Growing movement to boycott grocery stores in Canada | Your Morning 

Don’t forget Zehrs.

They own the competition.

I bet our communities would start supporting local grocery stores

@@Graeaeae we need more grocery stores from the states to enter the Canadian market. That would bring more competition to the market and eventually lower grocery bills.

Go to Sobeys or Food Basics or Metro

So at least try and make a point at shopping at gt or something. Boycotts only work when everyone participates

I am afraid your family pet will go missing with these boycotters

We all need to eat, you can only do so much, all the stores are the same, last few yrs they have been gouging us worse then ever, big oil has been doing it for decades and finally the grocery stores have jumped on the band wagon, along with many other types of retailers, d9nt know a solution do u

Pretty true, but you can get some things online often cheaper. The point right now is the boycott, so you do what you can. In small towns you may have to pay a little more at a farmers market, but in my city the small independants are now CHEAPER than the big box stores that have volume.

@@mikearchibald744 Excellent! Glad to hear that your city has independents grocers that you can go to. Perhaps for those who don't have a choice in a small town, they can share the cost of going to the nearest city every couple weeks and buy in bulk which should be cheaper?

You want us to vote blue and you want to vote red.

@@AllRequired you vote for what?

Already crossing the border to shop. Even with the exchange rate doing fine and able to get products yere anymore, President's Choice isn't very good.

We make a 1/3 of your salaries too. Please donate money to Canadians!

Yeah? Well I’m debating with Americans who have to get their toothpaste from a locked up cabinet While calling deflation a dirty word as consumer staple prices in a country like China go down these days

Every single account leaving pro-boycott comments - "One comment on this account" 😂

I saw asparagus at save on for 9.99 ya right

Welp you must be the wealthier kind that has their own car and house lucky you. Us working class people that live on a budget can’t change sorry that’s a fact of reality

I need a car with my disability. My mortgage that I qualified is only 400 dollars and I have low income. You assume a lot.

$30 for olive oil.

There's no competition because margins are slim and there's money to be made in grocery retailing.

Always blame the government Grow your own

You realize we are a small population country, we have very little influence over a world market, thats not the govt fault, there has been the same stores in Canada for yrs, they are flat out gougingnus right now

Our government is NOT STOPPING competition! What are you? Out of your mind? Blaming the government for LACK of competition is CRAZY!! What our governments (Provincial level - since it falls under THEIR jurisdiction to help) CAN do: - is put into place anti-gouging laws (with REALLY, REALLY high financial penalties if found guilty & have REALLY TOUGH, SMART accountants GO IN & LOOK CLOSELY at their books to ENSURE they aren't doing any "CREATIVE ACCOUNTING" & gouging) - THIS would scare them into offering better pricing! - (This would NEVER happen in PC held Provinces though!) - I don't know if there is ANY way it could possibly fall into Federal jurisdiction - maybe?? by some stretch of their jurisdiction in some way?? - only other possibilities - are if the gov. at Prov. level (& possibly at Federal level?) - gave large start-up grants to anybody that would open any "not-for-profit" grocery stores to help people OR - IF the Fed. gov. opened their OWN grocery store chain across the country - "at cost" only - for Canadians - if the Fed. gov. can compete with businesses [& do], to provide entertainment & news [CBC], I don't see why they can't do it with grocery stores - (although EVERY PC Premier & PC "Loyal 😂 Opposition" member at the Fed. level would SCREAM about "anti-competition" - SO much more important than ACTUAL Canadians!) - "Other" commercial grocery stores could then focus on bringing in specialty items from other countries &/or bringing in TOP quality items even specialty ones produced in this country - in FACT - THIS would be a GREAT idea, the more I think about it. - It means that Canadians would get MORE variety as the Fed. grocery stores could supply all regular needs as current stores do - & then commercial competition could focus on bringing Canadians things they DON'T get now - from our own country & abroad, of good or great/top quality - we would ALL win - as even those people you rely on - TO WORK in these stores, to do deliveries, work in your take-outs etc. COULD all afford to eat again in this country - (& then it would only be the issue of rent holding people back, that ALL governments would need to focus on) - (sigh!)

And the Carbon Tax Scam.

It's a store for people who have more money than they need.

@@checkfactschecking LOL. No. Loblaws is no more that than Metro or IGA.

@@shauncameron8390 IGA IS Sobeys

@@shauncameron8390 Metro is also very expensive.

​@Drew-kh6nk those 2 stores are the most expensive of all the Supermarkets.

this is a great tip (even though its not the fault of the consumer their money doesn't go as far). I also only shop the outside aisles and stopped buying prepared food, packaged food, etc. just buy whole ingredients and meal prep. I got my price per meal down to ~$1.50 so I spend all in about $40 week on groceries but I stock up for the month in bulk at one time when there's sales

@nottheone582 Well I am a farmer as well but I still have to buy things other than what I grow or raise. Raw whole ingredients is the only way to eat cheap. No pop fruit drinks or bottle water. That will help everyone budget.

You can't do that living in a condo or apartment no space for a freezer

going backwards, its time to bake, can, smoke, preserve foods and garden again . like great grandma did

@@dcrot9109 100%

Absolutely produce is already spoiled when you buy it. Also, they are shrinking sizes and increasing prices, highway robbery

I have not shopped at SOBEYS …DOMINION….”or” SHOPPERS DRUG MART/LAWTONS… for 8 months …except for 2 days in December/one day to get a Turkey and savoury …and another day before New Years ( ONLY because I couldn’t get what I needed at Costco or Walmart… I have grown all the vegetables that I myself eat in the VERY SMALL space garden in containers … I have cut back considerably on carbs AND MEAT …not ENTIRELY due to cost …but due to WHAT WE ARE BEING POISONED with .. Most of the ingredients in CANADIAN packaged goods have been banned in Norway and Sweden due to health risks

I miss some of the loblaws items but i cannot break boycott.

Yeah i was surprised at how my local Loblaws produce was just terrible.

@@rainorshine7816sorry but Grocery stores are not shrinking sizes, the producers / manufacturers are. Attack them, the grocer’s are the end run handlers. Look and learn of the bigger picture. Boy caught the producer, not the end run handler.

And you will be paying more

They own the food suppliers. We need to bring competition

@@aman888 If we pay more, it is because these local stores don't get bulk discount pricing like the giant chains do. The more people that switch over (temporarily) - the more the big chains will have to lower prices etc. to woo us back AND we will be giving a big boost to a small store in the interim. (Tell small business though that you have switched over the greed & if THIS store lowers prices when it can bulk buy for the extra customers - the more chance people will stay LONG term with them.)

@@aman888 Not anymore. At Sobeys I will get yogurt and pizzas when they go on sale cheap, sometimes ice cream. Everything else I get at small stores. I"m lucky in Moncton because thanks to immigration we have one road that has an asian store, arabic store, family owned independant grocer, indian store, farmers market and an eastern european store. Many products I can get cheaper from overseas than the product in canada at Sobeys. And its MUCH better quality, and exposure to new foods has been fantastic. Couscous I can get dirt cheap and that stuff is great for EVERY meal in five minutes.

@@mikearchibald744 I'm sure op will be thrilled you're not buying local

What I don't like is the discount for membership while non member are paying for their discount. They need to get rid of that. What happen to GST, aren't they suppose to pass that saving to all consumers not just the selected few. If they aren't passing the saving to all consumers then remove GST let the company go back paying their own tax.

Food basics quality for meat, fruits and veggies on the verge of expiry.

Food Basics' parent company (owner) is Metro - another crook in the industry

I stopped shopping there a number of years ago. They got an American CEO that came in (before the brand logo changed on their food lines) & it was VERY OBVIOUS! The prices SKYROCKETED & yet the QUALITY fell THROUGH THE FLOOR! I knew INSTANTLY - as I have been to the U.S. many times & SEEN the type of GARBAGE that is passed off as food there - AND at HIGH PRICES TOO!! When I asked an employee, it was confirmed. Of course big shareholders wanted to hire an American & bring American profits & American poor food standards here (since it's bigger profits for them.) They are even worse than Loblaws! (Although Loblaws got rid of the Weston President in the last year & replaced him shortly after the inquiry - & food prices & practises under the new guy are EVEN WORSE! It's like he is punishing us for bringing up the issue to our government. I don't know where he is from.)

Good luck with the boycott...prices are the same at all grocery stores. News Flash...Loblaw makes less than 5% margin. We need to boycott government taxes which is the real cause of inflation!

That is true. The higher they raise their costs to consumers, the less people buy & the more gets wasted - meaning THEY LOSE MONEY in this situation. They can only overprice so far before it ends up hurting them more. I hope they will learn their lesson sooner, rather than later.

I don't know about this Coop store. Is that the full name? I want to find out more. You have mentioned many good things about this store but were silent on the costs. How do they compare & any other helpful info., please.

@@Carrie-so3ro Co-ops are locally owned. The Co-op stores I go to in Regina are all part of Sherwood Co-op. Each town/city with a Co-op will have its own name but always with ‘Co-op’ in the title. There are many, many locally owned co-ops throughout Saskatchewan. Their national ‘parent’ body is Federated Co-op. Co-op stores are unionized. Their prices are competitive for most things. Their employees are decently paid, and their attention to service is far superior to grocery outlets like Superstore, Wal-Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart etc. Their meat, produce, and bakery are far, far better than these stores as well. We wouldn’t buy bread anywhere else.

Quality definitely questionable though if we are being honest

Prices are the same at all grocery stores. News Flash...Loblaw makes less than 5% margin. We need to boycott government taxes which is the real cause of inflation!

No, he's not the problem here. Jagmeet Singh is.

​@@AllRequiredlol didn't know the NDP ran a grocery store, or any of the political parties, do u recall when oil was less then $50 per barrel a couple yrs ago, well gas prices didn't drop, even though when oil was sky rocketing during the Harper yrs, big oil blamed the oil price for increases at the pump, but u want to blame a govt for corporate greed, wake up

@@AllRequired The grocery giants are the problem.

​@@AllRequiredexactly right!

The Weston Family IS the problem. Did none if you watch Galwn and that other guy smirking and snickering when called into Parliament to explain their corporate gouging? You can watch- footage is online. The most perverted display of entitled greedy loserdom ever.

I have found EXACTLY the same - & I keep an eye on the prices that I am paying.

It’s called inflation and carbon tax.

@@No_name860 There's been inflation and carbon tax for years with at most a 20% increase but this past year and a half, it's been double the costs instead of 20%. It's MUCH MUCH worse.

30 dollars for olive oil, why no riots?

Wish we could boycott some taxes... I want to boycott government member expenses. But we are not given the choice..

@@eilaollinheimo4573 Yes good idea . 🇨🇦💃🏄‍♂️

Yes. Stay home more often people. I'm sick of hearing your whining in public.

movie theatres? they still have those?

@@lindaostrom570 don't be a fool.

Local market prices are not cheaper

Europe is showing they are not happy with putting their farmers out of business. Grocery stores don't grow food. NO FARMER NO FOOD=NO FUTURE

Pretty much the average city-dweller.

There are other stores out there. I have been shopping at them for a couple of years

@@InterestedCitizen If the people who can shop elsewhere boycott it will still hurt loblaws bottom lone nonetheless.

@@franfehrluvtrevor I'd like to believe that but it would take millions of people to accomplish that. It's not going to happen.

It is so you register with them your demographics etc. & they can see what you look at from their on-line grocery stores & buy (either in person or on-line) They can then use this to track data - how much you spend, how often, what you buy. This data would cost them a lot of money otherwise & they wouldn't have NEARLY as big a database to look at You win by getting a bit of a lower price on SOME items & THEY win by having all of this data

Costco selection is very limited as well.

Loblaws owns all of these

​@@rainorshine7816wait loblaws owns safeway and sobeys?

@@rainorshine7816 They DON'T own Sobeys for sure. That is a SEPARATE chain - one of the 3.

Dairy queen is owned by Berkshire hathaway run by Warren Buffet. If you want to understand how this works watch some of his annual meetings.

@@rainorshine7816 proof?

You dont boycott all of them at once, only one or two. That way it hurts them but you can still do your groceries

If everyone can rotate between Loblaws and Sobeys and Metro over monthly periods it does effect their distribution

Other grocery stores.

Exactly. People have no clue as to who is responsible for the high prices. Blackface and Jagmeet want you to believe it's the grocery stores fault. It is NOT ! Inflation is ALL the governments fault !

Giant Tiger has groceries. Bulk Store has dry goods. Don’t go to Walmart either they are American owned and are NOT cheap. We need Canadian owned stores to learn not to have a choke hold on us like backstreet bullies. Walmart is like supporting organized crime. They purposely squeeze out the local family owned private businesses by undercutting them for a short while until they go broke and then raise the price again to make hundreds of billions every year and have infiltrated most of the free world. It’s never enough for them.

Oligopoly

Canadians love monopolies. We have monopolies in our airlines, our telecommunications, our banks, beer, and our grocery stores. We don't need free market capitalism - Papa Trudeau takes care of us here.

The % should go to ALL things - as what might matter to you may not matter to someone else ie. baby products matter to some & not others, prepared foods MATTER to some (the disabled & seniors) & not others, "foreign" foods matter to some & not others, special dietary items matter to those with specific conditions & less to others - see what I mean??

@@Carrie-so3ro i agree

That's what Pierre Polie-ester wants you to believe. It's corporate greed fool! Galen Weston is a conservative and contributes to the conservative party. Wake up! Polie-ester's chief advisor was hired by Loblaws to lobby the government.

Stop defending plain greed

I don't know why people are so picky with food these days. Most of us 90s babies grew up with the only on sale items and making neat stuff in the pan with whatever you had.

They have done the same with milk. Loblaws, Superstore, Food Basics, Metro (I don't know about the Sobey's chain) - ALL had different prices for the milk I buy about 1 1/2 years ago. Then COINCIDENTALLY - every one of them (both their higher cost & lower cost stores) & (at least) 2 chains - raised the milk prices A LOT! - AND ALL to the EXACT SAME PRICE - to the PENNY!

That happened when they brought in an American President/CEO? a number of years ago. The change was so drastic I knew immediately - & had it confirmed by one of their employees. I stopped shopping there shortly after due to the changes in price going drastically up & quality going drastically down - trying to imitate how things are in the U.S.

@@Carrie-so3ro it's also gone extremely woke there too I was harrassed by a trans woman who works there, one day I was at checkout and the employee was looking to chat I wasn't having a good day and just wanted to go home 🏡 well the trans person literally called customer service trying to imply I was shoplifting because I wasn't giving the person enough attention 😳 Sobeys on Queen st has gone to hell all Sobeys is hell but queen st is a special type of hell

CORPORATE GREED COMBINED WITH 8 YEARS OF JUSTINFLATION

Take the CEO's salary and divide it by the number of employees... You'll quickly see that it equates to less than 1¢ per hour per employee. Those numbers may seem big to the common folk, but when you look at the big picture, they are really just pocket change for the corporation as a whole.

​​@@marcdanieltheriault3955he did not invent inflation

@@marcdanieltheriault3955 Inflation under Trudeau - is INFLATION from trying to help people through COVID! - YOU know, that global-wide phenomenon (that CONSEQUENTLY - is AFFECTING economies ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE). Don't get sucked into the propaganda! You should know better & use your brain! Trudeau is Not responsible for Covid - only in trying to help people survive it . (While there are MANY things I am not happy about with Trudeau - I APPLAUD him - LOUD & VIGOUROUSLY on his handling of COVID!)

@@danylatulippe I guess if it is only pocket change to the corporation - they can hand (most) of it to those employees & plenty more then - AND cut grocery prices at the same time - since they aren't making more than pocket change either I guess.

They hope all the immigrants will buy it.

I got a huge pkg for $5..learn how to shop

Lol I don't buy it anymore as good ham is the same price, u need to shop with sales etc, sometimes u have to pay top dollar but not usually

2 reasons: 1) Walmart's buying power is way higher than Loblaws even if Loblaws it quite big which allows them to obtain goods at a lower price. 2) Walmart usually takes the leftovers when buying perishable goods. Loblaws take the best items, then comes the middle tiers such as Maxi, then comes Walmart and No Name with their "Perfectly Imperfect" brand. I have often seen moldy and downright uneatable goods in Walmart's shelfs. As for the meat, Loblaws usually have an on-staff butcher, which is not the case for Walmart. So the meat selection is usually different in cuts and in quality. Also, Walmart works on volume to lower their "per-item" markup. Walmart markup to an average of about 1.2% to 1.5%, while the last financial reports from Loblaws indicate an average of 3% to 4%, which is still very low. Most of the grocery high prices come from one source: the government imposing taxes (such as the carbon tax), laws and regulations on the farm industry, transport, transformation, and the grocery stores (including business hours in many case).

@@danylatulippe Walmart is paying the SAME government taxes as Loblaws, so THAT is NOT an excuse! Also you just said that Walmart markup is NO MORE THAN 1.5% - whereas LOBLAWS MARKUP - STARTS!!! - AT DOUBLE that TOP figure!! Let me REPEAT - from YOUR very own figures - STARTS at DOUBLE the top-line MARKUP! - all the way to ALMOST 4 TIMES the markup - according to YOUR figures! You have JUST PROVED the case of it being NOTHING but PURE - PRICE GOUGING! - do you see THIS, ladies & gentlemen? That "small" figure for every item? & especially on the more expensive items - over ALL of their stores & in the quantities sold?? Our government needs to get a copy of this!!

I like that - Thug-Mart😊

Try London Drugs I stopped shopping there 25 years ago

And just what do you do with you carbon tax rebate? Stop with the anti carbon tax b.s. Read the facts!!

What's wrong with Costco?

So where do you shop?

@@aman888 His Moms Fridge

There is 1 item I was going to buy someone as a gift. It was an item I had bought a few times because I found it very nice & special. I had bought it special at Superstore, just about 2 months previous for me at Christmas for approx. $8.00 - which was the regular (NOT sale) price. Two months later when I went to buy THE SAME ITEM at Superstore - it was up to $12.00!! That was a $4.00 increase! - which is insane! Not a 50 cent increase or a .75 increase but $4.00! I certainly didn't buy it & had to look for something else. This greed & disrespect for customers is going to cost THEM in the long-run.

3 weeks ago at a independent store a unit of Loblaw Companies Limited, a in store prepared pizza to cook at home was 8.00, the next week it was 9.00 and this week it was 10.00. has not been shrunk yet which is amazing . did not buy any pizza just noticed the price on that item.

Being successful isn't a bad thing. Being GREEDY & HURTING people WHO HAVE MADE YOU A SUCCESS - IS - ESPECIALLY when they are facing their toughest times financially! Use Canadian values - THINK OF OTHERS - not ONLY of yourself! - & if you are thinking ONLY of yourself (then you ARE NOT thinking even of yourself) - as LONG Term, Your GREED will cause a BACKLASH & you will LOSE that success - you gave up EVERY MORAL to gain!

BUT with some LOCAL outlets too - as many people like to SEE their items before buying - for freshness (& also it is sometimes hard to estimate how big something is by gr. weight without seeing it in person - since all items have different natural weights to them.) BUT - LOVE the idea. We need to move in this direction if our 3 giants won't be moved.

I TRUST MY BILLS! Explain why some of my items AT A (MUCH SMALLER) HEALTH FOOD STORE - are NOW CHEAPER THAN SUPERSTORE! That health food store doesn't even get the bulk price discount the giant supermarket chains get (& they are ALSO subject to the same taxes!) The grocery chains are using the taxes as an EXCUSE to up the prices WELL BEYOND ANY INCREASE they pay - & Pierre is HAPPY to pick it up to use as a FAKE WEAPON! Don't fall for Pierre Propaganda! He is MANIPULATING YOU - ONLY so he can gain the power of a PM for himself! He HAS A VESTED INTEREST in providing FAKE info! I don't blame you for being so gullible though. NO leader of ANY Party has ever sunk to the moral low that Pierre has gone in order to achieve HIS PERSONAL ENDS! (I am VERY, VERY AFRAID of what HE WOULD EVER DO if he HAD THE POWER of our country in his hands! HE has ABSOLUTELY ZERO MORALITY! I know "insiders" in the PC Party that are even afraid of the levels he will sink the Party & the country since he will go to levels NO other politician has ever [wanted] to go to before!)

Bingo

No it's not. It may not hit their bottom line much, but it will worry them over whether it will be the start of a growing trend - & they won't want to answer to their shareholders on that!

Jeez, can you come up with something I haven't already heard?

Do you provide the storage? I sure won't keep my groceries in the living room for the sake of boycotting a chain that has almost no power over the price because the government drives everything up by overspending and imposing crazy laws and regulations (and don't get me started on the carbon tax) on the food industry.

@@danylatulippe Oh you are so lost in all the fake rhetoric - from a certain someone who is chomping at the bit & willing to say ANYTHING (even FALSE) to get himself elected PM. Don't get TAKEN IN! Use your brain - ALL THE WAY THROUGH - & then do a little investigation & listen to someone who IS NOT running to become the NEXT PM (already! - which is IN FACT ILLEGAL! - WOW, can't wait to see what he will do if elected!)

The problem is that they are one of three major corporations that own all the groceries stores, there is no way to hurt them because they have almost no competition. I bet Jagshithead won’t tell you that part.

This would be ideal, but in some areas there just aren't a lot of choices (especially if transportation is an issue). Loblaws has been known to buy out those they felt would be competition for them. We definitely need more competitors here in Canada!

I feel for you & wish you had better options. I guess no other store opens if there are not enough people to support 2 places. Could there be any grocery stores OUTSIDE of your area that deliver (& that don't cost a fortune? I know this sounds like a dream to me too, but maybe worth exploring if some small grocer opened in a nearby town & is willing to do deliveries to expand his/her business to your area, especially if they have a website & you can get interest from other people in your community for them to make it worth it for them to deliver to all of you, even if only 1 - 2 x per week. Doesn't hurt to explore the possibility & ask any found. Never hurts to ask.) When you say you can't drive long distances, is it possible to be in a car while someone else drives? Would it be possible to find some people that would be willing to share a ride with you into a neighbouring town while they did their shopping (or anything else) there too? Is it possible to grow any vegetables? Even small containers of them where you live? My grandmother used to grow a few vegetables in pots on her balcony & neighbours may even be able to trade. Do you have any property? If you do but can't grow anything yourself, maybe make a deal to allow others in your community to grow vegetables on your land - & split the vegetables with them when they are ripe - maybe a school group or church group (that may even give their portion to a food bank etc.?) Lastly, if you have no other options, hopefully efforts in cities to make a difference in how these chains treat us WILL work - & will also get passed on to you. Here's hoping. 💞

Truth. There is almost no competition.

Nothing new, not sure how it is now but yrs ago there were 5 or 6 families that controlled most industries in Canada, and its the same in the US and probably many countries, rich grow as they can with alot of $$ to risk, owning your own business is a 24/7 job and never easy, and yes they are all greedy and want more lol