[Newsbot]

Title: More grocery competition needed in Canada: Competition Bureau
Category: Business
Posted By: Strutz
Date: 2023-06-27 14:27:29
Canadian

[Strutz]

$1:

It also recommends governments encourage the growth of independent grocers and the entry of international grocers into the Canadian market, standardize unit pricing to help Canadians easily compare prices, and curb real estate practices in the industry that limit competition, such as putting covenants on sold land that prevents any new grocer from operating there.

Gary Sands, senior vice-president of public policy with the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, said the study recognizes that more needs to be done to support independent grocers in Canada.

The question that comes to my mind is whether or not the food manufacturers and/or wholesale distribution companies would provide the same pricing to smaller independent stores as they would to the big boys who obviously purchase in higher volumes. It makes it difficult to compete when your base costs are higher.

[DrCaleb]

With all the vertical integration in Groceries, is it even possible for smaller stores to not use the big boy's warehouses?

My local store uses LeBlaBlas to stock their shelves. Pretty sure Save On and Overwaitea both use their own warehouses too.

[Thanos]

Downtown and inner core retail/commercial space is far too expensive now for small groceries to flourish the way they once did in the long-ago past. Even the large chains like a 711 or Circle K are few and far between downtown due to the operating costs. Moving large delivery trucks around confined and crowded core streets, avenues, and alleys is a genuine hassle as well, especially for the drivers who have to maneuver something like a 14 or 18 wheeler for a large drop-off at a store. And the culture of driving, that the vast majority of people still engage in, makes it even more certain that most people will take the fastest option of stopping at a large suburban store on the way home from work or on the weekend to get what they need, as opposed to going to the city core to "enjoy the urban ambience".

I know a lot of these ideas have a certain romance to them, at least to the fans of the think-tank groups who dream them up. Realistically though? They're little to no help when it comes to realistic changes. I can see online grocery shopping becoming far more of a real-life option than I can seen new chains or independent stores suddenly appearing in numbers large enough to be considered an increase in competition.

[Strutz]

Thanos Thanos:

Downtown and inner core retail/commercial space is far too expensive now for small groceries to flourish the way they once did in the long-ago past. Even the large chains like a 711 or Circle K are few and far between downtown due to the operating costs. Moving large delivery trucks around confined and crowded core streets, avenues, and alleys is a genuine hassle as well, especially for the drivers who have to maneuver something like a 14 or 18 wheeler for a large drop-off at a store. And the culture of driving, that the vast majority of people still engage in, makes it even more certain that most people will take the fastest option of stopping at a large suburban store on the way home from work or on the weekend to get what they need, as opposed to going to the city core to "enjoy the urban ambience".

I know a lot of these ideas have a certain romance to them, at least to the fans of the think-tank groups who dream them up. Realistically though? They're little to no help when it comes to realistic changes. I can see online grocery shopping becoming far more of a real-life option than I can seen new chains or independent stores suddenly appearing in numbers large enough to be considered an increase in competition.

Good points to bring up. A smallish store wouldn't necessarily have the advantage of a loading dock or even a reasonable parking space for a trailer to offload to easily.

I know someone who does deliveries for folks who shop online for groceries. I just can't see myself shopping this way for groceries though. It's easy to pick out things like canned whatever or a box of pasta or cereal but I wouldn't want someone picking out my produce or meat as those are things I need to see for myself.

[Thanos]

That's why there's so many flaws in these sorts of ideas when they get announced. They don't factor in the reality of the changes in pretty much all Canadian cities & large towns that have happened over the last several generations. We're constantly subjected to ideas that are designed expressly as part of yet another revitalization of downtown/inner core areas in an era where the vast majority of city dwellers have long since left the inner city behind them. "More small stores" sounds great on paper but in reality it has so many obstacles against it that it's unfeasible from the beginning. And when you get a smaller chain to provide some actual competition it turns out to be something like Giant Tiger or No Frills, which either turn out to be just a subsidiary of one of the grocery giants or it's such a cheapskate low-grade outfit that provides only offers such low quality & limited choice that anyone with the money to do so goes elsewhere. Or you get a high-end outfit, basically a Canadian version of Whole Foods, that has such high prices and openly wants only the "elite" & beautiful people types shopping there that there's no point for the average person with an average income to even walk through their doors.

High prices, BTW, is exactly what anyone shopping at downtown/inner core food stores will get. Just to cover the rent or property taxes or an endless list of city fees, these operators will have to charge up to fifty percent more for the exact same thing of the exact same quality that's available (and easier to get to) at Safeway/Sobeys/CoOp/Superstore/WalMart/etc. This will do absolutely nothing to combat inflation, if reversing inflation is even really a major concern of the urban-centric big thinkers to begin with.

[herbie]

Hah! The Competition Bureau that has never found gas stations colluding?
That says nothing when ALL cell companies are like $1 apart and ALL advertise "Unlimited Plans" that state a limit (ex: 20GB) on the very next line?
How about gas prices in Abbotsford (outside the 20c transit tax area) are currently 46 cents a litre more than in Prince George. Rip 'em off $27+ a fill, that's just fine and dandy. Blame it on the Carbon tax we pay here too.

[xerxes]

Yeah. The same competition bureau that said the Rogers/Shaw merger would be better for Canadians.

Everyone here is making great points. More competition would be better, but how to achieve it? The entrenched powers are too big to challenge unless an equally big chain from somewhere else tried to move in, like say Tesco or Aldi. And even then they’d have to set up their own supply chains and distribution centers. It would be a money loser for years before they could turn anything resembling a profit.

So much of the world is like this now and we’ve all accepted it as a fait accompli. Hate YouTube? Who else has their reach? Same with Amazon. And I could go on.

[Thanos]

Or you get an American competitor with a track record in the US of nothing but great success who sets up shop in Canada but then destroys itself in less than half a decade with a bafflingly insane business plan that runs counter to everything they did right down south *cough*cough* Target*cough*Nordstrom*cough*cough*.