Started switching away from all of their stores last month in anticipation. I try to get everything I can from Costco, and use FreshCo for everything else.
this post was submitted on 01 May 2024
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Saying farewell to Zehrs will be easy but I could never give up my beloved Costco!
Costco are known for treating their staff unusually well compared to other retailers, so I think that's fine.
worked at costco for a year. It was great. full of old timers, and lots of respect for the staff.
100%. They're the only ones making a decent rotisserie chicken these days, and it's only $8!?
My mom bought a 50% off rotisserie chicken from Zehrs yesterday that looked shrivelled and disgusting...7 dollars after the half off 😳. Managed to convince her to join the boycott at least!
I’d wager it is, or was, a loss leader. Its position at the very end of the store has to be strategic to make you look at everything else on the way.
Boycotts work if you isolate one company or one brand .... then they would either be forced to change ... or go out of business.
Once one company or brand is severely affected or goes under, then everyone moves on to a new target.
My mental health can't even take walking into the store that considered us all thieves. I get so pissed off and irrationally angry seeing a Loblaws store let alone walking in...I'll never go back even if they 'fix the prices' (sadly this pun isn't intended...)
Loblaws has stolen plenty from Canadian farmers, suppliers, store owners, grocery workers and consumers over the years. It's time to treat the Weston family as the thieves they are.
The unpleasant experience is one of the main reasons I haven't shopped there in many years.
Literally every wholesaler is owned by one of the big companies, so it's still coming from there even at an independent grocer. No, I will not be expending effort on this, personally. Downvote me if you need.
I agree that avoiding any of the big companies is nearly impossible, and if we switch for a month from one big company to another it seems pointless, but my hope is that if Loblaws sees a real impact from this boycott it will put a bit of fear into any of them that they could be next. I could be naive, but it seems worth trying (if you can, I understand some cannot).
Most people don't have a choice. Where I live there's a food basics next door, and the next closest is a metro that's like a 20 minute bus ride away+waiting for the bus.
Yeah. My one local store is independant, and as a result it's super expensive and mostly sells produce already going bad. Y'know, because whichever wholesaler punishes them for not being in the club.
What we actually need is for those new competition laws parliament passed this year to be applied.
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If you're doing grocery shopping once a every two weeks then it's not too bad.
I got 4 people at home, including one teenager. If I bought food only every other week, I would need like 3 carts and 3 arms to pull them and load em on the bus with lol
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The only one I visit at all is Shoppers Drug Mart, and that one's not going to be an issue to cut out. Kinda tweaked that my local post office is operating out of it, though, and directly funneling public dollars into Galen Weston's pockets.
I don't drive, I'm too poor to live anywhere well connected, and I'm disabled. So I rely on delivery and need my groceries to be as cheap as possible. That means No Frills. I buy from there or starve, I'm afraid. I'd be more inclined towards a guillotine based solution for Loblaws and Pattison anyway.
Aren't all the chains and other corporations doing the same price fixing? Or did Loblaws do something extra shady?
This decade and a half long bread price fixing scheme was something that set Loblaws apart
Profits were up 9.8% over last year, and dividends to shareholders just announced to increase 15%.
Earlier this year they were going to lower the "near-spoiled" discount from 50% to 30% but cancelled that after backlash. So none of the increase in sales/profits seem to be going to anyone other than shareholders and the Weston family.
Also Galen Weston has been going on a PR tour past couple of years to say "nothing to see here" "we totally aren't gouging you on the necessities".
I go to food basics and it's worse. I constantly find expired food in the fridges and shelves, items 2-3 weeks past. I went to buy fresh English muffins and found them frozen, when I asked they told me they freeze them and then thaw them out and shelf then when they're low, so they're charging me fresh food prices for frozen bread. They also never clean their produce shelves. There are stains on the shelves I've been looking at for 2 years.
Absolutely I'm not saying any chain is particularly good (my local save on foods has unionized workers, good bread but stupid prices for things other than grocery staples). Consumers need to force the oligopoly to compete with each other. A co-ordinated monthly rotating boycott would be an excellent way to do that.
Every worker in Canada should have a union and it's a disgrace to this country that they don't.
I'm a union worker so I refuse to use the self checkouts. When an employee points me to one I shake my head and refuse. I want to be checked out by a human who is treated well and is paid a fair wage, not by a machine that's just there so a corporation can cut out a worker.
They are all the same. But that Weston guy is extra unlikeable and visible.
100% on board. First stop is to local grocers, then Costco, and if those fail, then I'll resort to Sobeys.
I will join!
Grocery Alternatives:
- Costco
- ~~Walmart~~
- Save On Foods
Walmart
The human rights violation company.
totally fair, not sure why that escaped me
I've edited the original comment👍
There's a lot of options, including big and small chains and local independents depending on your needs. It may be worth boycotting other chains in some order to keep everyone on their toes, but none have been as blatantly greedy as Loblaws for sure.
My wife and I have been spitefully avoiding loblaws for a while now. We get most of our meat & produce from the weekend market, bread from the local bakery, and anything else from the Asian/Indian supermarket or Metro if it can’t be found elsewhere.
The last straw was the prison gates and the receipt checking. Show some dignity.
Is Metro any better though?
It depends. I’d say on average it’s higher for “convenience” items but the cost of milk, cheese, rice, pantry staples, etc seems to be about the same.
If there was a food basics nearby I’d probably go there, but in my city that means driving another 15 minutes.
I already don't shop at any of those, and will continue not to.
In it 100%
They're greedy AF
The only alternatives in my town are Walmart (the human rights violation company) or Sobeys (the wallet rapists). Maybe I can eat Shin-cup noodles for a month.
My wife and I agreed not to. We live in a small community, but have the following:
A small, independent market Your Independent Grocer (owned by loblaws) IGA (mostly independent)
Definitly options even in a community of only 10k people.
In my part of QC, the only "Loblaws" around me is a Maxi, it's pretty cheap certainly one of the most affordable groceries here. But I can go to a nearby SuperC just to boycott Galen.
Every bit helps. Even a 3% drop at the Q2 report in a few months will be noteworthy for shareholders.
100% committed to the boycott. Haven't shopped there since it was first suggested. We scan everything to avoid supporting genocide in Gaza as well. I'm old and cranky and just not having it.
My wife and I are joining the boycott. Who knows what will come of it, but this might be a good reminder for the big grocery retailers that they don't have a right to our patronage.
Great list. In my area, I only need to avoid Maxi and Provigo.
There are so many small "dépanneurs" and specialty grocery stores.
They all have amaizing deals on their niche products:
- rice, lentils, dehydrated beans, spices, chili, bitter gourd >>>> indian store
- rice, sauces, noodles, mushroom, fish/seafood, daikon >>>> asian store
- beans, spices, coconut, plantain, okra, eddo leaf >>>> jamaican store
- arabic, latin american, senegalese, etc. grocery stores in addition to bakeries, fish mongers, butcher shops, etc.
Every speciaty store has their own fresh produces from typical fruits and vegetables we see everywhere to uniques ones found nowhere else.
I haven't been to a Loblaws in ages, but I'm happy to continue with that.
I tend to get my groceries from local independent (not Independent) stores and Giant Tiger. They're closer so I can walk anyway.
100%, but I'm in USA, so not really the target audience.
I already stopped using them so I don’t matter to the boycott
None of the grocery stores or drug stores in my town are associated with Loblaws and the one grocery store on my way home from work is Costco, so I already don't shop at Loblaws 99%+ of the time.
However if I'm out and about I'm not going out of my way to avoid it.
Not living in Canada anymore, but when I visit in June they won't get a cent from me.
I haven't set foot in one for many years.
Yeah I'm in it for a month now. I shop at my local green grocers, Food Basics and Freshco now. And I live damn close to nofrills. Bastards
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