Small grocers, co-ops receiving boost from Loblaw boycott: ‘A lot of anger’
Small grocers, co-ops receiving boost from Loblaw boycott: ‘A lot of anger’
As frustrations for Canadians grow along with grocery store bills, some say Canadians are ready to think outside the big box store when heading out for groceries.
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I am a member of a co-op. I strongly believe in the mission, however, it is not affordable for families. Maybe if we prioritized less speciality foods and had more members we could bring costs down, but it is truly a struggle in balancing supporting the community and staying open.
My co-op tries to balance this by incentivizing donating to the local food banks, both in product and monetary donations, but it is a real struggle.
All that being said, since the price fixing began, health food is no longer that much more expensive.
Member co-op grocery stores used to be cheaper than the private, corporate stores, but they came with that barrier to entry that kept many people away. And the corporate stores continued to build capital, so they could afford better locations, more convenient parking, etc. Now, co-ops are niche, and need to operate as specialty stores because they were squeezed out of the market.
We could have affordable grocery co-ops again, but it would take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears at this point.
While we're at it, let's add more housing co-ops.