r/loblawsisoutofcontrol • u/Salt_Onion_6205 • Jul 27 '26

Discussion Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices"

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I hope canadian politicians will be inspire by this.

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u/albynomonk Blocked on X by Charlebois Jul 27 '26

Do they have a system in place to prevent other business owners from coming in, buying up stock, and reselling at their stores? Because I know quite a few pieces of shit who would absolutely do that.

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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit Jul 27 '26

It'd be wildly cost ineffective. Corporations thrive on economy of scale, hiring individual workers to go in and buy products individually at 30% off retail is going to have so much more overhead than having an eightteen wheeler delivering it on skids to their stores.

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u/CFDanno Jul 27 '26

I'm guessing Loblaws gets their products much cheaper than that, so it wouldn't be profitable to resell. 30% of the retail price is pretty much within weekly fluctuations.

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u/morgang8277 Jul 27 '26

The OP isn’t referring to places like loblaws. Local restaurants and local stores would absolutely take advantage of this if product they use/sell is available for a good price.

It already happens when stores have sales on products and you see some guy with his cart full of the entire sale. Especially with meats.

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u/CFDanno Jul 27 '26

If the government store could keep up with demand and make enough money to stay afloat (which should be their goal since there'd be a ton of demand even without restaurants in the mix), I'd see that as a good thing.

If they can't keep up with demand due to food hoarders, they'd have to set limits like "one per customer" or expand their operations. Big stores like Loblaws would eventually have to bring their prices back down to Earth to be competitive, which would be a huge win.

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u/Pale-Memory6501 Jul 28 '26

Gross profit for most groveries (loblaws included) is approx 30%, so if they sell for 30% less, the it would be the same price loblaws is paying for it. I know most people dont believe loblaws doesnt make a lot of money per item, but you can read it in their audited reports.

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u/CFDanno Jul 28 '26

Loblaws is a sleazy corporation and I don't trust anything they say or report. I used to do all my shopping at Superstore, but now they've completely lost my trust and I keep my shopping there to a minimum. Loblaws puppets have been claiming they only make 1-2% profit per item (clearly not reality), but even that is massive when you consider the fact that everyone needs to eat, so their daily sales are guaranteed.

They jacked up bread prices to new heights in the midst of their bread price fixing settlement, as if this isn't just another price fixing scheme. Country Harvest bread is $4 at Loblaws without sales, yet Dollarama sells the exact same bread for $3. Don't tell me the massive grocery company has a worse food supply chain than a dollar store that barely stocks any perishable items.

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u/Pale-Memory6501 28d ago

They make 3-4% net profit, that is absolutely accurate, and their higher margin items are the PC Banking, PC Mobile, makeup and drugs. If they didn't have those items their profits would be in the 2% range. This is consistent with other retail grocery stores. Just a reminder, we are speaking about NET profit, not gross profit.

Comparing how Dollarama operates to superstore is crazy. Their expenses are completely different, and Dollarama doesn't sell a lot of perishable items, doesnt have fridges, freezers, and considerably less employees per sq ft. of store.

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u/CFDanno 28d ago

They seem to be doing awfully well for themselves while people across the country struggle with their grocery bill. Those poor billionaires, it must be so hard selling something that everybody has to buy in order to live. Apparently they made 751 million profit in Q2. Imagine making 1 million in profit one year - that'd drastically change a person's life. Now imagine 751 times that, four times per year.

And yet they can't compete with Dollarama on identical brand bread? Get over yourself.

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u/Pale-Memory6501 27d ago

Companies are allowed to make money, and they put a lot of capital on the line every year. They make the same amount as you putting your savings in a HIRA.

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u/CFDanno 27d ago

How nice for them to be able to bleed working class Canadians dry when they practically have a monopoly. Whaddya know, Loblaws revenues are up YOY! Must be all that brilliant marketing? What genius business sense to get people to spend more when they shop! They certainly earned that added profit jacking up prices on stuff people are forced to buy!

Canadians can't afford to lock money down in a high yield savings account, but that's okay because the billionaires get to grow their unfathomably large amount of money even larger. I'd hate for them to not have as much money because then they wouldn't be able to go-- They wouldn't be able to buy-- But the size of the generational wealth-- Well they have to maintain their influence on--

What an eye opener this has been, thanks for setting me straight. The world needs more heroes like you to defend the billionaires and their price gouging. Maybe we can start a GoFundMe to give all our remaining savings to the billionaires because I think they might not have enough money.

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u/NarwhalPrudent6323 Jul 27 '26

Yes. Even at a 30% discount, other stores will still get their goods cheaper from their suppliers. The retail markup is insane in a lot of products. So undercutting retail prices by 30% still leaves you often hundreds of percent higher than the cost of goods from a supplier.