Another Loblaw-owned store accused of price gouging after shopper shares sticker shock

Another day, another resident of Ontario reduced to an apoplectic fit  over the obscene prices in any given aisle of their local grocery store.

This week, the exorbitant find was not at a Sobeys, No Frills, Shoppers Drug Mart or even a Loblaws, but at an outpost of the Real Canadian Superstore (which, along with Shoppers, is owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd.).

As in some cases past, the item in question was a cut of meat that was spotted for far more than it would have been in months past, priced at a whopping $108 per kilogram.

"This is getting ridiculous. This is more expensive than anywhere in the world by a mile and I've lived in multiple countries," the enraged resident wrote on the Ontario subreddit with a photo of the steak in question, a 358 g piece of beef tenderloin going for $38.45 at a Superstore in Oakville.

"Where are we heading? I cannot fathom how this is sustainable. It's getting out of hand."

$108/kg tenderloin, ffs
by u/Hafezberg in ontario

The post has sparked hundreds of comments about supply chain issues and supermarkets potentially profiting off of grocery inflation, which continues to spike higher than the general rate of inflation for goods and services in Canada.

Many agreed that despite other factors — such as the high feed prices that have led farmers to raise fewer cows — "regular grocery store beef shouldn't be on this level." Of course, commenters were quick to point out the unignorably vast profits that Loblaws and Metro have been posting in recent fiscal quarters.

As the public ire about those profits continues and even drives some to steal basic staples with no remorse, stores are upping their security measures, along with their prices.

Some have just boycotted Loblaws and affiliated stores altogether in protest, and are finding their supermarket bills lower as a result.