Pamela 1

We have been in UK nearly 8 weeks and have not totally got used to all the wide choice of foods here. Our eyes still goggle as we go around the supermarket even if we don't buy everything. So why can't we get such a choice in Canada? We are Brits in Ontario and I don't think the rest of Canada is much different. Most supermarkets carry the same foods.

Whether it's sausages, bacon, cakes, bread whatever, there is far more choice in UK.

livermanl

Costs too much to distribute.

Therefore you get a lot more local brands in your supermarkets.

If you get a local brand you only pay to take that product 100 miles whereas if you get a product made a long way away you have to pay to transport it a lot further and therefore the price goes up and out of many peoples budgets...

iaink

Logistics and population density. Its a great big country with next to no people. Its not worth the time and effort to duplicate choices. Except in the largest cities.

fledermaus

We moved house recently and I have found that a difference of a few km makes a huge difference in the variety and quality of the food. There is much less choice though I agree.

I recently emailed Ikea asking them why Canadian prices were so much more than in the USA and UK, their reply was that Canada isn't such a large market so the options for lower prices are fewer. Similar to what liverman was saying.- and iaink

dbd33

I don't think this is true at least not of Toronto. It may be that individual supermarkets in Canada carry a limited range of goods but looking at the range of goods on offer as a whole I don't think there's anything (except instant grits) that's not available. Cheese, for example, is available in myriad variaties from three competing stalls in the St. Lawrence Market; whatever type you want one stall will have it.

gibsonslanding

we were in field bc two years ago.....went to the only shop in town and asked if they had any veg.....was told could possibly get some down the road in another shop.......that other shop was 40k's away.....lol.......oh! also the milk was two days out of date. when we pointed this out to the shop keeper he said, and i quote his only responce 'so you don't want it then'?.....ha ha ha

G77

There's an insane range of some things - like Popcorn, who needs about 10 different microwave popcorn options?

Admittedly there's a limited choice of some things like you mention though....

Move near to the border like me and you'll have a ridiculous amount of choice just 5 miles away

Iain Mc

On a positive note it's much easier to find local stuff over here.

We very vary rarely go to supermarkets now, only Costco every six weeks or so for jumbo packs of loo rolls and washing up liquid, etc., and maybe Safeway at a similar interval for some tins and packets.

Other than that, we have a great butcher, several vegetable markets and general grocers, a bakers, a cheese shop (mmm, cheese) etc. within a few blocks. And unlike the UK the little guy is frequently cheaper than the supermarkets.

I like it!

livermanl

I don't really agree with this statement.

My dad was a butcher back in england and he was always cheaper than supermarkets. His meat was also 'british' and generally organic he had been selling that organic meat cheaper than the supermakets regular meat it's just an inconvinience to have to shop at 6 different places in england.

The difference here is that life is slower and people have more time to shop around.

Souvenir

I think supermarkets here are also much more geared to what the very local population wants. Our local supermarkets, apart from having a huge range of cheese, sell everything you can possibly think of to put in a fondue. If you like couscous, you're also in luck.

Risotto rice, anything spicy, Marmite or Branston? Forget it.

dbd33

That's really noticeable with Loblaws. The one in Port Credit keeps meat and potatoes in a limited range of formats, there's 20' of ethnic items. The one at Vic Park and Gerrard seems to have every type of food ever invented, 20' of Newfie items alone.

Souvenir

Can't really blame them. What's the point in stocking stuff most of your customers won't buy, or even recognise?

The staff in my local SAQ don't even know what Pimms is.

Rich_007

Yes.

It's not the UK.

R.

Auld Yin

You are 'Brits in Ontario'. So What? The Brits haven't been a dominant group here for many years now. There are over 1 million Indo-Canadians in the GTA to say nothing of the numbers of other ethnic groups, Italians, Portuguese, Pakistanis, Greeks, Chinese etc. The supermarkets couldn't possibly carry all the foods to suit all these different groups. Many of these other ethnics had the good sense to open up their own retail outlets with much success. Perhaps there's an opportunity for you, if you have their entrepreneurial spirit. As my mother would say to you, Too Bad, So Sad.

dbd33

Is she very young, your mother?