Canadians’ Grocery Spending in Spotlight Amid Loblaw Boycott
A BBC report compared prices at UK’s Tesco, US’s Walmart, and Canada’s Loblaw. Loblaw was found to have the highest prices. For example, a whole chicken at Tesco costs £3.22 or $5.63CAD, while at Loblaw it’s $11.59CAD.
A planned boycott of Loblaw, initially set for May, continues as shoppers protest against high prices. The online group ‘r/loblawsisoutofcontrol,’ started by frustrated customer Emily Johnson, now has 88,000 members.
Loblaw, with 2,500 stores nationwide, is known for its high prices and large profits. Last quarter, it made $13.58 billion in revenue, up by $586 million (4.5%) from the previous year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has been pushing for more competition in Canada’s grocery sector since last year.
In April, The Wall Street Journal published a list revealing that the Trudeau government is seeking services from various foreign retailers. These include:
- Les Mousquetaires from France
- Aldi, Lidl, Edeka Group, and Rewe Group from Germany
- X5 Retail Group from the Netherlands
- Reitangruppen from Norway
- Jerónimo Martins from Portugal
- Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación and Mercadona from Spain
- BIM Birlesik Magazalar from Turkey
- Holding from the U.S.
Loblaw has been under scrutiny due to the affordability crisis in the grocery sector. Allegations include misrepresentation of product weights in advertisements, being the subject of a musical parody, and facing a movement urging people to steal from its stores.
