Report: more competition in grocery stores is needed in Canada

[Brian Lutz]

https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/compet ... ompetition

A study by the Canadian Competition Bureau (a government agency that is tasked with enforcement of antitrust law) has been released stating that there is not enough competition in the grocery industry in Canada. Loblaw's, Sobeys, Metro, Walmart and Costco now account for the vast majority of grocery sales in Canada, a condition which has made it nearly impossible for other competitors to enter the market and which has contributed to price increases.

Recommendations in the report include measures to encourage more operators (particularly independents ) to enter the market, bans on property controls that give grocers exclusive rights to open stores in a shopping center and even seems to suggest that price controls on some items may be needed, but the report does seem to stop short of calling for antitrust action against existing operators.

[storewanderer]

The thing is even the independent stores are supplied by these groups.

For instance Loblaw's supplies various independent stores plus has those No Frills units that are run by independents. Sobeys also supplies some independents and many of their Safeway downgrades are run by independents.

Some items like dairy are way more expensive in Canada than the US due to the subsidies the US places on these items at the producer level. Canada does not do those types of subsidies so prices to consumers on those items are a lot higher. Many other items in Canada seem prices similar or lower than the western US (largely overpriced chains) prices.

[retailfanmitchell019]

There's no way Kroger or Albertsons (merger or not) is expanding to Canada anytime soon... Albertsons was going to expand there during the Skaggs partnership, but that plan was aborted. I heard that Fred Meyer was looking at land to purchase in Edmonton, Alberta (pre-Kroger era).

I'm surprised Aldi and Trader Joe's haven't entered Canada yet. Those two, along with Sprouts, strike me as the most likely chains to enter Canada.
I guess Dollar General is another one- they've announced expansion into Mexico, I'd guess Canada is next on their list.

If anything, we need a Canadian chain to expand down here in the potential aftermath of the Kroger/Albertsons merger. I'm hoping Loblaw opening a T&T in Washington State is a first step to getting back into the US (maybe buying SpinCo/Save Mart).
From what I've heard, Canadian chains have higher quality products than US chains (even Walmart up there is probably higher quality than the typical Kroger or Albertsons down here, dare I say it).

[storewanderer]

Sprouts won't enter Canada because it is basically a chain that covers the Southern US. They have not done well in WA with only a few open stores and beyond that they have nothing in the upper half of the US to speak of. Sprouts needs to straighten out what it wants to be in the US before they even think of Canada. I also think there is competition in Canada that would render them completely irrelevant. I also don't think there is as much of a supplement business in Canada as there is in the US. Also Sprouts center store is too over-SKUed and too overpriced for Canada.

Plus around Vancouver there are actual farmer's market stores in malls/strip malls, it is a chain called Kin's Fresh Market. These are franchise type operations but they only sell produce. These types of chains have excellent produce (most of it is from the US though) and completely would make Sprouts useless.

Meijer may be a good candidate to expand into Canada though. I think Dollar General is a better fit in Canada than Mexico but that is just my opinion. Dollar General has re-done their format special for Mexico with a much more fresh-focused and labor-intensive format (hard to imagine they can maintain such a format), but I think they could go into Canada with the same basic store operation/location model they have in the US.

I am surprised Trader Joe's has not tried Canada. They could do well in all of the major cities and there is quite a little cottage business of people who drive to US Trader Joe's and resell the items in Canada (they get trespassed from the near-border locations eventually but someone else takes over where they left off every time).

Aldi would perform very poorly in Canada against the Loblaw No Frills concept and even the similar but worse Sobeys limited SKU concept FreshCo I think would stand up very well against Aldi.

Quality in Canada is variable similar to the US. There is a fair amount of processed pork sold in the US under various labels that is actually product of Canada; various lesser known labeled bacons, hams, etc. sold in the US are actually products of Canada. Produce is another story. For instance in Canada they can sell fresh produce (Citrus for instance) that is Grown in China. I only saw that fresh China Citrus at some Save On Foods operation, I think it was called Price Smart or something, no other chains I went into had that stuff. Generally speaking I find produce quality in Canada to be worse than the US due to the limited produce grown in Canada so a lot of stuff is trucked up/boated over. The majority of produce in Canada is actually US grown. There is more US grown produce in a typical Canada Supermarket than there is in a typical California Supermarket (since so much stuff in the CA supermarkets comes from Mexico). Mexico is too far to send much produce to Canada and maintain freshness. Quality of baked goods in Canada is definitely better than the US though.

[Romr123]

In SE Michigan we drive south into Canada, which has acres and acres of industrial greenhouses. Nearly all of our off-season tomatoes/heirloom tomatoes and button mushrooms come across from Canada (it's a real luxury having high-quality tomatoes 12 months a year never more than $1.99 a pound/sale price .99 a pound). Also English cucumbers are mostly sourced for us from there (sometimes you see them product USA or Mexico) and rarely are more than $1.49/sale .99. It's interesting, though...greenhouse lettuces/greens/etc generally are US sourced rather than Canadian sourced.

There was an interesting story about 5 years ago when Heinz stopped manufacturing catsup in Leamington, ON (about 40 miles from Detroit)...a competitor was allowed to buy the plant, so that was the start of French's catsup. The flavo(u)r of catsup in Canada differs from the US (it's sweeter).
There was a rather funny problem that Heinz getting out of Canadian manufacturing caused--Heinz was also the big Canadian brand of tomato juice (which is superior to US tomato juice as it's pressed from fresh tomatoes before canning---they cannot dilute tomato concentrate and sell it as tomato juice). They didn't know what to do but finally sourced local tomato juice so were able to continue to sell.

The tomatoes are so abundant that palletloads end up at Forgotten Harvest (one of the two local food banks) where they sort through the culls to make complete trays which are then redistributed within 24 hours. I've worked with a group which had 5 palletfuls of tomatoes to go through one workday. Kind of fun, once in awhile.

I've said before that quality in Canada is all over the place--labeling requirements are different either side of the border; so some products are better on one side of the border than the other, others are worse quality, and sometimes labeling is the only difference. (Canadian hot dogs are awful, with starch and fillers). Deli ham and lunch meats (as an example) is labeled in Canada with protein content (rather than US labeling of Ham/Ham Natural Juices/Ham with Water Added/Ham and Water Product). Stores in the US can be sneaky, though, selling "Imported Ham/Proscuitto" and it's "Product of Canada". There are a couple of importers of Canadian canned goods in SE Michigan (they generally supply ethnic grocers in the US) which source from Canada (and properly label the products).

[veteran+]

Sprouts won't enter Canada because it is basically a chain that covers the Southern US. They have not done well in WA with only a few open stores and beyond that they have nothing in the upper half of the US to speak of. Sprouts needs to straighten out what it wants to be in the US before they even think of Canada. I also think there is competition in Canada that would render them completely irrelevant. I also don't think there is as much of a supplement business in Canada as there is in the US. Also Sprouts center store is too over-SKUed and too overpriced for Canada.

Plus around Vancouver there are actual farmer's market stores in malls/strip malls, it is a chain called Kin's Fresh Market. These are franchise type operations but they only sell produce. These types of chains have excellent produce (most of it is from the US though) and completely would make Sprouts useless.

Meijer may be a good candidate to expand into Canada though. I think Dollar General is a better fit in Canada than Mexico but that is just my opinion. Dollar General has re-done their format special for Mexico with a much more fresh-focused and labor-intensive format (hard to imagine they can maintain such a format), but I think they could go into Canada with the same basic store operation/location model they have in the US.

I am surprised Trader Joe's has not tried Canada. They could do well in all of the major cities and there is quite a little cottage business of people who drive to US Trader Joe's and resell the items in Canada (they get trespassed from the near-border locations eventually but someone else takes over where they left off every time).

Aldi would perform very poorly in Canada against the Loblaw No Frills concept and even the similar but worse Sobeys limited SKU concept FreshCo I think would stand up very well against Aldi.

Quality in Canada is variable similar to the US. There is a fair amount of processed pork sold in the US under various labels that is actually product of Canada; various lesser known labeled bacons, hams, etc. sold in the US are actually products of Canada. Produce is another story. For instance in Canada they can sell fresh produce (Citrus for instance) that is Grown in China. I only saw that fresh China Citrus at some Save On Foods operation, I think it was called Price Smart or something, no other chains I went into had that stuff. Generally speaking I find produce quality in Canada to be worse than the US due to the limited produce grown in Canada so a lot of stuff is trucked up/boated over. The majority of produce in Canada is actually US grown. There is more US grown produce in a typical Canada Supermarket than there is in a typical California Supermarket (since so much stuff in the CA supermarkets comes from Mexico). Mexico is too far to send much produce to Canada and maintain freshness. Quality of baked goods in Canada is definitely better than the US though.

Sprouts is over SKU'd in center store?

Huh?

[veteran+]

In SE Michigan we drive south into Canada, which has acres and acres of industrial greenhouses. Nearly all of our off-season tomatoes/heirloom tomatoes and button mushrooms come across from Canada (it's a real luxury having high-quality tomatoes 12 months a year never more than $1.99 a pound/sale price .99 a pound). Also English cucumbers are mostly sourced for us from there (sometimes you see them product USA or Mexico) and rarely are more than $1.49/sale .99. It's interesting, though...greenhouse lettuces/greens/etc generally are US sourced rather than Canadian sourced.

There was an interesting story about 5 years ago when Heinz stopped manufacturing catsup in Leamington, ON (about 40 miles from Detroit)...a competitor was allowed to buy the plant, so that was the start of French's catsup. The flavo(u)r of catsup in Canada differs from the US (it's sweeter).
There was a rather funny problem that Heinz getting out of Canadian manufacturing caused--Heinz was also the big Canadian brand of tomato juice (which is superior to US tomato juice as it's pressed from fresh tomatoes before canning---they cannot dilute tomato concentrate and sell it as tomato juice). They didn't know what to do but finally sourced local tomato juice so were able to continue to sell.

The tomatoes are so abundant that palletloads end up at Forgotten Harvest (one of the two local food banks) where they sort through the culls to make complete trays which are then redistributed within 24 hours. I've worked with a group which had 5 palletfuls of tomatoes to go through one workday. Kind of fun, once in awhile.

I've said before that quality in Canada is all over the place--labeling requirements are different either side of the border; so some products are better on one side of the border than the other, others are worse quality, and sometimes labeling is the only difference. (Canadian hot dogs are awful, with starch and fillers). Deli ham and lunch meats (as an example) is labeled in Canada with protein content (rather than US labeling of Ham/Ham Natural Juices/Ham with Water Added/Ham and Water Product). Stores in the US can be sneaky, though, selling "Imported Ham/Proscuitto" and it's "Product of Canada". There are a couple of importers of Canadian canned goods in SE Michigan (they generally supply ethnic grocers in the US) which source from Canada (and properly label the products).

Wasn't there a legal definition in the US to differentiate between ketchup and catsup?

[storewanderer]

Sprouts is over SKU'd in center store?

Huh?

I know what you mean, it feels pretty lacking in a lot of categories...

Yet, I find a lot of short dated products in Sprouts center store. They are also constantly clearancing stuff. I got a bunch of .99 center store items throughout condiments, cereal, baking, and ethnic this week (regular prices $4.99-$10.99), some with expiration as far out as 2026. I have no idea how the 8.99 now .99 "Imported from Italy" hot sauce will be but I'm interested to try it. Entire 2 foot long shelf line of Sprouts BBQ sauces in large containers just .99. Some were clearance but other tags just said manager special. It all scanned correct with end dates of 7/14 on all tags.

Over-SKUed? Maybe has the wrong SKUs? Not sure what to call it.

[Romr123]

[*]

In SE Michigan we drive south into Canada, which has acres and acres of industrial greenhouses. Nearly all of our off-season tomatoes/heirloom tomatoes and button mushrooms come across from Canada (it's a real luxury having high-quality tomatoes 12 months a year never more than $1.99 a pound/sale price .99 a pound). Also English cucumbers are mostly sourced for us from there (sometimes you see them product USA or Mexico) and rarely are more than $1.49/sale .99. It's interesting, though...greenhouse lettuces/greens/etc generally are US sourced rather than Canadian sourced.

There was an interesting story about 5 years ago when Heinz stopped manufacturing catsup in Leamington, ON (about 40 miles from Detroit)...a competitor was allowed to buy the plant, so that was the start of French's catsup. The flavo(u)r of catsup in Canada differs from the US (it's sweeter).
There was a rather funny problem that Heinz getting out of Canadian manufacturing caused--Heinz was also the big Canadian brand of tomato juice (which is superior to US tomato juice as it's pressed from fresh tomatoes before canning---they cannot dilute tomato concentrate and sell it as tomato juice). They didn't know what to do but finally sourced local tomato juice so were able to continue to sell.

The tomatoes are so abundant that palletloads end up at Forgotten Harvest (one of the two local food banks) where they sort through the culls to make complete trays which are then redistributed within 24 hours. I've worked with a group which had 5 palletfuls of tomatoes to go through one workday. Kind of fun, once in awhile.

I've said before that quality in Canada is all over the place--labeling requirements are different either side of the border; so some products are better on one side of the border than the other, others are worse quality, and sometimes labeling is the only difference. (Canadian hot dogs are awful, with starch and fillers). Deli ham and lunch meats (as an example) is labeled in Canada with protein content (rather than US labeling of Ham/Ham Natural Juices/Ham with Water Added/Ham and Water Product). Stores in the US can be sneaky, though, selling "Imported Ham/Proscuitto" and it's "Product of Canada". There are a couple of importers of Canadian canned goods in SE Michigan (they generally supply ethnic grocers in the US) which source from Canada (and properly label the products).

Wasn't there a legal definition in the US to differentiate between ketchup and catsup?

Don't think so...

Another labeling anomaly...no such thing as "nondairy milk" in Canada, so Coffee-Mate is a coffee whitener, and Silk is a soy beverage.

[jamcool]

In SE Michigan we drive south into Canada, which has acres and acres of industrial greenhouses. Nearly all of our off-season tomatoes/heirloom tomatoes and button mushrooms come across from Canada (it's a real luxury having high-quality tomatoes 12 months a year never more than $1.99 a pound/sale price .99 a pound). Also English cucumbers are mostly sourced for us from there (sometimes you see them product USA or Mexico) and rarely are more than $1.49/sale .99. It's interesting, though...greenhouse lettuces/greens/etc generally are US sourced rather than Canadian sourced.

There was an interesting story about 5 years ago when Heinz stopped manufacturing catsup in Leamington, ON (about 40 miles from Detroit)...a competitor was allowed to buy the plant, so that was the start of French's catsup. The flavo(u)r of catsup in Canada differs from the US (it's sweeter).
There was a rather funny problem that Heinz getting out of Canadian manufacturing caused--Heinz was also the big Canadian brand of tomato juice (which is superior to US tomato juice as it's pressed from fresh tomatoes before canning---they cannot dilute tomato concentrate and sell it as tomato juice). They didn't know what to do but finally sourced local tomato juice so were able to continue to sell.

The tomatoes are so abundant that palletloads end up at Forgotten Harvest (one of the two local food banks) where they sort through the culls to make complete trays which are then redistributed within 24 hours. I've worked with a group which had 5 palletfuls of tomatoes to go through one workday. Kind of fun, once in awhile.

I've said before that quality in Canada is all over the place--labeling requirements are different either side of the border; so some products are better on one side of the border than the other, others are worse quality, and sometimes labeling is the only difference. (Canadian hot dogs are awful, with starch and fillers). Deli ham and lunch meats (as an example) is labeled in Canada with protein content (rather than US labeling of Ham/Ham Natural Juices/Ham with Water Added/Ham and Water Product). Stores in the US can be sneaky, though, selling "Imported Ham/Proscuitto" and it's "Product of Canada". There are a couple of importers of Canadian canned goods in SE Michigan (they generally supply ethnic grocers in the US) which source from Canada (and properly label the products).

No Kosher hot dogs/meat products in Canada?