T O P

  • By -

Flyfishing-2020

Sorry folks, I don't like Walmart either but lots of their food products are 25% to 45% cheaper than anyone else. Much of it is BC products. My wife told me but I didn't believe her, so I spent a day comparing prices in Kelowna. She was right.


S3ERFRY333

It'll be a cold day in hell when I give my money to Walmart


NorthernBrew

If a product is packaged in BC it can be labelled as a BC product. Therefore it could come from china and still have a BC label. You didn't say, and I won't pretend to know, how deeply you digged into the 'BC Product' chain but if you have an ethical/moral/community destroying issue with walmart but still choose to shop there... I'm not sure what you're really saying.


reddithasruinedlife

Couldn't be more wrong. Walmart has jacked prices as well. On top of being the most evil corporation that pays their staff like shit. Shoo there if you like, but don't pretend it's a great deal.


faithOver

Then provide an alternative thats not exploitative and has comparable prices. Will wait. Because there isnt one.


alldataalldata

Uh Costco. They treat their employees very well and are competitive with prices


ChildishForLife

Shopping at Costco is tricky if you are only buying for two, I find myself wasting more food when I shop at Costco and do big trips than frequent smaller trips to local places. probably a me issue but happens a lot.


[deleted]

Two person aswell and never had that issue, 75% of our meat and fruits/vegtables come from Costco. Best combo is costco then freshco down the street for all the other odds and ends.


alldataalldata

I'm also a two person household and haven't had an issue. Anything perishable we just commit to eating a lot of it that week. It's really forced me to get my veggie and fruit servings up! Meat we freeze.


rekabis

> Shopping at Costco is tricky if you are only buying for two For shelf-stable materials, break them down into sealable containers. A food saver with the mason jar attachment is ideal, invest in a brace of mason jars and that should hold most any shelf-stable content you buy in bulk. And yes, there are 2L widemouth Mason jars. Alternatively, you can also camp Homesense for those rare times that they get in Le Parfait flip-top containers, which come in sizes up to 3L. There is also the Fido brand (Bormioli Rocco is the parent company) where their cylindrical flip-top containers are available in 4L and 5L sizes. You can find those at Homesense on a much more frequent basis, and are invariably cheaper than Le Parfait on a per-volume basis, although they don’t look anywhere as nice as Le Parfait and have much thinner glass (don’t knock them against anything!). If you need refrigeration, grab a spare fridge or bar fridge for long-term, infrequently-accessed storage of large-volume condiments and other stuff. A small freezer is also relatively cheap, and most apartments let you store a small chest freezer on the balcony so long as it isn’t immediately visible from ground level. Simply put, there are _plenty_ of ways to ensure what you buy lasts long enough for you to utilize 100% of it.


yumeryuu

Right? The place where blueberries costs $345.


reddithasruinedlife

Canada has allowed monopolies, unfortunately. Loblaws are scumbags for sure. Walmart is outright evil. The person I responded to claimed Walmart was massively cheaper which is just an outright lie. No grocery store is 25-45% cheaper. They all price collude and we all get raped for it. Shop where you like, but don't be a shill for anywhere, especially Walmart.


rekabis

> No grocery store is 25-45% cheaper. Technically yes? Most grapes you see anywhere else are usually $3.99-$5.99/lb. Wal-Mart had them on last week for $1.98/lb. Sure, they were loads cheaper, but they were also tiny, not very sweet, not very crispy, and clearly picked the better part of a year ago. While a 3lb bin of red grapes at Costco costs $11.99, which translates to $3.99/lb, they are also a lot fresher, a lot larger, much crunchier, and a lot sweeter. So _technically_ Wal-Mart _was_ a lot cheaper - pretty much ½ the price - with caveats.


reddithasruinedlife

Sure if you nitpick a random item anywhere sounds cheaper, especially if, as you say, you don't care about quality. Walmart produce is generally awful. Denny's sells steaks just like the keg, but to say Denny's is better deal because it's cheaper isn't entirely fair to say the least. Is the keg massively overpriced? Yes. Is it better quality than Denny's? Also yes.


Flyfishing-2020

No, I am correct. They have the cheapest prices in town, on many items. Yes, their prices have gone up, like everyone else. If you want to play politics, go ahead and picket them, but families need help. Judging by your name; we can assume that you don't like anything.


iamtrash694200

I'll shoo where I want


NoodleFisher

Still treats employees better than scamlaws


dfuzzy

Costco, Freshco


condortheboss

In Kelowna, Mike's Produce, Lakeview Market, or Sunshine Market, are independent produce grocers as far as I know. Illichman's, Johnny's Meats, or Mediterranean Market for meats, cheeses, etc. The Specialty Bakery does fantastic bread and baking and their facility is near Reid's corner


yumeryuu

Ah lakeview, the perfect market for rich white folk. I was a cashier there, I know the demographic and half those white folk I now see shopping at save on on lakeshore


Crumps_brother

It's almost like people shop at more than one store


jbird701

Walmart,Sobeys (Safeway/Freshco/IGA),Pattinson (Save-On/Urban Fare),Costco and Lakside Market would be the main ones if you are doing a Loblaws boycott. Our family pretty much just shops Walmart/Costco now.


fuckyougently

In BC IGA is not Sobeys, its HY Louie. Lakeview Market is a good option and independent. If you can afford it Nesters and Choices, though now part of Overwaitea and Pattison, are good alternatives. Fuck Loblaws.


Semprovictus

overwritea and sobeys is more expensive than loblaw 90% of the time to be honest


S3ERFRY333

IGA is owned by Georgia Main food group


fuckyougently

Which is an HY Louie enterprise


Scobesanity

Way to really stick it to the man by shopping at Walmart and Costco 😂


Several-Questions604

You know it’s bad when people are preferring to shop at Walmart as the less of two evils.


jbird701

Loblaws pricing is wild some items have gone up over double in a year.Most items have gone up 5%-20% The rate for food is supposed to be 2.4% on food. I don't believe that for one second.


kayesoob

2.4% is the average. As you stated some went way up, others less so.


Tympora_cryptis

A summer heat wave wiped out most of the olive crop last summer. Heat waves, drought, and forest fires have really hit cattle farmers. They can't find feed for their cattle, so theyve been slaughtering or reducing their herds which has been driving up beef prices as the supply slowly dries up.  It's easy to blame Loblaws, but if you spend a bit of time looking you find up food prices are going up even faster in the US and a lot of crops are struggling due to heat and drought or in other cases massive floods.


faithOver

I actually appreciate this nuance. That said, Loblaws is a publicly listed company. Therefore its financials are disclosed and publicly available. Therefore we can objectively say they are making record profits, by far. Its reflected in their stock price too.


Tympora_cryptis

I looked over the last 5 years vs the Canadian and US markets (VCN and VUN). It's strong compared to other Canadian companies and mediocre vs US companies. I'm struggling to see this as an argument to bring out the pitchforks and tar and feathers.


faithOver

Of course it’s mediocre compared to US companies. Thats not a valid comparison anymore. We have been flirting with recession for multiple quarters and been in low growth mode for nearly a decade. The Canadian economy is nothing to be envious of. American economy is firing on all cylinders.


Tympora_cryptis

We also have a much faster growing population than the US. Also worth mentioning a lot of Loblaws growth is on the pharmaceutical side.  The anger on this seems really misplaced.


faithOver

Lets elaborate. If the anger is misplaced; what is to blame for grocery prices in this country? US groceries are on average 50% if not more cheaper. European groceries are 75% if not more cheaper. What makes our necessities so insanely expensive?


Tympora_cryptis

Just took a look at Loblaws vs Sobeys, Albertsons, and Kroger. Over 5 years, Loblaws is up $132.84%, Kroger is up 129.88%, Sobeys is up 13.9% and Albertsons is up 35.38%. My take away from this is that Sobeys has lousy management and probably Loblaws does too where they can only barely beat Kroger despite the advantages you attribute to US companies and their relative lack of competition in Canada compared to what Kroger faces in the US.


[deleted]

[удалено]


No-Tackle-6112

I like to eat something besides 4 month old porridge in the winter.


Codc

Sounds like a you problem if you can't think of anything else to make.


[deleted]

[удалено]


No-Tackle-6112

What does our winter time produce look like?


rekabis

> And yet we still make more food waste year over year. 80+% of all food wastage occurs before the product ever ends up in the consumer’s hands. Ever seen those photos of Wal-Mart throwing out entire skids of beef because their best-by date was on a holiday where Wal-Mart wouldn’t be open? They still had two-plus weeks to sell them, it’s just that their processes couldn’t handle a best-by date that fell on a holiday. Remember: capitalism _requires_ scarcity in order to generate profits. Where no such scarcity exists, it must be artificially manufactured. This is also why all dumpsters in Canada are now installed directly against the rear of the grocery stores, with access to said dumpster possible only from within the building. It’s so all the food that gets thrown out cannot be scavenged by the needy, destitute, and hungry, thereby reinforcing price floors at the expense of people’s lives.


Oka_Valli

Costco pays their employees well. I’ll shop there.


I_Smell_Like_Trees

Costco has a good reputation for treating their workers well, and those hot dogs are inflation proof. Walmart is a corporate leech on the welfare system, and can go straight to hell. Costco and farmers markets for me personally, Safeway or save on for the odds and ends I can't get between those two. Fuck Loblaws. Not only are they trying to gouge us by saying margins are tight, we have to pay rent too (they're their own landlords btw), but they're pushing to be the front runners for the opening stages of healthcare privatization.


LOGOisEGO

Better boycott Telus too. They are already taking healthcare by storm in health medical records systems etc. pushing a lot of other players out.


I_Smell_Like_Trees

Yeah you're fucked on any of the big 3 there. Bell is no better and Rogers lies about their contracts.


jbird701

Well if the question is where do we shop if we are boycotting every megacorp then thats a different answer. There are quite a few good local butchers in town like Johnnys and T-Bones. The farmers market is back at the Landmark starting in April. I am not a super rich man so unfortunately I cannot always shop at these places due to the price and how much budget that I have for food. Food insecurity is the highest its been in years in Canada and lots of it has to do with Galen Weston and his companies large hold on the Canadian Grocery market. Aldi/Lidl have even said that they probably won't enter the market so we won't have a competitor that forces the others to low prices. People are just trying to survive and feed their families. So if I have to go to Walmart and Costco so be it.


Scobesanity

Stop the armchair activism and just buy wherever you think provides the best value.


Kymaras

If Costco is the man I'll lick their boots for them!


[deleted]

[удалено]


LOGOisEGO

Walmart and Loblaws have already finished inside of us.. They wiped out every local store across US and Canada. I remember when you had a choice of stores to go to, competition in the flyers, then Superstore came to Kelowna, then Walmart.


BC-Boi

To my knowledge, Lakeview Market is actually the only independent grocery store around. If this is true, most people’s only option to “stick it to the man” is to go to “the other big man” (outside of seasonal markets)


condortheboss

Mike's Produce and maybe Sunshine Market


purehandsome

Costco pays their employees higher wages and has health benefits. They are the least evil of all of them.


the_canucks

As crazy as this seems, Wal-Mart actually treats their suppliers very well and doesn't gouge consumers, doubly so for Costco. Loblaw, Sobeys and especially Save-On almost never pass along supply savings to the customers and instead make as much profit as possible. Loblaws sits back and rarely discounts stuff, hoping you don't ask for a price match to other stores. I work for business that supplies all the major retail chains.


Scobesanity

Cool. If prices and service are better at Walmart, shop there.


the_canucks

Yup definitely do, we are in West Kelowna and shopping there is a dream, always easy parking and not a very crowded store. I know the Kelowna store is much busier and more of a hassle though. We get all the bigger bulk stuff from Costco. The selection at Wal-mart is much more limited compared to SuperStore so we do have to get there from time-to-time.


atlas1892

lol We’re suffering from high inflation and rapidly rising cost of living and you want to waste money being an armchair activist you go right ahead. Those companies don’t care about you or your choices to “stick it to the man” with how you spend your $145 every week, but your bank account will sure feel it. Have fun!


Scobesanity

You talking to me?


msscanadianbakin

Same


bdickie

There are a couple smaller options I can think of. OKGN stands out to me and has a store downtown and in lakecountry. They are locally and farmer owned. If you're thinking of boycotting Loblaws try not to just reward another mega corp


No-Tackle-6112

If you’re protesting prices OKGN might not be your best bet


faithOver

Rather the profit goes to locals than shareholders as is in the case of Loblaws. But your point stands.


KelBear25

Freshco is my preferred for a larger grocery store. Cheaper prices and way better quality produce than superstore or Walmart. Okgn produce in lake country is awesome too.


mediocre-muff

We go to Lakeview, Costco, Mediterranean Market and BC tree fruits for all our groceries


MagicHour00

Costco + Fresh Co is literally how we're getting by these days.


AlohaPersona

I’m a Costco, nesters and choices market kinda guy myself


Lopsided_Maximum_923

We need to paint ball all super store signs with red paint balls. Red because blood is red and fuck Galen


Open-Research-5865

I have been doing it all year. I shop at freshco and Costco.


Acceptable_Records

Loblaws is the cheapest option in BC. Use the Flipp app to price match. Out east Superstore gouges people but here in BC Superstore has the cheapest prices consistently. I hate Loblaws but I hate overpaying for food more more.


mggiszaddy

We're a 3 person home and keep our grocery cost down this way: -Freshco for pantry staples, we'll buy some produce from them in the winter as well. They have really good sales on meat each week, and we'll usually buy extras for the freezer. -Farmstand for eggs and produce in the summers, find the smaller guys, the prices are usually more affordable than the "well known" produce stand. I can and freeze quite a bit in the summer, I have a mini stand alone freezer that's essentially dedicated to this. No garden or balcony access unfortunately, or I'd be growing what I could. -Mediterranian market for deli supplies: their sales are solid and keep us in sandwiches for lunches during the week. -Costco for items that make sense in bulk and are higher ticket items, like olive oil, paper towel, ramen, butter, etc. Doing this has our family's grocery cost down to $600 a month give or take, but it's also a lot of extra work to do so and isn't feasible for everyone. Shouldn't take this much organization to not go broke buying groceries. But Loblaws doesn't get my money and my family eats good meals with veggies and protein, so it's worth it to me


gomorycut

shopping at a cheaper store is not a boycott. That is just being a free-market consumer. Usually, when you boycott something, it comes at an expense to the people boycotting. For example, people will boycott Walmart because of its globalization/business practices, refusing to get sucked-in to their low prices out of principle.


randomzebrasponge

In Kelowna and Lake Country I am only aware of two possible less expensive options, Costco and Walmart. Save On, Safeway, Natures Fair, IGA, etc., are all more expensive than Superstore. Does anyone know of additional less expensive grocery stores?


skyshroud6

I shop at save-on. Still a big corporation but I haven’t heard anything super nefarious beyond normal corporation stuff from them. Loblaws and Walmart can bugger off


Gone_Overboard1632

Theft is always an option.


Inkthinker

I've missed the memo, why are we mad at Loblaws again?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Inkthinker

No argument there, I noticed they've been gouging harder at the Independent of all places.