Grocery prices in Canada: Toronto vlogger Johnny Strides shares video comparing prices at Loblaws vs. Dollarama

Canadians have grown increasingly frustrated over the price of groceries in recent months. Many are taking part in a Reddit-led boycott of stores affiliated with grocery giant Loblaw, which has just reported yet another increase in profits, in favour of smaller, independent and cheaper alternatives.

Inspired by this groundswell, popular Toronto vlogger Johnny Strides went on a mission to the city’s midtown area, manually comparing prices between a Loblaws store by Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue East and the Dollarama down the street. What he discovered? A consistent and considerable dip in price on products at the dollar store.

In the video, Strides calmly makes his way through a Loblaws, examining the prices of everything from meat to detergent to table salt, noting down their sizes and prices. He then takes the viewer down the street to Dollarama, sharing that there is no difference between name-brand products on both stores' shelves.

Here’s a few of the price comparisons he makes once he arrives: while Loblaws sells Pepsi for $2 per litre, Dollarama sells the same for $1 per litre; while Loblaws sells salt for $2 per kilogram, Dollarama sells the same for $1 per kilogram; and while Loblaws sells a bag of Lay’s ketchup chips for $2.12 per 100 grams, Dollarama sells it for $1.67 per 100 grams. As Strides notes in the video with a surprising twinge of excitement, “Great savings!”

Finally, the YouTuber concludes that, out of 13 comparisons, only once did Loblaws come out cheaper: Garbage bags are 15 cents per bag at Loblaws, and 21 cents per bag at Dollarama. He notes that although the dollar store doesn’t carry everything the larger grocer does, when it does carry it, it’s almost always cheaper. There are often solid alternatives if it doesn’t have an exact product match, he adds.

'The high cost of living ... has affected all of us'

“The high cost of living is something that has affected all of us,” Strides tells Yahoo Canada, explaining why he was motivated to create the video. A week before publishing this one, he had posted another video about the Loblaw boycott that became quite popular, tipping him off that the state of Canada’s grocery stores might be a subject worth diving deeper into.

“I went in with no expectations and didn't pre-plan the price comparison,” he added. “Obviously, the overhead at a store like Loblaws is higher than Dollarama as they are much nicer stores, but at the end of the day for many, price is ultimately all that matters.”

The 24-minute video has pulled in over 20,000 views in just two days. Boasting over 100,000 subscribers, Strides often does videos involving walking and biking through Toronto, even taking transit and chronicling daily life, from the city’s first snowfall to observing encampment protestors. It seems more grocery videos will be on the way, with this already becoming one of his more popular videos, and subscribers requesting he do more price-matches so they can more easily do their research.

“I think [the video] has garnered mixed reactions, and while some have come to the defence of Loblaws, most comments seem supportive of the idea of supporting retailers other than Loblaws and their affiliated stores in hopes of sending a message,” Strides says. “Many viewers have said they're supporting smaller, independent stores, which is great to see.”

Many of the commenters below the video said they’ve been avoiding Loblaws due to prices like the ones Strides highlighted in the video. Others shared their tips on grocers and dollar stores they frequent in their province for lower prices. Still, some noted they appreciate the larger grocer’s “freshness,” and said if its prices remained what they used to be, they’d prefer it.

Reddit group behind May-long boycott of Loblaw-affiliated stores

The Loblaw boycott was organized by a Reddit page aptly titled “Loblaws Is Out Of Control,” which now has over 77,000 members. The goal is to shop stores not affiliated with the grocery giant for one month to force it to agree to boycotters' demands, including signing on to a grocer code of conduct and a 15-per-cent reduction in food prices.

In April, Emily Johnson of Milton, Ont., who started the page in November, told Yahoo Canada: “A lot of what we’re doing is organic and food is a unifying factor for people. Whether you’re in a condo or a mansion, it doesn’t matter who you are. You eat. I feel that people really want to ensure that what they’re eating is as reasonably priced as possible.”

This movement certainly seemed inevitable with countless Canadians taking to social media in the last several months to air out their frustrations, from one London dad who went on a nine-minute rant on Reddit about Loblaw's customer service to others sharing their own Dollarama price-matching adventures.

As for Strides, he’s just hoping Canadians will become wiser shoppers with the information they have.

“I just wanted to share what the experiences are like at each of these stores and let people decide for themselves how and where to spend their money,” he said. “I am personally avoiding my local Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart and would love to see more do the same.”