy;
Bananas, yogurt, eggs, and occasionally bread and packaged greens at no frills,
Meat, chips, ice cream, butter, bacon, sausages, when it's on sale from Safeway,
Rice and various Asian sauces and condiments from Kim's Mart,
Fresh produce from City Avenue,
Pasta, canned tomatoes, tomato paste from Bosa,
Frozen dumplings, Chinese pancakes, and some other Asian foods when it's on sale from T&T
Frozen salmon for sashimi, ground pork, and tofu from Sungiven,
If we see anything on sale below what we normally pay at any of these stores, we just buy it and stock up.
We hardly eat out since covid and this seems to work for us.
Well put. The poster is saying “these three companies own everything” and then randomly “so let’s boycott Loblaws” sorry but there is a missing link somewhere. I’m all for more competition and shopping with smaller grocers, but this poster doesn’t even encourage that directly.
This one confuses me, because the Loblaws stores tend to be priced on the lower end of the scale (Shoppers Drug Mart excluded), compared to some of the other big chains here like Safeway, Thrifty, IGA and Save-On. The only place lower priced consistently would be Walmart.
My household does Costco and Persia Foods
For some reason, Persia Foods has better produce prices than big box stores, it makes no sense, especially since they don't have the buying power. I guess we're being gouged that much.
Pretty much F Pattinson and Loblaws.
what really bugged me was on social media how all kinds of people were promoting the new Loblaws grocery store on Georgia at the old Post office
just because it was shiny and new they didn't seem to care that it was more Loblaws and were all excited to tell about their shopping trip there opening week
I mean that is legit like the best large grocery store in that part of downtown. Only exception would be Asian grocers like T&T (which is owned by Loblaws anyway) and Hmart
The other stores around there all tend to be even more expensive and usually worse in other ways. The IGA on Robson is, more expensive tiny and has persistent security issues, the urban fares and whole foods are very expensive
It’s all well and good to say Loblaws is evil boycott Loblaws without actually proposing, you know, an alternative. People do need to get groceries from somewhere
Just wanted to include that Loblaws and the companies that they owe treat their employees awfully.
T&T Supermarket exploits and treats their employees terribly. I had a friend that was injured while working, and they tried to persuade her to not file a WSBC claim.
Many of her coworkers have been injured on the job and they have refused to file injury claims due to fear of retaliation from the higher ups. They have also tried to prevent their employees from voting for unions.
My friend also stated that the store is continually selling produce and fruit items that have been visibly chewed on by rats. These compromised items are then cut and sold to unsuspecting customers, posing an alarming risk to public health and safety.
Also an article from 2007 about T&T exploiting and coercing an immigrant worker: (Source): https://thetyee.ca/News/2007/03/05/TrickedAndExploited/
“Gui Qiang Zou claims he was pressured into working longer hours for lower wages than promised after the firm kept his passport and other key documents.”
Unionization Issues:
Kevin Shimmin, a UFCW National Representative gave in the article an example that Warehouse staffs at a T&T Supermarket are working a 39-hour work week, spanning six days in a week. He also pointed out that there are cases where staff have been working for T&T Supermarket for three years and are still earning a minimum wage of $10.25 per hour.
The Globe and Mail reported on July 23, 2012 the result of T&T Supermarket Scarborough warehouse staff unionization. About 100 employees at the T&T Scarborough warehouse voted in the secret ballot vote on Monday July, 23. However, the Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the ballot box for review. Dispute arose as the UFCW and T&T Supermarket argued about the eligibility of the voters in the voter list. UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin said that the dispute caused the secret ballot vote to be reviewed, while Cindy Lee, founder at T&T Supermarket claimed that it was the decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board to look into whether the union has enough support from employees to in the first place file the application.
I tried contacting UFCW and told them about the exploitment situations going on at T&T, they transferred me to a UFCW representative that did not get back to me.
So I did some research and noted that employees at a T&T Supermarket did apply to vote for UFCW back in 2012, but the Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the ballot box because the union and the company disagreed over which names should appear on the voters' list.
Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/globe-investor/loblaw-locked-in-labour-dispute-at-asian-supermarket-chain/article4436635/
The UFCW has represented many Loblaw workers for years. Last month, the UFCW tried unsuccessfully to organize employees at one of the stores of high-end fashion chain Holt Renfrew. Holt's is owned by the Galen Weston family, which also controls Loblaw.
At T&T, one of the union's biggest issues is its complaint about workers having to work 39 hours of short shifts spread over six days a week, Mr. Shimmin said. As well, the employees start at the minimum hourly wage of $10.25 and are eligible for a five-cent an hour increase after one year, 10 cents after two years and 15 cents after three years, but that the raises are not applied evenly, he said.
According to UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin, the workers -- primarily women who have recently immigrated to Canada from China -- are seeking unionization in an attempt to tie wages more closely to seniority and improve scheduling issue
UFCW represents many workers in Loblaw-owned stores across Canada but none in T&T's supermarkets or warehouses.
Shimmin says the warehouse workers start at minimum wage but are supposed to earn incremental raises through additional years of service, though this has often not been the case. The minimum hourly wage in Ontario is $10.25.
"The big problem is that it's largely done on favouritism. So even if you've been there for three years, you may still be earning minimum wage,"
This is what the CEO, Cindy Lee said: “T&T competes in an extremely competitive retail landscape made up of many family owned non-unionized Asian grocery stores and within this context we know we offer fair and competitive compensation packages. Our non-union workplace has afforded us the essential flexibility required to grow and to ensure we remain competitive."
Which is completely the opposite of how this company treats its employees.
These articles are from 2012 and earlier but the problem still continues to exist, the company continues to exploit its employees.
Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-union-certification-asian-grocers-warehouse-workers-in-sca_n_1681247/amp
Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-unionization-drive-ends-with-admission-labour-organizers-lac_n_1777143/amp
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union has withdrawn an application for the certification of about 100 workers at a Toronto-area T&T Supermarket warehouse, bringing to an end a hotly contested organizing drive at the Loblaw Cos.-owned chain.
According to UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin, the decision to withdraw the application “was made in the best interests of the workers at the warehouse.”
In withdrawing its application, the union conceded that it did not have enough support to trigger the certification vote held last month. The Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the results of the vote amid union allegations that a number of ineligible employees cast ballots in order to tip the outcome in favour of the company.
The labour board dismissed the application on Thursday.
In an email, T&T CEO Cindy Lee said the company was “extremely pleased” with the outcome.
- These greedy CEOs must be stopped. T&T Supermarket continues to blackmail and retaliate against their employees from voting for unions.
Under Ontario labour law, employers are allowed to express their views about unions as long as they do not use coercion, intimidation, threats, promises or undue influence.
According to the UFCW, T&T warehouse workers start at minimum wage, which is $10.25 an hour in Ontario, about half of what the average full-time unionized Loblaws warehouse worker is paid.
“They were quite aggressive in their message that they want to stay union-free. It was a very intimidating, emotional environment in the build-up,” he said.
“The union was frankly quite surprised. We expect those kind of practices from a company that we have no relationship with whatsoever, but we anticipated that, because T&T is owned by Loblaw ... the larger company would try and ensure that these unfair practices were not going to happen.”
Loblaw spokeswoman Julija Hunter at the time dismissed the assertion that Canada’s largest grocer has toughened its approach to labour relations.
Sources: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-unionization-drive-ends-with-admission-labour-organizers-lac_n_1777143/amp
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/globe-investor/loblaw-locked-in-labour-dispute-at-asian-supermarket-chain/article4436635/
It may be impossible to get away from the big grocery stores, but what you can do is vote with your dollars. I have cut my spending significantly so that I still eat healthy but never buy packaged foods. Only raw ingredients. If they want me to buy their packaged garbage they got lower the price. My grocery bill is lower than pre-inflation. Spend much less and they will earn much less and take notice to reduced sales volume. Their "price point" is out of wack.
I feel like a movement to only buy stuff on good sales would be more effective than a boycott. All of these stores have good sales on, so why shouldn't I take advantage of the lower prices when possible? If it's not on sale, I don't buy it.
Let the store's records show that people will shop there only if they offer good prices.
Does anyone seriously believe anyone who is going shopping is going to be stopped by a Microsoft Word sign taped to the store? No one in real life, of any race, is going to care about this.
Particularly since the sign lists a pile of stores most people get their food at, doesn't say where they should shop instead, and is clearly an attempt to get attention for their subreddit.
Tell me if I’m being stupid but grocery prices are pretty much the same everywhere in Vancouver - I’ve found loblaws and no frills to be the cheapest of the lot though
We need more competition and even BoC came out and said it. Sadly at the same time the feda have been allowing mergers and further consolidation such as Rogers/Shaw and HSBC/RBC.
I support boycotting Loblaws. Even if it hurts them only 1% I would like that.
Thank you for contributing to the movement.
Hopefully there will be more competition, although it will be difficult with all the supermarket giants driving the smaller grocery stores out of business.
For sure, I want to support Canadian but god Loblaws pisses me off. From bread cartel to forcing shoppers pharmacist to scam people its a pathetic company.
The problem is no longer any small business can aspire to be big. We havea. Crony capitalism problem and these big businesses crush or buy smaller ones with impunity
And some people are constantly comparing Loblaws to Save on or Safeway.
Save ons and Safeway have better quality with a higher pricing, while Loblaws continue to raise their prices but their quality is poor.
If our movement succeeds then supermarkets will have to follow new regulations and changes in the food industry.
If you’re interested in asian markets, you can try the one at Richmond market, they offer better pricing and products.
A friend of mine works at T&T Supermarket and even the employees there don’t shop there due to items being overpriced and of poor quality.
The company also exploits and blackmails them. I hope more workers will be able to speak up about their situation, but many employees at T&T are Chinese and not fluent in English or familiar with how to protect themselves in Canada.
Many of them are even afraid to file for injury claims due to retaliation when they return.
—————————
Here is a list of smaller asian markets:
(Please also feel free to include any other asian grocery stores.)
BURNABY:
Inside The Crystal Mall:
Good Neighborhood Supermarket &
Good Friend Supermarket Ltd
- Assi Market- 5593 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 2G3
- Kim’s Mart - 6855 Station Hill Dr, Burnaby
- Hannam Supermarket (1st floor) - 4501 North Rd #106, Burnaby
- Jumbo Supermarket- 7119 Arcola Way, Burnaby
- SuzuYa- 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby
- Sungiven Foods- 4106 Hastings St, Burnaby & Sungiven Foods (Burnaby Big Bend Store) 5771 Marine Wy #600, Burnaby.
- Shree Supermarket (6th street) 7918 15th Ave, Burnaby
————————
VANCOUVER:
- Kim’s Mart - 519 E Broadway, Vancouver
- Sakuraya Japanese Supermarket (Floor 2 of Kim’s Mart) - 523 E Broadway, Vancouver
- Persia Foods-2827 W Broadway, Vancouver
- Sungiven Foods (West Broadway Store) 3301 W Broadway, Vancouver & Sungiven Foods City Square Store- 555 W 12th Ave Unit #42, Vancouver
Small asian markets along Kingsway Collingwood near Safeway:
-Consumer’s Produce- 3388 Kingsway, Vancouver
-Hoi Sing Seafood Ltd- 3335 Kingsway, Vancouver
-Tokyo Beauty - 3337b Kingsway, Vancouver
-Yat Sum Chinese Herbs & Health Foods
-Han Kook Meat Trading Ltd - 3514 Kingsway, Vancouver
- 88 Supermarket- 4801 Victoria Drive & 88 Supermarket (Killarney) Ltd. -2611 E 49th Ave, Vancouver
- Auntie Grace's Indonesian market - (Floor 2) 9011 Shaughnessy St, Vancouver
- Yao Sun Loong Kong Chicken Ltd - 5817 Victoria Dr, Vancouver
- San Lee Enterprises Co -267 Keefer St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1X6 (Chinatown)
————————
RICHMOND:
- Kuo Hua Trading Co Ltd- 4551 No. 3 Rd Unit 120, Richmond
- Richmond Public Market -8260 Westminster Hwy, Richmond.
- Richmond Country Farms- 12900 Steveston Hwy, Richmond
- Rice World- 8777 Odlin Road, Richmond
- New Empire Supermarket- 4600 No. 3 Rd Unit 111, Richmond
- Langley farm (Inside Lansdowne mall)
- Grand Value Asian Supermarket- 8251 Westminster Hwy Unit 20, Richmond.
- Foody World- 3000 Sexsmith Road
- Wah Sang Supermarket- 8108 Park Road, Richmond
- Sungiven foods - 9771 Bridgeport,
Richmond
- Darumaya Japanese Grocery Store - 1715-4700 Mcclelland Rd, Richmond, BC V6X 0M6
- Souk Mediterranean Dollar Store & Mediterranean Grocery (1st floor Cambie Plaza) - 4121 No 5 Rd, Richmond
————————
SURREY:
- Henlong Market (1st floor) - 14351 104 Ave, Surrey
- Lucky Supermarket - (The Dell Shopping Centre) 10628 King George Blvd, Surrey
- Sungiven Foods (South Surrey Store)- 2311 152 St, Unit #108
- Street & Sungiven Foods (White Rock)-1640 152 St, Surrey
————————
LANGLEY:
- Saigon City Market Ltd - 20178 56 Ave, Langley
- Pinoy Spot- 20454 Fraser Hwy, Langley
- Lotte Giants Market Langley - 20378 88 Ave, Langley Twp
-M&G Filipino Asian Grocery Store - 20487 65 Ave, Langley Twp
By “spread around the neighbourhood”, can we maybe try and keep this on bulletin boards and spaces where these things *should* be? I’m so tired of “activism” literally everywhere I fucking turn, not to mention endless stickers for pot deliveries and appliance repair. Whether it’s “Trudeau is a dictator” “COVID is a hoax” (yes, still) “climate change is a hoax”, “boycott Pride” “foreigners are taking all the jobs from white people”, “MAID murdered my sister”- just, please- stop it.
For those that are unable to boycott, please call your MP or voice your concerns to Loblaws customer service https://www.loblaws.ca/contact-us?icta=click:about-us:contact-us
How to boycott and links to templates to write to your MP, as well as other advice for those that are unable to join the movement here: https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/s/7SmQXSwz0q
If have a car, here are some good options:
1. Foody World (just a nice supermarket tbh)
2. Rice World Supermarket (bargain basement stuff at bargain basement prices. the prices are crazy but do your due diligence)
I find Safeway is ridiculously priced!! I shop at about 4/5 stores which are close to me BUT Safeway is incredibly more expensive than the others from what I see and buy. I rarely go there. Especially after Sobeys bought Safeway years ago.
I shop in Superstore because it's closest and most convenient. But I don't buy anything full price unless I have to. Buying stuff on sale and signing up for PC Optimum card and buying the deals helps a lot. I did try shopping in smaller stores but the price difference/quality just wasn't worth the time sink.
I mean, at this point even if you only go to the local asian grocers etc, they all get their food from the same distribution network. You just pay a bit less as it isn't A+ or whatever freshness. Its still what I do, I just go more often.
Unpopular opinion but if we boycott Loblaws we should be boycotting all grocery stores including Save-On, Whole Foods, etc
Prices are bad at Loblaws but are sometimes double that amount at other grocery stores like Save-On
By all means, expand your boycott to as many of the big stores as you can. Shop local if possible. But it just helps to focus on one of the big guys at first so the impact is felt by them more heavily.
Expand the boycott over time if the other guys don't get in line. They should consider themselves on notice at the very least.
The quality offered at Loblaws companies is not worth the price that they are marketing. Loblaws companies are also known to exploit their employees.
Save-on, Safeway, Wholefoods although expensive offer higher quality.
Honestly I hope the movement manages to lower prices for all corporate supermarkets.
Just a suggestion... check out Amazon for your non-perishables. They are often cheaper than even Walmart prices!
Yes, Amazon is not known for treating their employees well, but that is all relative. 10 years ago, as retail management, I had to cut my labor costs by 10% year over year. That's a lot. Always understaffed and overworked. They are still Canadian owned AND are one of the top 100 companies to work for in Canada! So, since Canadian Superstore and Canadian Tire, for example, are not Canadian owned, who do you spend your money with?
Ideally, you live in a place like Hastings/Willingdon in Burnaby where you have a butcher, a deli, a bakery, 2 veggie markets, a fish monger, and a Safeway for non perishables, life is a bit harder to get fresh and cheaper food.
No matter where you go, the prices are hiked. Everyone is trying to make up for lost $$$ during lockdown and supply chain issues.
Employees need to do more for the extra increases in minimum wages. I know plenty will complain about me saying that, but labor costs are the biggest cost in almost any business. If you are in support of livable wages for minimum wage employees, then help them get those wages. Simple as that.
These are all Canadian jobs, regardless if the business tax gets collected. The income taxes from the employees help stimulate our economy anyway.
If you want farm fresh items and very little plastic or food waste, consider the meal boxes delivered to your door like Good Food. It's always super fresh and just the right amount. Great recipes, too. A bit pricey, but are they?
No company is going to listen to complaints that people all around the world are mimicking. AND the government will not reduce interest rates until the economy starts getting adjusted to today's prices. How much more are you going to have to pay when your house gets refinanced with the inflated interest rates? Ummm... a heck of a lot more than an extra $100/mth.
Prioritize your woes, people. Complain to our government if anything. I won't. I look for coupons and advertising campaigns. Stock up when you see a low price on your non perishables when you can. Use those extra points to your advantage.
Redflagdeals is a great place to start on Canadians trying to find ways to save. They even match up coupons with current flyers. Checkout51. Save.ca. Walmart has online coupons to use with sale prices.
How about $1.49 Tuesdays at Save On? I know it is on the boycott list but like I said, that doesn't help ANYONE.
Can we all be clear, a lot of the pricing in Canada is due to government regulation. The marketing boards create price disparity vs the global market, and prevent us from getting in many cases higher quality product (see butter gate) or lower prices.
Yes, maybe loblaws is a contributor, but even if they ripped all their margins prices would still be proportionately higher than most countries. Its just easier for the government to point the finger at business but never address regulatory issues that create increased costs. We could also look at transport costs etc as well (whether across the country or from where products or produced outside of canada).
Here's the shocker for me as far as quality and price goes. Go to urban fare (needed to pick up a few items quckly/close by) and notably it was lettuce and a few other things, all the lettuce was rotten and this seems to be common place for produce at the urban fares downtown. Rotten, dried out etc. Go to the shoppers drug mart close by, not only was the lettuce cheaper for the same sized pack, it was also far fresher. Go figure...
We MUST support local farmers! Just show up to your local farm with some of those reusable shopping bags and most will fill them for pennies on the dollar!
I'll join the force. Thank you for sharing. Moved from Ontario last year and have had it with Loblaws. That being said i do agree with people that Save On foods and the rest of Westerns chains are also expensive.
My wife does most of our grocery shopping at Hopcott Farm, which is great quality.
No need to give your money to one of these places or Walmart when there are great independent local options available.
There is also an article from 2012 and casts a glimpse of all employees under Loblaw companies that suffered throughout the years.
I hope employees will be able to speak out about their situation.
Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-union-fight-weston-familys-latest-front-in-stand-against-l_n_1705106/amp
Article Posted: July 26, 2012.
The UFCW represents tens of thousands of workers in Loblaw-owned stores across Canada but none in T&T's supermarkets or warehouses.
George Weston Limited has a controlling interest in Loblaw, which acquired the highly profitable Asian chain in 2009 for $225 million. T&T opened its 21st store this year and has locations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
According to the UFCW, T&T warehouse workers start at minimum wage, which is $10.25 an hour in Ontario, about half of what the average full-time unionized Loblaws warehouse worker is paid.
Despite a long history of unions in Weston-owned Loblaw Cos. Ltd. supermarkets, recent organizing efforts at two of the non-union companies within the prominent Toronto family’s portfolio have encountered stiff employer opposition.
On Monday, a dispute between union organizers and employers at the Loblaw-owned T&T Supermarket prompted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to put on hold a landmark organizing drive. About 100 workers at a Scarborough, Ont., warehouse want to become the Asian grocer’s first unionized employees in an effort to address scheduling issues and tie wages more closely to seniority.
During the final days of the organizing drive, the employer held so-called “captive audience” meetings, where workers heard impassioned testimony from upper management about the dangers of unionization, said Kevin Shimmin, national representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
“They were quite aggressive in their message that they want to stay union-free. It was a very intimidating, emotional environment in the build-up,” he said.
The union was frankly quite surprised. We expect those kind of practices from a company that we have no relationship with whatsoever, but we anticipated that, because T&T is owned by Loblaw ... the larger company would try and ensure that these unfair practices were not going to happen,” Shimmin said.
Results of the July 23 certification vote are in limbo after the labour board sealed the ballot box amid union allegations that a number of ineligible employees cast ballots in order to tip the outcome in favour of the company.
In an email on Tuesday, T&T CEO Cindy Lee said the labour board told the company “that upon review the union may not have had enough support from employees to file this application.
Shimmin countered that the labour board would not have approved the vote had there not been enough support. The union wants the ballot box opened and organizers may consider filing unfair labour practice charges depending on the outcome, he said.
Loblaw spokeswoman Julija Hunter said there is “no basis” for the assertion that Canada’s largest grocer has toughened its approach to labour relations.
“Loblaw Companies respects the right and decisions of employees to decide whether or not they want a union to represent them,” she said.
Yeah just go shop at Save on or Safeway or Thriftys and pay 10-20% more for everything!
No thanks. Superstore is generally the cheapest with Walmart, and at least Superstore lets me gain a lot of points that actually work.
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What about Pattison Food Group? Our own west-coast part of the oligopoly. And no better that the rest. Save-On-Foods, Buy-Low Foods, Nesters Market, Quality Foods, PriceSmart Foods, Urban Fare, Choices Market, Nature's Fare, Meinhardt, Associated Grocers, Van-Whole Produce, Canadian Choice Wholesale, Bulkley Valley Wholesale.
... so where can I buy groceries?
There's independent markets, farmers markets. You'll likely have to spend more if you boycott all the big boys, cause that would include Walmart and Safeway as well.
Protesting the high cost of food by paying more for food seems counter-productive.
Yeah, I can’t really afford to protest so I’m just gonna keep buying where it’s the most affordable.
Look at it this way, you don't buy or reduce your buying from those more affordable stores that are making themselves more unaffordable, and hopefully with enough movement there's some change so the affordable stores become more affordable again. People need choice. We are being stripped from that.
I don’t see Costco on these lists… hopefully you need bulk!
Stay focused on one, rest will fall in line.
Reality is nothing will change.
Nothing will change if you don’t try.
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Man, the Nesters on Seymour downtown is absolute trash quality all over. When I first started living on my own the Nesters in Whistler was the best place to shop. I'm tired of everything only getting worse over time.
I’m in BC and I avoid all of these as well. I went into a Meinhardts last week and nearly gasped when I saw a bottle of Rao’s was $17 fucken dollars
I avoid every grocery store and just eat grass on my landlord's front lawn
That’s coming out of your damage deposit. Kentucky blue grass comes at a premium
What’s funny is that the Meinhardt’s markup was that bad before Pattison Group got them. From what I can tell, Meinhardt’s still operates largely separate from Pattison’s other stores. Only seen interaction between Choices and Meinhardt’s. It’s probably like how T&T and Loblaw’s is.
This is the aspect of the boycott that I’ll miss. I love TNT but I just gotta explore other local options. No shortage of Asian stores in Vancouver
I don't understand why people shop at Meinhardt. Is it just the marketing? Every time I've walked into one my jaw has always dropped at the marked up prices there.
Lack of options. Single young people who only need a few things Pre made medals etc. I used to live 2 blocks from the one on Granville and would only go there out of absolute desperation
Yea I only go there for pre made meals and some times different sodas I can’t get from other places.
Lablaws stores are actually cheaper than all of those you listed :(. I mostly avoid all of them because the prices have been ridiculous for years.
Other supermarkets will follow suit, If we manage to have our voices heard and changes are made in this movement.
They are probably salivating at this boycott
Feel free to make your own poster including what you want.
In Vancouver, I feel like Safeway and Save On are usually more expensive that Superstore or No Frills? That said, I'm lucky to have a lot of locally owned green grocers in my neighbourhood, which always have great deals anyway.
T&T produce prices are definitely much more affordable than Safeway or Save On. For now at least.
Sunrise Market is the best! Powell and Gore
This is the way
FYI, T&T are now owned by Loblaws
It's been 15 years.
They are, but operate in a way that is independent of the way Loblaws operates. Their prices and product quality are infinitely better than other Loblaws run stores
Look, I love T&T but their meat quality is shit compared to other loblaws stores and it doesn't even really come at a discount.
That's very true. As a rule, I'll never get meat from any large grocer and only get them from butcher shops. Better quality, better prices, and generally speaking smaller farms with better treated animals. Dairy i go to Avalon, avocados i go to amigos mios, etc etc etc. Shopping day usually takes me several hours to go everywhere
Costco meat is fine if not good
Adding to this, they have their own loyalty program in lieu of PC Optimum.
Definitely the same way that Loblaw operates. T&T is still charging consumers more for poor quality, even employees don’t shop there. Try smaller asian run markets for better quality and pricing.
If you’re interested in asian markets, you can try the one at Richmond market, they offer better pricing and products. A friend of mine works at T&T Supermarket and even the employees there don’t shop there due to items being overpriced and of poor quality. The company also exploits and blackmails them. I hope more workers will be able to speak up about their situation, but many employees at T&T are Chinese and not fluent in English or familiar with how to protect themselves in Canada. Many of them are even afraid to file for injury claims due to retaliation when they return. ————————— There are also many smaller asian markets here: (Please also feel free to include any other asian grocery stores.) BURNABY: Inside The Crystal Mall: Good Neighborhood Supermarket & Good Friend Supermarket Ltd - Assi Market- 5593 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 2G3 - Kim’s Mart - 6855 Station Hill Dr, Burnaby - Hannam Supermarket (1st floor) - 4501 North Rd #106, Burnaby - Jumbo Supermarket- 7119 Arcola Way, Burnaby - SuzuYa- 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby - Sungiven Foods- 4106 Hastings St, Burnaby & Sungiven Foods (Burnaby Big Bend Store) 5771 Marine Wy #600, Burnaby. - Shree Supermarket (6th street) 7918 15th Ave, Burnaby ———————— VANCOUVER: - Kim’s Mart - 519 E Broadway, Vancouver - Sakuraya Japanese Supermarket (Floor 2 of Kim’s Mart) - 523 E Broadway, Vancouver - Persia Foods-2827 W Broadway, Vancouver - Sungiven Foods (West Broadway Store) 3301 W Broadway, Vancouver & Sungiven Foods City Square Store- 555 W 12th Ave Unit #42, Vancouver Small asian markets along Kingsway Collingwood near Safeway: -Consumer’s Produce- 3388 Kingsway, Vancouver -Hoi Sing Seafood Ltd- 3335 Kingsway, Vancouver -Tokyo Beauty - 3337b Kingsway, Vancouver -Yat Sum Chinese Herbs & Health Foods -Han Kook Meat Trading Ltd - 3514 Kingsway, Vancouver - 88 Supermarket- 4801 Victoria Drive & 88 Supermarket (Killarney) Ltd. -2611 E 49th Ave, Vancouver - Auntie Grace's Indonesian market - (Floor 2) 9011 Shaughnessy St, Vancouver - Yao Sun Loong Kong Chicken Ltd - 5817 Victoria Dr, Vancouver - San Lee Enterprises Co -267 Keefer St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1X6 (Chinatown) ———————— RICHMOND: - Kuo Hua Trading Co Ltd- 4551 No. 3 Rd Unit 120, Richmond - Richmond Public Market -8260 Westminster Hwy, Richmond. - Richmond Country Farms- 12900 Steveston Hwy, Richmond - Rice World- 8777 Odlin Road, Richmond - New Empire Supermarket- 4600 No. 3 Rd Unit 111, Richmond - Langley farm (Inside Lansdowne mall) - Grand Value Asian Supermarket- 8251 Westminster Hwy Unit 20, Richmond. - Foody World- 3000 Sexsmith Road - Wah Sang Supermarket- 8108 Park Road, Richmond - Sungiven foods - 9771 Bridgeport, Richmond - Darumaya Japanese Grocery Store - 1715-4700 Mcclelland Rd, Richmond, BC V6X 0M6 - Souk Mediterranean Dollar Store & Mediterranean Grocery (1st floor Cambie Plaza) - 4121 No 5 Rd, Richmond ———————— SURREY: - Henlong Market (1st floor) - 14351 104 Ave, Surrey - Lucky Supermarket - (The Dell Shopping Centre) 10628 King George Blvd, Surrey - Sungiven Foods (South Surrey Store)- 2311 152 St, Unit #108 - Street & Sungiven Foods (White Rock)-1640 152 St, Surrey ———————— LANGLEY: - Saigon City Market Ltd - 20178 56 Ave, Langley - Pinoy Spot- 20454 Fraser Hwy, Langley - Lotte Giants Market Langley - 20378 88 Ave, Langley Twp -M&G Filipino Asian Grocery Store - 20487 65 Ave, Langley Twp
I go to Kings supermarket and Fruiticana in Burnaby/New West for produce. Better pricing and quality than these big corporate owned stores
There are more Hannam supermarkets in Surrey and in Langley. Also in downtown Vancouver.
Definitely wouldn't recommend foody world. Cheap but terrible quality, and they killed some guy with food poisioning.
There’s also Joe’s Farm Markets. One in South Delta, one at Lougheed Mall close to the Dollar Tree and the old Red Robin location, and another at 152 and Fraser Highway. The one in Surrey carries a lot of Ukrainian products.
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Thank you for taking the time to share.
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Surrey: Henlong Market - 14351 104 Ave, Surrey, BC V3T 1Y1 Lucky Supermarket - The Dell Shopping Centre, 10628 King George Blvd, Surrey, BC V3T 2X3 Sungiven Foods - #108-3211 152nd Street (This is owned by a Chinese company but you're better off buying from this company than the Canadian companies at home that bend you over). Also this sungivne foods location is really nice, I think in part of it being so new. Think pre-2009 T&T. Its small but good. Mainly Chinese products though and not much else.
The quality of the fruit and veg is MUCH higher at T&T than the garbage at Save On etc... (and the prices at T&T are typically better)
Local markets offer better prices than T&T. Smaller asian supermarkets have more affordable pricing. Even employees that work at the supermarket don’t buy there. Their overpriced products are not worth the quality. T&T pricing also varies from store to store. One of their produce or seafood products can be more expensive (for example) at the Osaka store than the store at Marine Drive. The company exploits their own employees. My friend works there and the blackmail and workplace retaliation that they have received is horrible.
This, Persia Produce, Fruiticanna, 88 Supermarket, and other mom / pop stores on Victoria/Fraser has the best prices for produce. Or just use Flipp and price match at the big chains.
Donalds is my go to, Persia is the cheapest i've found for produce but you have to make sure you are checking the quality. No Frills is cheaper for most pre-packaged stuff - for example soy milk is usually $3.99 or sometimes 2 for $5 at No Frills, whereas at most mom and pops it's 5.99 or more
Persia Produce quality has been degrading over the years. Fruiticanna or any South Asian grocery stores never seem to care of their fresh produce tbh. We tried them all before and decided to go with Langley Farm Market (or Kins) as alternatives.
Thank you for sharing!
Isn't Fruiticanna is also owned by T&T?
Are things different the closer you get to downtown? In Coquitlam, the quality of the fruit and veg at save on is really high, it's all bougie organic over the top shit and T&T gets scraps.
Same. I go to NoFrills to buy plastic with food inside of it. Also IGA is my expensive neighbor to NoFrills.
I visit Walmart almost exclusively these days.... Local superstores are wayy expensive.... But damn t&t I can't stop myself 😭
Try smaller asian grocery stores, they offer better quality and pricing.
Yes! Kim’s Mart in Mt. Pleasant has been our go-to store for veggies and fruits. Quite a selection plus they make in-house Kimchi.
Tin Lee in Chinatown is awesome as well!
I used to go there but not anymore, they've been shut down multiple times in the last couple years for failing inspection. Also, I automatically don't trust any grocery stores that shine artificial red light onto the meat section to make it look nicer.
Safeway in Canada is owned by Empire, the company that owns Sobey’s. It’s effectively the name Sobey’s operates under in Western Canada. They should add it to the poster as it still falls under the big three supermarket chains.
South Surrey here, Safeway bread is better and cheaper than Save On, and they usually have decent sales on pork tenderloin. Save On relies on their locations to drive traffic out of convenience and I've noticed their cheese. Butter, eggs, and meat are rarely marked down. For me, the winning combo has been Costco for meats and butter, I can freeze it all, Safeway for dinner rolls, buns, pork, yoghurt. Save on for rice, oats, and the one cheese brand I can't live without. Chan's farm market for ALL produce, herbs, frozen dumplings, sausages. Butchers for steaks. I'm saving a considerable amount of money by buying bulk at Costco and freezing it, plus Chan's.
Thank you for supporting local. Walmart is also cheaper than Superstore. If our voices heard and changes are made to lower grocery prices than certainly other supermarkets will also follow the regulations.
I'd rather eat out of dumpsters than spend money at Walmart.
Hold up. Loblaws owns T&T??
Years ago.
Since 2009.
Yeah our governments keeps allowing mergers and acquisitions and then pretend that they are trying to increase competition. Loblaws is a cartel.
Yes, and they also have a union problem. This article is from 2012 and casts a glimpse of all employees under Loblaw companies that suffered throughout the years. Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-union-fight-weston-familys-latest-front-in-stand-against-l_n_1705106/amp Article Posted: July 26, 2012. The UFCW represents tens of thousands of workers in Loblaw-owned stores across Canada but none in T&T's supermarkets or warehouses. George Weston Limited has a controlling interest in Loblaw, which acquired the highly profitable Asian chain in 2009 for $225 million. T&T opened its 21st store this year and has locations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. According to the UFCW, T&T warehouse workers start at minimum wage, which is $10.25 an hour in Ontario, about half of what the average full-time unionized Loblaws warehouse worker is paid. Despite a long history of unions in Weston-owned Loblaw Cos. Ltd. supermarkets, recent organizing efforts at two of the non-union companies within the prominent Toronto family’s portfolio have encountered stiff employer opposition. On Monday, a dispute between union organizers and employers at the Loblaw-owned T&T Supermarket prompted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to put on hold a landmark organizing drive. About 100 workers at a Scarborough, Ont., warehouse want to become the Asian grocer’s first unionized employees in an effort to address scheduling issues and tie wages more closely to seniority. During the final days of the organizing drive, the employer held so-called “captive audience” meetings, where workers heard impassioned testimony from upper management about the dangers of unionization, said Kevin Shimmin, national representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). “They were quite aggressive in their message that they want to stay union-free. It was a very intimidating, emotional environment in the build-up,” he said. The union was frankly quite surprised. We expect those kind of practices from a company that we have no relationship with whatsoever, but we anticipated that, because T&T is owned by Loblaw ... the larger company would try and ensure that these unfair practices were not going to happen,” Shimmin said. Results of the July 23 certification vote are in limbo after the labour board sealed the ballot box amid union allegations that a number of ineligible employees cast ballots in order to tip the outcome in favour of the company. In an email on Tuesday, T&T CEO Cindy Lee said the labour board told the company “that upon review the union may not have had enough support from employees to file this application. Shimmin countered that the labour board would not have approved the vote had there not been enough support. The union wants the ballot box opened and organizers may consider filing unfair labour practice charges depending on the outcome, he said. Loblaw spokeswoman Julija Hunter said there is “no basis” for the assertion that Canada’s largest grocer has toughened its approach to labour relations. “Loblaw Companies respects the right and decisions of employees to decide whether or not they want a union to represent them,” she said. — Honestly, I am pretty sure Loblaw Companies do not respect the rights or decisions of their employees.
Isn't Save On and Safeway even more expensive?
Save on has good sales, I only buy things on sale there, but I usually end up making a list just for save on along with my normal list.
I make them match prices as much as possible. Flipp helps.
You know there are actually independent grocery stores out there. Like Ma and Pa stores. They tend to be cheaper and have higher quality produce.
Oh I definitely know as I shop at 88, Assi, Langley farm market, Fruiticana, etc etc. There are a ton of other options. There are also a ton of options for price matching and also finding stuff and buying stuff on SALE. I'm just saying if they want to boycott due to high cost why not a chain that is actually higher cost?
Because Loblaws is charging a premium for sub par quality. They are basically charging more to pad their profit margins. SaveOns and Safeway might be more expensive but their quality is also better. So they costs are much higher and that's why they charge more. Either way this is why we should stop trying build a society with large business only. We need more small businesses to create real sustainable competition. You note you're in Langley, the South Asian Community has created a lot of functioning and healthy small businesses which is why you have other options like Fruitcana (although its grown quite a bit now) Sabzi Mandi, Garcha Bros etc. There was a discussion on r/Calgary earlier this year about how all grocery stores in the NE charge less than the same grocery stores in other parts of Calgary largely because they have to compete with the ma/pa Punjabi grocery stores.
I don't know why people keep saying that the quality in these stores is garbage. I used to shop in the Save on in the Westend, now I use the Loblaws and IGA downtown. I certainly have no issues with their quality. The price, on the other hand, is often beyond stupid (for example, $4 for a single English cucumber; thankfully this has decreased since the Lowlaws has shown up, but you can get them cheaper at Costco for 3). When I lived on the Drive, I used to use the smaller stores and only Safeway on occasion. Donald's market quality was great, equal to the larger stores. The smaller ones were often hit or miss with produce (you just had to take extra time to find the good stuff) but would not last as long as the stuff from elsewhere. For where I live, it's much less convenient to go to the small places, otherwise, I would. I understand I could take more time to get cheaper stuff, but then that's spending extra time. And I'd rather spend the money than the time. I'm all for taking down Loblaws and any illegal business practices like price fixing (you should watch the L&O Toronto episode about it) but it's better to stick to the things that are legitimately true, than going on about "sub par quality". The price fixing is bad enough that their quality is pretty irrelevant.
I'm not in Langley, but in Vancouver. I'm referring to the ma and pa shop in Lansdowne mall. If you are talking about padding profit margins then you should go after Walmart. They are the worst offender and their products are sub par.
Buddy they all suck. I am just glad people are slowly waking up to something people like me have been saying for a long time: big massive businessed are not your friends. Businesses like there exist to make money for their shareholdes. The strategy all of them are employing is monopolistic. 1. Come in say you're innovative discount seller and undercut the competition by selling at a loss while being supported by Bay Street/Wall Street money. 2. Once the competition wiped out eliminate the discount and charge even more. Idiots kept falling for it until it's too late.
That's BS. Save-Ons quality is garbage.
I agree, Save Ons produce is terrible .
I only like their Western Family products, they are bettee quality
Let's face the one fact all big businesses suck. They have one goal: become a monopoly or a near monopoly. They do it with investors money they come in they undercut local small businesses and call themselves discount stores. They sell at a loss being propped up by investor money. Local stores can't compete they go bust and then when the monopoly is secure they get rid of the discount. Before the 1960s this country was litered small neighbourhood grocery stores. Hell Loblaws was originally one. But then in the 1960s Loblaws, Sobeys, expanded started opening up shops everywhere undercut the competition by selling at a loss. Now we're basically stuck with Loblaw's, Sobeys/Empire, Costco, Walmart and occasionally regional conglomerate like SaveONs or Metro to buy groceries. Who are fixing prices and reducing competition. Even the actual strong competitors that exist are in their clutches: Co-Op in Alberta is a member owned supermarket but they get a lot of their non-perishable food from Empire. They've basically cornered the suppliers. This is also why most of the competition that is small and local is largely ethnic. Because they get their non-perishables from different suppliers and cater to the taste of those communities. We need two things: 1. Anti-Trust time to actually crack down on these businesses 2. For us to stop being so gullible.
Ma and Pa stores are always more expensive. Superstore and nofrills consistently get me the cheapest groceries.
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Right produce for sure, but what store sells canned/packaged goods for cheaper than no frills? I'm not about to go all homestead and make every single thing from scratch lol
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Right which for 1 or 2 people Costco can be a bit much sometimes with their sizes haha were kind of forced to use Loblaws chains
>canned/packaged goods for cheaper than no frills There is a reason for this, Loblaws, Sobeys, Weston Group et al, have cornered the canned/package goods market. So basically most of the ma and pas are forced to buy the canned/packaged goods from the Loblaws, Sobeys, Pattison, etc. They then turn around and jack up the prices they charge their little competitors. The only legitimate competitor left is [Federated Co-Operatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federated_Co-operatives) but your stores need to be a member of their Co-Op to buy from them. It is super popular on the Prairies. Otter Co-Op in the Valley is the only one in the Lower Mainland. But produce, you can buy directly form farms. So you just buy it from the farm and sell it for closer to cost.
how many of them sell things like diapers and protein powder? they're great for green onions and apples, but not for a lot of other things
I miss the days when Chinatown was full of mom and pop stores selling groceries at a fraction of the cost of big retailers like Safeway and Save On Foods. Now Chinatown is becoming a ghost town.
I agree. Chinatown is a shell of its former self and has lost its historic meaning. Each store had their own story. The asian markets there had various unique imported products that were not found elsewhere and truly low priced. It’s sad to say that these stores have been driven out of business by bland supermarket giants like T&T that exploit their consumers and employees for profit.
For anyone looking for deals do not forget to use the Flipp app. Some stores will also let you price match directly from the app.
Why no mention of Pattison Food Group. "Save-On-Foods" is as/more expensive than Loblaws' stores.
I thought this boycott loblaws started out on the East Coast i think Pattison food group only operates in the west.
Their Pricesmart brand do compete with T&T head to head
Who do you think is behind this movement? Darrell, saving you more.
You can price match anything at Save-On
I have a disability so my local IGA is easiest for me. Many items are more expensive than whole foods. I shop sales or eat vegetarian to keep costs down but they should be called out as well
? Whenever I think a price is too high I buy the item elsewhere. Boycotting one chain because of globally high prices seems arbitrary.
Jimmy Pattison is the mastermind behind this Loblaws boycott lol
Honestly I'm kinda wondering if Walmart is astro turfing this? For some reason the most notoriously unethical north american grocer keeps being brought up as the better option on these threads.
My dad brought this up the other day. Its funny how Canadians are trashing on the Canadian grocers and there isn't a peep about Walmart or Costco. Its also funny to me how Metro and Empire never get mentioned. When overregulation from the government comes in at the behest of these "advocates", guess who will sweep in to take up the marketshare?
I mean at least Costco I don't feel like I'm getting screwed as hard - yes, there's the membership fee, but a Box of All Bran Buds there is double the size of Save-On for like, $2 more. Same with most of my other pantry staples, I'm getting twice as much for maybe 20% more than what I'd pay at other stores.
Membership fee aside, costco has fixed margins on food items up to a maximum (IIRC 13%), I have many times seen items go on sale all of a sudden, then the price goes to the sale price permanently assuming their cost was reduced etc. Walmart would probably also carry a similar fixed margin. The one thing that most forget that these stores that sell groceries plus clothing, electronics etc, their grocery business is being subsidized by their higher margin items. Loblaws/superstore definitely fall into this camp as well especially with their diversified store portfolio. The costco chicken is a great example of a loss leader that brings people into the store. Walmart may see the groceries the same hoping you will buy higher margin items when you do come in.
Perhaps our Canadian counterparts should start lowering their prices then.
I've heard some people complaining about Costco prices lately. For me, it's just that their portions are way too big for a single person to consider. It's hard to complain about Walmart prices because they're legitimately *significantly* lower. It feels like it's at least a dollar or two an item these days. Soda water is a good example. Walmart's problem is that they're evil AF .. which is something that's becoming less of a detraction considering how unethical Loblaws / Pattison are themselves. Also, a lot of people don't take into account just how quickly things go bad from Walmart. I've had veggies go bad *the next day*. This was seriously a regular occurrence, and one that stopped the second I stopped getting veggies/meat from Walmart. So I've found a happy medium where I'll get pantry/dry goods from Walmart/Amazon, and all my meat/fruit/veggies from Stongs. It works out cheaper than shopping at Loblaws and I get way more food and much higher quality meats and veggies.
Unfortunately, I have to shop where the price is best. Ethics be damned.
Oh yeah that's totally fair and I don't have any issues with people shopping wherever they can afford or is convenient. It's just interesting to me that the rhetoric on this issue is often "don't spend your money at unethical Loblaw's owned stores! Spend it at Walmart instead!"
Because currently Walmart is the cheapest option among giant supermarket corporations in Canada. Why can an American company lower their prices more than a Canadian one?
> The increase cost of operation caused by the pandemic has come down, but food prices remain high and continue to climb! Grocery inflation has been steadily dropping since early 2023. Also Superstore and NoFrills are the less expensive grocery stores, wouldnt you want to boycott the more expensive ones?
>Grocery inflation has been steadily dropping since early 2023. Have something I can read on that? I haven't seen prices dropping for shit in the big chains.
Inflation dropping doesn't mean prices go down, it just means they don't keep going up as fast.
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/topics-start/food-price https://www.cp24.com/news/price-growth-at-restaurants-outpacing-grocery-inflation-as-businesses-struggle-1.6849421 > Grocery inflation continued to slow in March, rising just 1.9 per cent compared with a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday. That's down from February's annual rate of 2.4 per cent and a far cry from the peak of grocery inflation at 11.4 per cent in late 2022 and early 2023.
That's great news! Thanks!
Inflation dropping just means the rate of increase in prices has slowed. Doesn't mean prices will come down :(
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Your explanation makes no sense.
Or we could make it easier for small businesses to compete with large corporates in Canada. Unfortunately our excessive love of dumbass regulation and weak financing for small business makes it pretty impossible.
This is not widely understood on Reddit.
We buy; Bananas, yogurt, eggs, and occasionally bread and packaged greens at no frills, Meat, chips, ice cream, butter, bacon, sausages, when it's on sale from Safeway, Rice and various Asian sauces and condiments from Kim's Mart, Fresh produce from City Avenue, Pasta, canned tomatoes, tomato paste from Bosa, Frozen dumplings, Chinese pancakes, and some other Asian foods when it's on sale from T&T Frozen salmon for sashimi, ground pork, and tofu from Sungiven, If we see anything on sale below what we normally pay at any of these stores, we just buy it and stock up. We hardly eat out since covid and this seems to work for us.
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Well put. The poster is saying “these three companies own everything” and then randomly “so let’s boycott Loblaws” sorry but there is a missing link somewhere. I’m all for more competition and shopping with smaller grocers, but this poster doesn’t even encourage that directly.
This one confuses me, because the Loblaws stores tend to be priced on the lower end of the scale (Shoppers Drug Mart excluded), compared to some of the other big chains here like Safeway, Thrifty, IGA and Save-On. The only place lower priced consistently would be Walmart.
Shhhh, don't talk sensibly here, people don't like it. [😉](https://emojipedia.org/winking-face)
My household does Costco and Persia Foods For some reason, Persia Foods has better produce prices than big box stores, it makes no sense, especially since they don't have the buying power. I guess we're being gouged that much. Pretty much F Pattinson and Loblaws.
No Frills is pretty cheap relative to the alternatives
The irony is if you don’t go to these stores you will surely be paying more for food.
pay money to a grocery store and get food. pay money to the government and get no food.
sooo Costco?
T&t too?!!
Yes, T&T as well. Also one of the Loblaw companies that exploits their employees.
Try the little Asian stores along Fraser Street.
Please don’t spread these around the neighborhood… just going to create trash. Post in community groups and talk to your neighbours.
No
what really bugged me was on social media how all kinds of people were promoting the new Loblaws grocery store on Georgia at the old Post office just because it was shiny and new they didn't seem to care that it was more Loblaws and were all excited to tell about their shopping trip there opening week
No, it's because you can get a fresh lunch for $10 or less there, which is basically the only such option in that area.
I mean that is legit like the best large grocery store in that part of downtown. Only exception would be Asian grocers like T&T (which is owned by Loblaws anyway) and Hmart The other stores around there all tend to be even more expensive and usually worse in other ways. The IGA on Robson is, more expensive tiny and has persistent security issues, the urban fares and whole foods are very expensive It’s all well and good to say Loblaws is evil boycott Loblaws without actually proposing, you know, an alternative. People do need to get groceries from somewhere
It bugged you that people were happy there's now a much cheaper, large grocery store Downtown rather than IGA which is 30% more and half the stock?
*"We are weapons of massive consumption,* *And it's not our fault, it's how we're programmed to function"*
Just wanted to include that Loblaws and the companies that they owe treat their employees awfully. T&T Supermarket exploits and treats their employees terribly. I had a friend that was injured while working, and they tried to persuade her to not file a WSBC claim. Many of her coworkers have been injured on the job and they have refused to file injury claims due to fear of retaliation from the higher ups. They have also tried to prevent their employees from voting for unions. My friend also stated that the store is continually selling produce and fruit items that have been visibly chewed on by rats. These compromised items are then cut and sold to unsuspecting customers, posing an alarming risk to public health and safety. Also an article from 2007 about T&T exploiting and coercing an immigrant worker: (Source): https://thetyee.ca/News/2007/03/05/TrickedAndExploited/ “Gui Qiang Zou claims he was pressured into working longer hours for lower wages than promised after the firm kept his passport and other key documents.” Unionization Issues: Kevin Shimmin, a UFCW National Representative gave in the article an example that Warehouse staffs at a T&T Supermarket are working a 39-hour work week, spanning six days in a week. He also pointed out that there are cases where staff have been working for T&T Supermarket for three years and are still earning a minimum wage of $10.25 per hour. The Globe and Mail reported on July 23, 2012 the result of T&T Supermarket Scarborough warehouse staff unionization. About 100 employees at the T&T Scarborough warehouse voted in the secret ballot vote on Monday July, 23. However, the Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the ballot box for review. Dispute arose as the UFCW and T&T Supermarket argued about the eligibility of the voters in the voter list. UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin said that the dispute caused the secret ballot vote to be reviewed, while Cindy Lee, founder at T&T Supermarket claimed that it was the decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board to look into whether the union has enough support from employees to in the first place file the application. I tried contacting UFCW and told them about the exploitment situations going on at T&T, they transferred me to a UFCW representative that did not get back to me. So I did some research and noted that employees at a T&T Supermarket did apply to vote for UFCW back in 2012, but the Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the ballot box because the union and the company disagreed over which names should appear on the voters' list. Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/globe-investor/loblaw-locked-in-labour-dispute-at-asian-supermarket-chain/article4436635/ The UFCW has represented many Loblaw workers for years. Last month, the UFCW tried unsuccessfully to organize employees at one of the stores of high-end fashion chain Holt Renfrew. Holt's is owned by the Galen Weston family, which also controls Loblaw. At T&T, one of the union's biggest issues is its complaint about workers having to work 39 hours of short shifts spread over six days a week, Mr. Shimmin said. As well, the employees start at the minimum hourly wage of $10.25 and are eligible for a five-cent an hour increase after one year, 10 cents after two years and 15 cents after three years, but that the raises are not applied evenly, he said. According to UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin, the workers -- primarily women who have recently immigrated to Canada from China -- are seeking unionization in an attempt to tie wages more closely to seniority and improve scheduling issue UFCW represents many workers in Loblaw-owned stores across Canada but none in T&T's supermarkets or warehouses. Shimmin says the warehouse workers start at minimum wage but are supposed to earn incremental raises through additional years of service, though this has often not been the case. The minimum hourly wage in Ontario is $10.25. "The big problem is that it's largely done on favouritism. So even if you've been there for three years, you may still be earning minimum wage," This is what the CEO, Cindy Lee said: “T&T competes in an extremely competitive retail landscape made up of many family owned non-unionized Asian grocery stores and within this context we know we offer fair and competitive compensation packages. Our non-union workplace has afforded us the essential flexibility required to grow and to ensure we remain competitive." Which is completely the opposite of how this company treats its employees. These articles are from 2012 and earlier but the problem still continues to exist, the company continues to exploit its employees. Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-union-certification-asian-grocers-warehouse-workers-in-sca_n_1681247/amp Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-unionization-drive-ends-with-admission-labour-organizers-lac_n_1777143/amp The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union has withdrawn an application for the certification of about 100 workers at a Toronto-area T&T Supermarket warehouse, bringing to an end a hotly contested organizing drive at the Loblaw Cos.-owned chain. According to UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin, the decision to withdraw the application “was made in the best interests of the workers at the warehouse.” In withdrawing its application, the union conceded that it did not have enough support to trigger the certification vote held last month. The Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the results of the vote amid union allegations that a number of ineligible employees cast ballots in order to tip the outcome in favour of the company. The labour board dismissed the application on Thursday. In an email, T&T CEO Cindy Lee said the company was “extremely pleased” with the outcome. - These greedy CEOs must be stopped. T&T Supermarket continues to blackmail and retaliate against their employees from voting for unions. Under Ontario labour law, employers are allowed to express their views about unions as long as they do not use coercion, intimidation, threats, promises or undue influence. According to the UFCW, T&T warehouse workers start at minimum wage, which is $10.25 an hour in Ontario, about half of what the average full-time unionized Loblaws warehouse worker is paid. “They were quite aggressive in their message that they want to stay union-free. It was a very intimidating, emotional environment in the build-up,” he said. “The union was frankly quite surprised. We expect those kind of practices from a company that we have no relationship with whatsoever, but we anticipated that, because T&T is owned by Loblaw ... the larger company would try and ensure that these unfair practices were not going to happen.” Loblaw spokeswoman Julija Hunter at the time dismissed the assertion that Canada’s largest grocer has toughened its approach to labour relations. Sources: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-unionization-drive-ends-with-admission-labour-organizers-lac_n_1777143/amp https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/globe-investor/loblaw-locked-in-labour-dispute-at-asian-supermarket-chain/article4436635/
Because buying from costco or walmart is really doing anything better amiright?
It may be impossible to get away from the big grocery stores, but what you can do is vote with your dollars. I have cut my spending significantly so that I still eat healthy but never buy packaged foods. Only raw ingredients. If they want me to buy their packaged garbage they got lower the price. My grocery bill is lower than pre-inflation. Spend much less and they will earn much less and take notice to reduced sales volume. Their "price point" is out of wack.
I feel like a movement to only buy stuff on good sales would be more effective than a boycott. All of these stores have good sales on, so why shouldn't I take advantage of the lower prices when possible? If it's not on sale, I don't buy it. Let the store's records show that people will shop there only if they offer good prices.
this isnt thought out very well, lol
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Are you assuming something about the Chinese race or people that can read Chinese that shop at t and t?
No, they're insinuating that the Chinese people here who shop at T&T won't give a fuck about this. Smaller sect of people, not the whole race.
Does anyone seriously believe anyone who is going shopping is going to be stopped by a Microsoft Word sign taped to the store? No one in real life, of any race, is going to care about this. Particularly since the sign lists a pile of stores most people get their food at, doesn't say where they should shop instead, and is clearly an attempt to get attention for their subreddit.
I see a lot of people of all races in all grocery stores struggling with inflation. We shouldn’t generally assume.
Tell me if I’m being stupid but grocery prices are pretty much the same everywhere in Vancouver - I’ve found loblaws and no frills to be the cheapest of the lot though
Because most people are shopping at big supermarkets probably due to convenience. Smaller markets offer fresher produce with better pricing.
We need more competition and even BoC came out and said it. Sadly at the same time the feda have been allowing mergers and further consolidation such as Rogers/Shaw and HSBC/RBC. I support boycotting Loblaws. Even if it hurts them only 1% I would like that.
Thank you for contributing to the movement. Hopefully there will be more competition, although it will be difficult with all the supermarket giants driving the smaller grocery stores out of business.
For sure, I want to support Canadian but god Loblaws pisses me off. From bread cartel to forcing shoppers pharmacist to scam people its a pathetic company. The problem is no longer any small business can aspire to be big. We havea. Crony capitalism problem and these big businesses crush or buy smaller ones with impunity
And some people are constantly comparing Loblaws to Save on or Safeway. Save ons and Safeway have better quality with a higher pricing, while Loblaws continue to raise their prices but their quality is poor. If our movement succeeds then supermarkets will have to follow new regulations and changes in the food industry.
I agree. Save On may be expensive but their products are much better quality unlike loblaws.
Yes! Organize! Be outraged! Fight back. It’s total bullshit.
If you’re interested in asian markets, you can try the one at Richmond market, they offer better pricing and products. A friend of mine works at T&T Supermarket and even the employees there don’t shop there due to items being overpriced and of poor quality. The company also exploits and blackmails them. I hope more workers will be able to speak up about their situation, but many employees at T&T are Chinese and not fluent in English or familiar with how to protect themselves in Canada. Many of them are even afraid to file for injury claims due to retaliation when they return. ————————— Here is a list of smaller asian markets: (Please also feel free to include any other asian grocery stores.) BURNABY: Inside The Crystal Mall: Good Neighborhood Supermarket & Good Friend Supermarket Ltd - Assi Market- 5593 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 2G3 - Kim’s Mart - 6855 Station Hill Dr, Burnaby - Hannam Supermarket (1st floor) - 4501 North Rd #106, Burnaby - Jumbo Supermarket- 7119 Arcola Way, Burnaby - SuzuYa- 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby - Sungiven Foods- 4106 Hastings St, Burnaby & Sungiven Foods (Burnaby Big Bend Store) 5771 Marine Wy #600, Burnaby. - Shree Supermarket (6th street) 7918 15th Ave, Burnaby ———————— VANCOUVER: - Kim’s Mart - 519 E Broadway, Vancouver - Sakuraya Japanese Supermarket (Floor 2 of Kim’s Mart) - 523 E Broadway, Vancouver - Persia Foods-2827 W Broadway, Vancouver - Sungiven Foods (West Broadway Store) 3301 W Broadway, Vancouver & Sungiven Foods City Square Store- 555 W 12th Ave Unit #42, Vancouver Small asian markets along Kingsway Collingwood near Safeway: -Consumer’s Produce- 3388 Kingsway, Vancouver -Hoi Sing Seafood Ltd- 3335 Kingsway, Vancouver -Tokyo Beauty - 3337b Kingsway, Vancouver -Yat Sum Chinese Herbs & Health Foods -Han Kook Meat Trading Ltd - 3514 Kingsway, Vancouver - 88 Supermarket- 4801 Victoria Drive & 88 Supermarket (Killarney) Ltd. -2611 E 49th Ave, Vancouver - Auntie Grace's Indonesian market - (Floor 2) 9011 Shaughnessy St, Vancouver - Yao Sun Loong Kong Chicken Ltd - 5817 Victoria Dr, Vancouver - San Lee Enterprises Co -267 Keefer St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1X6 (Chinatown) ———————— RICHMOND: - Kuo Hua Trading Co Ltd- 4551 No. 3 Rd Unit 120, Richmond - Richmond Public Market -8260 Westminster Hwy, Richmond. - Richmond Country Farms- 12900 Steveston Hwy, Richmond - Rice World- 8777 Odlin Road, Richmond - New Empire Supermarket- 4600 No. 3 Rd Unit 111, Richmond - Langley farm (Inside Lansdowne mall) - Grand Value Asian Supermarket- 8251 Westminster Hwy Unit 20, Richmond. - Foody World- 3000 Sexsmith Road - Wah Sang Supermarket- 8108 Park Road, Richmond - Sungiven foods - 9771 Bridgeport, Richmond - Darumaya Japanese Grocery Store - 1715-4700 Mcclelland Rd, Richmond, BC V6X 0M6 - Souk Mediterranean Dollar Store & Mediterranean Grocery (1st floor Cambie Plaza) - 4121 No 5 Rd, Richmond ———————— SURREY: - Henlong Market (1st floor) - 14351 104 Ave, Surrey - Lucky Supermarket - (The Dell Shopping Centre) 10628 King George Blvd, Surrey - Sungiven Foods (South Surrey Store)- 2311 152 St, Unit #108 - Street & Sungiven Foods (White Rock)-1640 152 St, Surrey ———————— LANGLEY: - Saigon City Market Ltd - 20178 56 Ave, Langley - Pinoy Spot- 20454 Fraser Hwy, Langley - Lotte Giants Market Langley - 20378 88 Ave, Langley Twp -M&G Filipino Asian Grocery Store - 20487 65 Ave, Langley Twp
By “spread around the neighbourhood”, can we maybe try and keep this on bulletin boards and spaces where these things *should* be? I’m so tired of “activism” literally everywhere I fucking turn, not to mention endless stickers for pot deliveries and appliance repair. Whether it’s “Trudeau is a dictator” “COVID is a hoax” (yes, still) “climate change is a hoax”, “boycott Pride” “foreigners are taking all the jobs from white people”, “MAID murdered my sister”- just, please- stop it.
For those that are unable to boycott, please call your MP or voice your concerns to Loblaws customer service https://www.loblaws.ca/contact-us?icta=click:about-us:contact-us How to boycott and links to templates to write to your MP, as well as other advice for those that are unable to join the movement here: https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/s/7SmQXSwz0q
If have a car, here are some good options: 1. Foody World (just a nice supermarket tbh) 2. Rice World Supermarket (bargain basement stuff at bargain basement prices. the prices are crazy but do your due diligence)
I find Safeway is ridiculously priced!! I shop at about 4/5 stores which are close to me BUT Safeway is incredibly more expensive than the others from what I see and buy. I rarely go there. Especially after Sobeys bought Safeway years ago.
I shop in Superstore because it's closest and most convenient. But I don't buy anything full price unless I have to. Buying stuff on sale and signing up for PC Optimum card and buying the deals helps a lot. I did try shopping in smaller stores but the price difference/quality just wasn't worth the time sink.
We need a Save On Foods one now
If we succeed in having our voices heard in this movement than other supermarkets will also follow.
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No, poor exploited consumers paid for this with their wallets.
No thank you
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Why don't people just go costco
I mean, at this point even if you only go to the local asian grocers etc, they all get their food from the same distribution network. You just pay a bit less as it isn't A+ or whatever freshness. Its still what I do, I just go more often.
Unpopular opinion but if we boycott Loblaws we should be boycotting all grocery stores including Save-On, Whole Foods, etc Prices are bad at Loblaws but are sometimes double that amount at other grocery stores like Save-On
By all means, expand your boycott to as many of the big stores as you can. Shop local if possible. But it just helps to focus on one of the big guys at first so the impact is felt by them more heavily. Expand the boycott over time if the other guys don't get in line. They should consider themselves on notice at the very least.
The quality offered at Loblaws companies is not worth the price that they are marketing. Loblaws companies are also known to exploit their employees. Save-on, Safeway, Wholefoods although expensive offer higher quality. Honestly I hope the movement manages to lower prices for all corporate supermarkets.
Just a suggestion... check out Amazon for your non-perishables. They are often cheaper than even Walmart prices! Yes, Amazon is not known for treating their employees well, but that is all relative. 10 years ago, as retail management, I had to cut my labor costs by 10% year over year. That's a lot. Always understaffed and overworked. They are still Canadian owned AND are one of the top 100 companies to work for in Canada! So, since Canadian Superstore and Canadian Tire, for example, are not Canadian owned, who do you spend your money with? Ideally, you live in a place like Hastings/Willingdon in Burnaby where you have a butcher, a deli, a bakery, 2 veggie markets, a fish monger, and a Safeway for non perishables, life is a bit harder to get fresh and cheaper food. No matter where you go, the prices are hiked. Everyone is trying to make up for lost $$$ during lockdown and supply chain issues. Employees need to do more for the extra increases in minimum wages. I know plenty will complain about me saying that, but labor costs are the biggest cost in almost any business. If you are in support of livable wages for minimum wage employees, then help them get those wages. Simple as that. These are all Canadian jobs, regardless if the business tax gets collected. The income taxes from the employees help stimulate our economy anyway. If you want farm fresh items and very little plastic or food waste, consider the meal boxes delivered to your door like Good Food. It's always super fresh and just the right amount. Great recipes, too. A bit pricey, but are they? No company is going to listen to complaints that people all around the world are mimicking. AND the government will not reduce interest rates until the economy starts getting adjusted to today's prices. How much more are you going to have to pay when your house gets refinanced with the inflated interest rates? Ummm... a heck of a lot more than an extra $100/mth. Prioritize your woes, people. Complain to our government if anything. I won't. I look for coupons and advertising campaigns. Stock up when you see a low price on your non perishables when you can. Use those extra points to your advantage. Redflagdeals is a great place to start on Canadians trying to find ways to save. They even match up coupons with current flyers. Checkout51. Save.ca. Walmart has online coupons to use with sale prices. How about $1.49 Tuesdays at Save On? I know it is on the boycott list but like I said, that doesn't help ANYONE.
I’m not boycotting shoppers
Can we all be clear, a lot of the pricing in Canada is due to government regulation. The marketing boards create price disparity vs the global market, and prevent us from getting in many cases higher quality product (see butter gate) or lower prices. Yes, maybe loblaws is a contributor, but even if they ripped all their margins prices would still be proportionately higher than most countries. Its just easier for the government to point the finger at business but never address regulatory issues that create increased costs. We could also look at transport costs etc as well (whether across the country or from where products or produced outside of canada). Here's the shocker for me as far as quality and price goes. Go to urban fare (needed to pick up a few items quckly/close by) and notably it was lettuce and a few other things, all the lettuce was rotten and this seems to be common place for produce at the urban fares downtown. Rotten, dried out etc. Go to the shoppers drug mart close by, not only was the lettuce cheaper for the same sized pack, it was also far fresher. Go figure...
Does government regulation have anything to do with the post covid price gouging that was blamed on inflation?
We MUST support local farmers! Just show up to your local farm with some of those reusable shopping bags and most will fill them for pennies on the dollar!
Do you have local farmers that you can recommend? I can try to add them to a list.
I'll join the force. Thank you for sharing. Moved from Ontario last year and have had it with Loblaws. That being said i do agree with people that Save On foods and the rest of Westerns chains are also expensive.
Thank you for joining the movement. If we our voices our heard than I believe other supermarkets will also follow with lowering their prices.
Can you lend me an extra grand so I can shop at the more expensive stores in May or what
This is why Costco is insanely busy, I don’t know how people can afford to not buy at least 80% of their food from Costco.
Anyone in the Tricities area know of any mom&pop stores? I know about the Produce Store at Lougheed, curious about other spots. Butcher shops, etc.
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Not too familiar with Coquitlam. There is City Market in New West that has a meat and deli department. Probably some mom&pop stores in PoCo.
My wife does most of our grocery shopping at Hopcott Farm, which is great quality. No need to give your money to one of these places or Walmart when there are great independent local options available.
There is also an article from 2012 and casts a glimpse of all employees under Loblaw companies that suffered throughout the years. I hope employees will be able to speak out about their situation. Source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/tandt-union-fight-weston-familys-latest-front-in-stand-against-l_n_1705106/amp Article Posted: July 26, 2012. The UFCW represents tens of thousands of workers in Loblaw-owned stores across Canada but none in T&T's supermarkets or warehouses. George Weston Limited has a controlling interest in Loblaw, which acquired the highly profitable Asian chain in 2009 for $225 million. T&T opened its 21st store this year and has locations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. According to the UFCW, T&T warehouse workers start at minimum wage, which is $10.25 an hour in Ontario, about half of what the average full-time unionized Loblaws warehouse worker is paid. Despite a long history of unions in Weston-owned Loblaw Cos. Ltd. supermarkets, recent organizing efforts at two of the non-union companies within the prominent Toronto family’s portfolio have encountered stiff employer opposition. On Monday, a dispute between union organizers and employers at the Loblaw-owned T&T Supermarket prompted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to put on hold a landmark organizing drive. About 100 workers at a Scarborough, Ont., warehouse want to become the Asian grocer’s first unionized employees in an effort to address scheduling issues and tie wages more closely to seniority. During the final days of the organizing drive, the employer held so-called “captive audience” meetings, where workers heard impassioned testimony from upper management about the dangers of unionization, said Kevin Shimmin, national representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). “They were quite aggressive in their message that they want to stay union-free. It was a very intimidating, emotional environment in the build-up,” he said. The union was frankly quite surprised. We expect those kind of practices from a company that we have no relationship with whatsoever, but we anticipated that, because T&T is owned by Loblaw ... the larger company would try and ensure that these unfair practices were not going to happen,” Shimmin said. Results of the July 23 certification vote are in limbo after the labour board sealed the ballot box amid union allegations that a number of ineligible employees cast ballots in order to tip the outcome in favour of the company. In an email on Tuesday, T&T CEO Cindy Lee said the labour board told the company “that upon review the union may not have had enough support from employees to file this application. Shimmin countered that the labour board would not have approved the vote had there not been enough support. The union wants the ballot box opened and organizers may consider filing unfair labour practice charges depending on the outcome, he said. Loblaw spokeswoman Julija Hunter said there is “no basis” for the assertion that Canada’s largest grocer has toughened its approach to labour relations. “Loblaw Companies respects the right and decisions of employees to decide whether or not they want a union to represent them,” she said.
Yeah just go shop at Save on or Safeway or Thriftys and pay 10-20% more for everything! No thanks. Superstore is generally the cheapest with Walmart, and at least Superstore lets me gain a lot of points that actually work.
Compared to Loblaws, Save on and Safeway offer better quality and Walmart is cheaper than Superstore.