As food prices continue to increase and Canadians pose concerns about practices in large retailers, some buyers may be wondering if there is an alternative to large groceries.
The cost of food has shot in recent years, with Canada report statistics That as of July 2025, the Canadians were paying 27.1 percent more than in July 2020.
Meanwhile, the three main supermarkets in Canada continue to obtain profits: $ 3.6 billion in 2022 in more than $ 100 billion in sales.
In many parts of the country, the alternatives are scarce, and the big players dominate the market. Fair Five companies control 76 percent From the Canadian Limible Market Quota: Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro, Costco and Walmart.
Consumer concerns go beyond price labels, with questions posed on labeled, weighing practices, Price discrimination, Anticompetitive behavior and security in some of the largest chains in the country.
But is it another possible world? Some say yes.
There are already examples in Canada from other food retail sales models, including cooperatives, non -profit organizations, sliding scale stores and farmers’ markets. In the United States, the Mayor’s Office of New York, Zohran Mamdami, has even reflected on the opening of supermarkets owned by the city to provide cheaper options to those who live in food deserts.
‘A different feeling’
Spencer Osberg has already greatly rejected large grocery stores and has found its Shangri-la food.
Granería is a small cooperative in Halifax that offers bulk foods, without packages, of local origin, mostly organic for its members and customers, and is directed by volunteers such as Osberg.
Osberg says that before starting buying in the graner, he thought that high prices in regular groceries were “only a life factor with which he had to live.”
“Since he worked in Granería, it is clear that these prices are excessive and unnecessary, and it is actually irritating to go to the grocery store to see how much more the stores are charging what they need,” he says.
Osberg says that in the graner, organic quinoa, for example, costs approximately half of what is charged in large stores, and steel -cut oats is approximately one third of the price.
And for Osberg, membership also has other benefits.
“It is a different sensation when you come to the store that when you go to sovereys or superstore and there are security guards looking at you, there are cameras everywhere, there is poor reproduced music, there is a terrible lighting,” he says. “Everyone makes their way to get to the line and have other things in mind.”
He says that in The Grainery, there is a more pleasant atmosphere, people know each other and spent money stays in the community.
“You don’t have to support the Westons by buying another rolex or other BMW,” he says, referring to the multibillionary family behind Loblaw.
Broker a lifted battle in the sector
Interrupting the Canadian Food Retail Sector is difficult, according to a report from the Canada 2023 competition office Canada needs more grocery competition. The continuous concentration of property in the industry makes it difficult for new companies to compete effectively, and the big players are already rooted in the purchase habits of Canadians.
Although there are around 6,900 independent grocery stores in Canada, “even the greatest independents face challenges that try to compete against giants of the giants,” says the report.
Small and independent grocery stores and cooperatives can find success through specialization or location, says Mike Von Massow, professor of food economy, agricultural and resources at the University of Guelph.
For example, a focus on local or organic food, or having a location in the center where people buy for convenience, can help a store to forge a niche clientele.
But can alternative models work at a broader scale, as a national chain of non -corporate stores?
Von Massow says that is possible, but difficult.
“The big grocery stores are very similar to an iceberg. The retail part is what we see about water, and it is that huge infrastructure underneath that really differentiates those large stores.“
Von Massow says that bricks and mortar to build a grocery store are easy pieces. It is obtaining the products, buying them and distributing them in a profitable way that is the challenge for new or smaller companies.
“It becomes something deeply difficult to climb that infrastructure in a way that allows you to climb growth in the retail sector,” he says. “So, can I work? I think it could, but it would be a very difficult and painful process to settle and grow.”
Cooperatives have a small participation in the Canadian market
Cooperatives only had Four percent of the market share In Canada in 2020.
There is a chain of cooperative stores in western Canada: Federated Limited Cooperatives, which are owned by its members, and where the profits are returned to the community. However, with an exception, the cooperative stops abruptly on the border of Ontario.
Von Massow says that once again, it is that annoying distribution problem that would be the challenge of expansion.
“That leap through the upper lake and then towards southwest Ontario would be more difficult because not only would I have to build stores, but you would have to expand your distribution infrastructure.”
Other individual cooperative brand stores exist in other parts of Canada, but are not part of the Federated Ltd. cooperatives, and some of them depend on the wholesale networks of larger retail chains.
Arctic Cooperatives Ltd. is another cooperative that is owned by more than 30 independent community cooperative stores throughout the north, and the company’s shareholders are its clients.
While some consumers can look for alternatives to edible corporations for ideological reasons or because it is the only game in the city, Von Massow, whose independent shopkeeper called during an interview with CBC News to say that his custom -made sausage was ready for the collection, he says that, ultimately, many people just want low prices and buy the best businesses.
“So, is there appetite to look elsewhere? Yes, but only if you can give them the cheap groceries they are looking for.”
People are looking for alternatives
Jon Steinman is the owner of a grocery store in Nelson, BC, well, one of about 18,000 members who effectively possess the cooperative store there.
The author of Story of groceries: the promise of food cooperatives in the era of giants of the giants He is a member of the Kootenay cooperative, where the profits are recirculated in the business, and any gain beyond those that are redistributed to the members through credits.
“In a way, it is as if the grocery store was telling its clients: ‘Hey, we look at our finances at the end of the year and it seems that we charge him too much and we would like to apologize and return some of those earnings,” he says.
Steinman says that some cooperatives are competitive price with conventional supermarkets, but that is not necessarily the case or point.
“People are increasingly looking for these alternatives,” he says, pointing to boycots in products and stores in recent years.
“I think this could be an opportunity for Canadians to say, ok, you know, we want to have more power in our grocery shopping experience. Do you have to stop in what we choose to buy?”
Steinman says that it is possible that cooperatives can reduce the general prices of long -term food, as well as organic food cooperatives of the 70s helped organics to the current and reduce prices over time.
Survive ‘against all probabilities’
Back in Halifax, Osberg says that the graner is not exempt from inconveniences and challenges.
The store is open time and sometimes runs out of products. Sometimes it is difficult to fill the volunteer shifts, and the store does not have a large savings bank in case something catastrophic occurs.
But for detractors who doubt the possible longevity of a company such as Granería, Osberg points out the recent celebration of the 25th anniversary of the store.
“The fact that we have been here for 25 years against wind and tide, I think it is a test in the Buddine that it is possible and that an expansion of this model in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, would benefit everyone and provide that alternative that is now looking for the edible system controlled by corporations.”
