Wasn’t a study done nationally and the most expensive stores are sobeys, thrifty’s and metro. So why is Galen the monster here? If it’s expensive at superstore or Loblaws then chances are it’s even more expensive at sobeys. I wonder how much of the grocery profits are people constantly buying those “reusable environment saving” bags everyone wanted. So glad we don’t have to absorb the cost of those free bags we used to get anymore. Imagine how expensive groceries would be then.
I spent a month in Vancouver summer 2022 and generally found No Frills to be the cheapest in downtown/Westend, followed by Costco and Chinatown. The Island because of its supply chain situation, relying on the ferries is predictably expensive.
People forget it was Loblaws that invented the low cost No Frills-style of grocery chain in the 1970s to counter inflation.
People forget it was Loblaws that invented the low cost No Frills-style of grocery chain in the 1970s to counter inflation.
I think Loblaws forgot that No Frills is supposed to be a discount grocery and not the pricing of their higher end full service Zehrs or Real Canadian Superstore or Loblaws stores themselves.
I spent a month in Vancouver summer 2022 and generally found No Frills to be the cheapest in downtown/Westend, followed by Costco and Chinatown. The Island because of its supply chain situation, relying on the ferries is predictably expensive.
People forget it was Loblaws that invented the low cost No Frills-style of grocery chain in the 1970s to counter inflation.
I think most of the boycott people are boycotting the 2020s Loblaws based on their current business practices rather than the 1970s Loblaws based on what they did 50 years ago.
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw Don't ask people not to debate a topic. Just stop making debatable assertions. Problem solved.
I wonder how many of the boycott morons have Loblaw shares in their RRSP or pension plan funds?
Boycotting a company because you aren't happy with its business practices doesn't make someone a moron. It may not be effective and it may not be the only company with faults, but boycotts are one of the few things consumers can do to influence corporations. People who are actually trying deserve nothing but respect.
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw Don't ask people not to debate a topic. Just stop making debatable assertions. Problem solved.
Boycotting a company because you aren't happy with its business practices doesn't make someone a moron. It may not be effective and it may not be the only company with faults, but boycotts are one of the few things consumers can do to influence corporations. People who are actually trying deserve nothing but respect.
Not when they're too dim to see how the success of a business is contributing to their successful retirement. Again, so many RRSPs and pensions have Loblaws in their portfolios and I bet many boycotters are clueless as to what they're holding.
Not when they're too dim to see how the success of a business is contributing to their successful retirement. Again, so many RRSPs and pensions have Loblaws in their portfolios and I bet many boycotters are clueless as to what they're holding.
Maybe that isn't their biggest priority? Or maybe they don't see unbearable increases in their current cost of living as a reasonable trade off for later profits? Or maybe many of the people boycotting haven't been able to afford to invest much or anything in RRSPs or otherwise? If people are finding it that difficult to make ends meet due to things like higher food prices that they're this angry, then they probably aren't investing very much. And perhaps the ones who do could easily make up for lower Loblaws profits if they could afford to invest more of their income overall.
Sorry but making uncharitable assumptions about people says nothing about them. It only speaks to your tendency toward cynicism.
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw Don't ask people not to debate a topic. Just stop making debatable assertions. Problem solved.
Not when they're too dim to see how the success of a business is contributing to their successful retirement. Again, so many RRSPs and pensions have Loblaws in their portfolios and I bet many boycotters are clueless as to what they're holding.
My guess is that very few of the types of people who are boycotting have investments and ones that contain Loblaws shares. But you do make a good point that the results of a boycott may not necessarily make things better for the people who boycotted.
If drivers in the GTA decided to boycott the hwy 407 ETR then it would hurt the CPP Investment board which owns half of the company. And it would mean less money for the CPP fund.
The thing is, Loblaws profits are 3 percent of revenue. Even if it were run as a non-profit cooperative, prices would be at most 3% lower. People complain about the lack of foreign competition, but of the established player with massive buying power only has a 3% margin how is any foreign company supposed to make money.
Boycotting a company because you aren't happy with its business practices doesn't make someone a moron. It may not be effective and it may not be the only company with faults, but boycotts are one of the few things consumers can do to influence corporations. People who are actually trying deserve nothing but respect.
Absolutely this.
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell)
In large part, he brought it on himself. The man has been putting himself in front of the camera for decades at this point, thereby becoming a household name in a way no other grocer-baron has. His family is also well known and politically connected.
Additionally, Loblaw's aggressive growth into other sectors like banking, pharmacy (Shoppers), allied health (Lifemark) and real estate (Choice) has trampled on many toes in a way that the other players haven't. In this sense, it's a bit closer to the telcos than the other grocers.
Maybe that isn't their biggest priority? Or maybe they don't see unbearable increases in their current cost of living as a reasonable trade off for later profits? Or maybe many of the people boycotting haven't been able to afford to invest much or anything in RRSPs or otherwise? If people are finding it that difficult to make ends meet due to things like higher food prices that they're this angry, then they probably aren't investing very much. And perhaps the ones who do could easily make up for lower Loblaws profits if they could afford to invest more of their income overall.
Sorry but making uncharitable assumptions about people says nothing about them. It only speaks to your tendency toward cynicism.
All of this. Iirc he has also made ridiculous generalizations about Millennials and clearly has no grasp of the fact that our generation can barely house ourselves, let alone have juicy stock portfolios.
Wasn’t a study done nationally and the most expensive stores are sobeys, thrifty’s and metro. So why is Galen the monster here? If it’s expensive at superstore or Loblaws then chances are it’s even more expensive at sobeys. I wonder how much of the grocery profits are people constantly buying those “reusable environment saving” bags everyone wanted. So glad we don’t have to absorb the cost of those free bags we used to get anymore. Imagine how expensive groceries would be then.
I know you are joking about the reusable bags but it's not far off. Loblaws makes about $3 per week per customer. Easily lots of people spending that just on those stupid bags. It does show how ridiculous blaming Galen is. Of course their profit is up as increased prices let's their margins increase. The milk and egg increase is total BS as though their costs are up when the world price of milk and eggs and inputs was very low the price was kept artificially high with the argument it's about stability. They should have eaten the increase in costs and frozen prices.
We should really blame the food manufacturers, dairy lobby and producers for jacking prices.
I noticed Walmart was busy today and decided to do some random price checks: aside from their sales and brand name stuff, much of their products have noticeably higher prices vs No Frills. I think people think because they're saving $3 somewhere, they'll tolerate overspending on other stuff.
We should really blame the food manufacturers, dairy lobby and producers for jacking prices.
I noticed Walmart was busy today and decided to do some random price checks: aside from their sales and brand name stuff, much of their products have noticeably higher prices vs No Frills. I think people think because they're saving $3 somewhere, they'll tolerate overspending on other stuff.
Walmart used to have the lowest prices on almost all national brand products back in the 1990s but over time the corporation's management changed and they moved away from that.
While No Frills can often have lower prices on many items compared to other chains they will often have higher prices on many items than other Loblaws family branded stores. This seems to be especially true for more specialized food items.
The milk and egg increase is total BS as though their costs are up when the world price of milk and eggs and inputs was very low the price was kept artificially high with the argument it's about stability. They should have eaten the increase in costs and frozen prices.
I recall popular Western NY based (now 100+ stores incl NYC, DC/VA/MD, North Carolina) grocer, Wegmans did this during the Great Recession in 2008.
They froze prices on a few dozen most common grocery essential purchases like bread, milk, eggs, butter, cereal etc. They had price freezes on many items until 2013. Like Loblaws they put a focus on their in house brands.
The strategy worked as they knew people don't like price shocks, and by ensuring customers would continue patronizing them for essentials, many would also probably still spend money where they make large markups like the large selection of prepared grab-n-go foods.
If I could pick two chains to enter Canada it would be Wegmans, and the Germany based store Lidl (a nicer Aldi) that is growing across the USA (150+ stores). Since the 1990s Lidl has taken the UK by storm so I'm sure Canucks would like it too.
Fantasy:
Wegmans could enter southern Ontario as the distribution center is in Rochester not that far from Toronto, until a GTA one was built.
It would force the existing Canadian Big 3 full service stores to really have to compete. Wegmans generally treat their employees well with better pay than competitors so it would make the other companies have to do better if they want good staff. Almost everyone that works for Wegmans corporate actually has to spend time working in one of the stores so almost everyone knows what store staff experience and how the stores function. https://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/3-...r-wegmans.html
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But the one I was referring to is Cambie and West 7th. I've also been into the old one on Main and 15th.
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