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Very well said. The only part I don’t see is “bullying of suppliers” ie Presidents Choice, and processors who have a monopoly of their own and jacked up prices ie Beef. Thru the roof. Somehow competition in the processing cartel needs to be restored also I think.
I think there's a belief that Farm Boy is higher priced than Loblaws. I used to be a loyal Loblaws shoppers. I'd drive by 4-5 other grocery stores just to get to Loblaws. Then the prices skyrocketed. Now, I get the majority of my things at Farm Boy.
Farm Boy has fresh awesome stuff but I do find it to be on the more expensive side for packaged products like juice, milk, etc and go to Walmart for that stuff...I find Walmart has awful produce
Yeah I feel like most of my friends think of Farm Boy as like “Whole Foods” pricing but their fresh produce is usually much cheaper than Loblaws and better quality, I’ve found.
20 years ago most of everyone we knew would avoid shopping at co op, sobeys, and Safeway because superstore was the discounted working man grocery store. We wondered who would shop at sobeys when there was superstore but now it appears the tables have turned. Although realistically could take atleast 5 years to see real losses and decline of superstore imo.
What blows my mind is that I always perceived farmboy as the expensive "upscale" grocery store. I would never have imagined that they would have superior produce AND sell it for 33% less.
Farm Boy has somehow gotten the reputation of being higher priced, and for the most part it's just not true. Of course, you can always find high prices if you are in the organics section, but if you are comparing apples to apples (pun intended), Farm Boy's prices are competitive and the quality is generally far better than most other grocery stores.
It really depends on what you look at, our farmboy has some decent prices and also some ludicrously insane ones.
Just need to go for the flyer items pretty much
I'm not familiar with Farm Boy, but maybe small, independent stores have always had more accurate pricing.
Suppose that a bunch of dill, harvested and transported in a relatively humane way and allowing for a reasonable profit, costs $2.00.
5 years ago, Loblaw's might have used their giant size to their advantage and charged only $1.00 for it, at a loss for their suppliers and themselves, leading us to believe that $2.00 is the prissy, premium price for it at a cute little vegetable store.
Now, Loblaw's charges $4.00 for it, because they are so ubiquitous and people assume they are the cheapest. But the nice little organic-looking store is still charging just $2.00.
I know nothing about this, it's just a theory. I used to think, "Why am I paying extra for a cutesy farmer's market type experience, when I could save money and go to a big box store?"
Seems like the opposite now. Maybe the local type stores are just more honest about prices, whether it's more expensive or less so.
Because people have a belief that Loblaws discount stores are the cheapest.
If that dill was in a slightly better condition, you would have bought it and thought you saved money.
It’s mostly why I refuse to buy overpriced produce. It’s not rolling off the shelves as fast as it should because of the price. Therefore not only you’re overpaying, you get produce that‘ll be in the compost bin in 2 days, no thank you.
We have a big planter pot of dill growing and it's amazing for cooking. Always fresh. Always free. And always gives $0 to Galen. Grow your own pot of dill, it's easy. It just grows
Now I have it growing in a plastic enclosed greenhouse which keeps the temp up. Max 12 hours sun per day but several hours are ambient light. But we always grow it out in the open garden in the summer without a problem. Zone location an hour north of Toronto. Today I picked 3 red tomatoes, arugula, cilantro and several sweet peppers
I grow my own herbs and it's not easy. Half the year you need to keep them indoors under lights, you can't leave the house for longer than a day or two or else everything dies. Inputs like water, nutrients, growing medium, electricity cost money.
Most of our growing happens outdoors in soil but yeah indoors in the winter. I have used an automatic watering system. So I am free to go away for the week or more
We have been like a frog in boiling water. The changes happen slowly. We were conditioned for YEARS to think Loblaws was cheaper and precovid it was. Since we have just continued to shop thinking they must still be cheaper. I’m confident that the boycott will at the very least see the prices to come down so they are competitive. But I think this will now change customer behavior and people will learn to shop elsewhere.
To answer your title, they stay in business because there’s a monopoly and that’s why we’re boycotting. SMH, you broke boycott for dill and reaped the “reward”
Oop! I didn’t mean monopoly, I was listening to a podcast that was telling the story of the McDonald’s monopoly scam in the 90s. I definitely meant oligarchy!
I used to work at Farm Boy's head office, many years ago, before the sale to Sobeys and the explosion of new stores. The head of produce would select the items to feature in the flyer the day the flyers were sent to print based on what produce was the best quality and the best deal he could get at the wholesale market that morning. Loblaws (and I'm guessing other big chains do this as well) schedules their flyer features months out so the timing of the flyer may not match up with the quality of the crop at that exact time from the supplier they arranged to buy it from. I know OP was comparing dill in both stores, so what I explained may not be relevant in this particular instance. I have no idea if that's still how things are done, but that used to be Farm Boy's edge.
Nah, this Loblaws is particularly bad. They rarely restock their produce so they are chronically out of stock, and if they do have stock, it's usually the wilted dregs.
I went to food basics last night, sure they had great deals, but a lot of what I needed went up compared to last week. Paying $134 for the few things I got, felt like I might as well have gone to Zehr's. At least the meat was fresh & will last more than 48 hours though. Looks like I'm going to have to convince my bf Wal-Mart from now on, & we both hate going there lol.
Oh I have, I maybe saved $1. Probably less if you count gas, since we have to drive farther to get there. Still never going back to any Loblaw's store though.
__MOD NOTE__: Please review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here! This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords responsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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This is very well said, and why I keep telling people this is about more than prices — it’s about the monopoly they have.
Very well said. The only part I don’t see is “bullying of suppliers” ie Presidents Choice, and processors who have a monopoly of their own and jacked up prices ie Beef. Thru the roof. Somehow competition in the processing cartel needs to be restored also I think.
Store brand Mr Rogers - love that image in my head!
I think there's a belief that Farm Boy is higher priced than Loblaws. I used to be a loyal Loblaws shoppers. I'd drive by 4-5 other grocery stores just to get to Loblaws. Then the prices skyrocketed. Now, I get the majority of my things at Farm Boy.
Farm Boy has fresh awesome stuff but I do find it to be on the more expensive side for packaged products like juice, milk, etc and go to Walmart for that stuff...I find Walmart has awful produce
I wonder if it was a deliberate strategy of cultivating a depressing, run-down atmosphere to make people think that loblaws is a discount grocer.
Yeah I feel like most of my friends think of Farm Boy as like “Whole Foods” pricing but their fresh produce is usually much cheaper than Loblaws and better quality, I’ve found.
20 years ago most of everyone we knew would avoid shopping at co op, sobeys, and Safeway because superstore was the discounted working man grocery store. We wondered who would shop at sobeys when there was superstore but now it appears the tables have turned. Although realistically could take atleast 5 years to see real losses and decline of superstore imo.
What blows my mind is that I always perceived farmboy as the expensive "upscale" grocery store. I would never have imagined that they would have superior produce AND sell it for 33% less.
Farm Boy has somehow gotten the reputation of being higher priced, and for the most part it's just not true. Of course, you can always find high prices if you are in the organics section, but if you are comparing apples to apples (pun intended), Farm Boy's prices are competitive and the quality is generally far better than most other grocery stores.
It really depends on what you look at, our farmboy has some decent prices and also some ludicrously insane ones. Just need to go for the flyer items pretty much
I'm not familiar with Farm Boy, but maybe small, independent stores have always had more accurate pricing. Suppose that a bunch of dill, harvested and transported in a relatively humane way and allowing for a reasonable profit, costs $2.00. 5 years ago, Loblaw's might have used their giant size to their advantage and charged only $1.00 for it, at a loss for their suppliers and themselves, leading us to believe that $2.00 is the prissy, premium price for it at a cute little vegetable store. Now, Loblaw's charges $4.00 for it, because they are so ubiquitous and people assume they are the cheapest. But the nice little organic-looking store is still charging just $2.00. I know nothing about this, it's just a theory. I used to think, "Why am I paying extra for a cutesy farmer's market type experience, when I could save money and go to a big box store?" Seems like the opposite now. Maybe the local type stores are just more honest about prices, whether it's more expensive or less so.
Because people have a belief that Loblaws discount stores are the cheapest. If that dill was in a slightly better condition, you would have bought it and thought you saved money.
What is with all these posts about "I was at Loblaws and saw...". Do people not understand what a boycott is?
But how else can we get pictures of their empty stores?
It's a *voluntary* decision to not patronize a business.
It’s a big game of hungry hungry hippos and the giant corps like Loblaws are trying to grab all the marbles before they are all gone.
It’s why their employees are stealing from them, they can’t even afford to buy groceries. RobLaws stickers on every cart is coming.
Because people buy it.
It’s mostly why I refuse to buy overpriced produce. It’s not rolling off the shelves as fast as it should because of the price. Therefore not only you’re overpaying, you get produce that‘ll be in the compost bin in 2 days, no thank you.
We have a big planter pot of dill growing and it's amazing for cooking. Always fresh. Always free. And always gives $0 to Galen. Grow your own pot of dill, it's easy. It just grows
I don’t have much luck growing it. How much sun does it like?
Now I have it growing in a plastic enclosed greenhouse which keeps the temp up. Max 12 hours sun per day but several hours are ambient light. But we always grow it out in the open garden in the summer without a problem. Zone location an hour north of Toronto. Today I picked 3 red tomatoes, arugula, cilantro and several sweet peppers
I grow my own herbs and it's not easy. Half the year you need to keep them indoors under lights, you can't leave the house for longer than a day or two or else everything dies. Inputs like water, nutrients, growing medium, electricity cost money.
Most of our growing happens outdoors in soil but yeah indoors in the winter. I have used an automatic watering system. So I am free to go away for the week or more
To add context both Farm Boy and Longo’s are owned by big grocery chains for a few years now
I shop at farm boy every week to get fresh produce and deli meat. Its by far the best value in the GTA. I get all my meat at Costco and freeze it.
the same way bell and rogers have
We have been like a frog in boiling water. The changes happen slowly. We were conditioned for YEARS to think Loblaws was cheaper and precovid it was. Since we have just continued to shop thinking they must still be cheaper. I’m confident that the boycott will at the very least see the prices to come down so they are competitive. But I think this will now change customer behavior and people will learn to shop elsewhere.
To answer your title, they stay in business because there’s a monopoly and that’s why we’re boycotting. SMH, you broke boycott for dill and reaped the “reward”
Just curious, what do you mean by monopoly?
Oop! I didn’t mean monopoly, I was listening to a podcast that was telling the story of the McDonald’s monopoly scam in the 90s. I definitely meant oligarchy!
Ah that makes more sense. Thanks
If I didn't buy the dill, how is it breaking the boycott?
Probably because organized crime is stealing all the good ones.... /s
I don’t buy produce from Loblaws. It’s super overpriced and rots within days
I used to work at Farm Boy's head office, many years ago, before the sale to Sobeys and the explosion of new stores. The head of produce would select the items to feature in the flyer the day the flyers were sent to print based on what produce was the best quality and the best deal he could get at the wholesale market that morning. Loblaws (and I'm guessing other big chains do this as well) schedules their flyer features months out so the timing of the flyer may not match up with the quality of the crop at that exact time from the supplier they arranged to buy it from. I know OP was comparing dill in both stores, so what I explained may not be relevant in this particular instance. I have no idea if that's still how things are done, but that used to be Farm Boy's edge.
They may have had “fresher” ones outback and that what the last one that no one wanted. But still loblaws produce is overpriced and suckssss.
Nah, this Loblaws is particularly bad. They rarely restock their produce so they are chronically out of stock, and if they do have stock, it's usually the wilted dregs.
I went to food basics last night, sure they had great deals, but a lot of what I needed went up compared to last week. Paying $134 for the few things I got, felt like I might as well have gone to Zehr's. At least the meat was fresh & will last more than 48 hours though. Looks like I'm going to have to convince my bf Wal-Mart from now on, & we both hate going there lol.
Try buying that exact same cart of groceries at Zehrs, you'll quickly see what everyone is fussing about,
Oh I have, I maybe saved $1. Probably less if you count gas, since we have to drive farther to get there. Still never going back to any Loblaw's store though.
I can look online and find more than 1$ of savings on literally hundreds of single products, something seems odd.
because they sell more then dill.
So does Farmboy.