Simply Delicious Natural and Gourmet Market  (Vernon Matters Photo)

By Kevin Rothwell

rising prices

Independent Vernon grocer applauds Competition Bureau report

Jul 4, 2023 | 6:30 AM

One of Vernon’s few independent grocers hopes a Competition Bureau report calling for more options for Canadian consumers does not get shelved.

The report called for a number of changes to the grocery business to diversify consumer choice and encourage more independent grocers.

One of the recommendations called for governments and the Canadian grocery industry to encourage the growth of independent grocers and the entry of international grocers into the Canadian market, which struck a cord with Simply Delicious Natural and Gourmet Market owner Cameron Grant.

“I’m hoping they can figure out how to lower prices. I don’t know if it is a monopoly, I don’t know who is controlling prices but they keep going up. I know some of our suppliers keep increasing prices and then we have to raise ours,” Grant said “I’m hoping with this competition bureau they can stop food prices from rising and hopefully lower them again.”

The cost of food rose by nine per cent in May year over year on already historically high pricing.

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The report pointed out that even if you don’t shop at a store called Loblaws, Sobeys, or Metro, you may be shopping at another store that they own or are affiliated with, as all three companies have over 1,000 stores each, including franchised locations. Along with Costco and Walmart, that means just five large grocery chains operate in Canada.

“Stores like ours buy a lot of local produce and other products that the big stores claim to buy but don’t. We buy local, but without the big volumes, we don’t get the same price breaks the big stores do,” Grant stated. “I hope they would come up with some sort of funding or something for small independent grocers or even for the small independent farmers so they can lower their prices and we can pass the savings onto consumers.”

Local farmers sell at markets and independents but it has been tough to crack the code at the big retailers without a major sacrifice of profit margins.

“Everything costs more these days and people have a harder time coming into a store like ours, that supplies quality local food. As always, the quality is going to be a little more money, but people are opting for lower quality food, because everything else has gone up in price,” Grant concluded.