Loblaw reverses 50 per cent discount cut

Loblaw is reversing a controversial decision to end 50 per cent discounts on expiring food after calls for an investigation into anti-competitive business practices by the company.

The company confirmed Friday it will reverse its plans to move away from a previous practice of offering discounts as low as 50 per cent for ‘serve tonight’ products nearing the end of their shelf life.

“We’ve listened to the feedback from our customers and colleagues and are reverting (where it existed before) to the 50 per cent off discounts,” Loblaw’s public relations department said in an email to SaltWire late Friday.

The company noted the policy had not yet been implemented in Atlantic Canada, where it owns and operates Atlantic Superstores. However, 30 per cent off items were appearing in at least one Superstore in the Dartmouth area late this week.

Now, the discount cut will not go ahead in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

“In the rest of the country, customers can expect to see 50% stickers returning in the next few weeks,” Loblaw said in its statement. 

The decision to end 50 per cent discounts was met with disappointment by a number of customers and poverty advocates across Canada, many of whom said they relied on the discounts to make ends meet after two years of inflated grocery prices.

The move also prompted calls by some for Loblaw to be investigated by the Competition Bureau for possible “price fixing” practices, after an earlier statement from Loblaw said the discount cut was made in an effort to move toward a “more predictable and consistent offering, including more consistency with our competitors.”

Earlier this week, B.C. New Democratic MP Alistair MacGregor wrote to the Competition Bureau calling for it to launch an official probe into possible grocery anti-competition measures in light of Loblaw’s discount policy change.

MacGregor, who is the party’s food price inflation critic, said he believed the move raised suspicions of “possible collusion or anti-competitive business practices.” 

Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-food Analytics Lab, said it would have disproportionately affected Atlantic Canada, as there are fewer alternative or independent grocery retailers in the region, particularly in more remote and rural areas.