Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro and Costco sell about 67 cents of every dollar Canadians spend on groceries, by a USDA estimate. The four biggest US food retailers sell about 35 cents.
Be glad you’re not in New Zealand where “Competition is dominated by two major retailers” according to the New Zealand Commerce Commission Market study into the grocery sector Summary of Findings published March 2022.
2 or 4 - functionally equivalent. A market requires many many more to be efficient. We’re better off only in principle.
This is simply the result of Canadian cities with overly anti-small business policies. The fact that you can’t just run a business anywhere, or that you require to have a license from the municipal/city, or even have a permit for a sign out on the street, have a permit for x style of signage, etc. all for the sake of the look-and-feel of a city… is anti-business. It puts barriers in front of lower budget mom/pop stores.
Go out of North America, and you’ll see that when overbearing policies are removed, small businesses thrive, cost of goods go down , and more variety are available to the consumer.
This extends beyond just the grocery market.
Those are all reasonable and necessary restrictions though, not sure why you think they’re burdensome. Things like accessibility, traffic, public safety, etc are part of operating a business.
Please read what I wrote again. I never said to discount accessibility, traffic, public safety, etc. It is the less obvious fees/policies that cities impose. Some are triggered only when a business changes hands.
But it also tells that many have no idea how much upfront money is required for these upgrades to get aging buildings into compliance and that’s when you haven’t even started selling anything. You need at least 500k of liquidity to just ‘start’ (if it’s anything like a small cafe as an example) and that amount won’t even last past 6 months given the nature of how consumer habits work in North America.
Add in the lack of trades in Canada, the price skyrockets - I mean, that’s a whole other story.
The silver lining in there is that people should be claiming tax credits/breaks where applicable. Many provinces and federal taxes for business have built-in incentives.
costco is surprising its so big in canada.
Yeah, you never see them.
If you ever see an item in the grocery store that says “Prepared in Canada”, it means nothing of value, avoid them for their deceptive practices.
Depending on where you live there are likely farmers’ markets and/or local producers within a reasonable drive. In my experience it can range as far as price, and flavour is almost always better.
At least it’s a way to reduce reliance and dependence on this oligopoly.
And people in farmers markets have been caught just purchasing produce from the store and reselling it.
Canada has one of the most concentrated food systems in the industrialized world. Typically, when corporate concentration surpasses levels that generate “efficient” business activities, processes and products, then negative social and economic effects are produced. Beyond that level of concentration, firms are able to extract excessive profits and / or control entry into marketplaces, to the detriment of other firms. High levels of concentration also typically penalize suppliers, who receive lower prices for their goods relative to what they would receive in a more competitive environment. Consumers also pay more because sellers can charge higher prices for their goods in the absence of a base of competing sellers. There is some evidence that recent inflationary pressures are partly the result of tacit collusion amongst firms in highly concentrated sectors. The Competition Bureau (2023) concludes that low competition in the grocery sector has resulted in increased profits the last 4 years during inflationary pressures, sometimes referred to as seller’s inflation. There’s also evidence that concentration can suppress wages. Since the 1970s, around 10% of the wage stagnation in the United States is due directly and indirectly to buyer corporate concentration (e.g. Walmart and Amazon).
Canadians should consider that overly consolidated, corporate-controlled food systems are unstable.
Canada’s current food system lacks diversity, which makes it vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions. The mainstream system also enables a few food retail tycoons to achieve record-breaking profits, while Canadians experience growing food insecurity.
Discussions around the need for public alternatives should not focus solely on profit margins. We need to start thinking about food the way we think about roads or public transit — infrastructure that deserves public investment.
This shift will require Canadians to see food not simply as a commodity, but as a public good. Government-run stores are only part of the picture. There are already community-led alternatives across Canada worth paying attention to.
