Reading some of the threads on here, I was starting to think the cost of living as in food shopping was a lot more in Canada.

Having just discovered the Loblaws website ..... Most stuff seems comparable or a little cheaper.

Any other websites we can check out for grocery stores would appreciated!

Cheers Robx

If you are interested in Calgary prices you can try here Co-op Pic'n'Del use the postal code T3A 2B4 and it should allow you to browse the site as a guest.

Also a Calgary TV station does a monthly comparison of local sores. Here is a link to the comparison for August.

Cheers
Steve

Cheers Steve

Toronto is our Baby !!!!

Will check them out anyway!!!!

Cheers

Rob

did this price comparison include the taxes or not?
remember, here you have stuff which isn't taxed, on some you pay provincial sales tax (pst), on some federal sales tax (gst) and on some both pst and gst. and in 99 out of 100 cases the tax isn't included in the original price tag.

that's at least the way it works here in bc...

OK try this one then it's flyers for all kinds stores in Ontario.

http://www.flyermall.com/web/flyer/store.html

If you are referring to the comparison on the Calgary TV station website.

I don't believe it does include GST.

However there is no GST on groceries. Which I would think that virtually every thing on that list would be. I think the only thing on the list that might have GST applied would be the Mason Jars.

There is GST charged for cakes, cinnamon buns, donuts and the like if you buy less than six. There is also GST added to the price of candy and chocolate bars I believe.

Wow - how addictive is that website

In Toronto, i would shop at No Frills http://www.shopnofrills.ca/
They always have the best prices, way cheaper then Loblaws or Dominions. And occasionally they will have $1 sales. They are located all over Toronto, I don't think they are anywhere else in Canada.

Only thing is with No Frills, you have to pay for your plastic bags, only 5 cents each or bring your own bags. They keep prices low because they don;t do major advertising, own bags, bulk buying.

steve - i guess we were cross-posting sorry that i didn't make it clear... i referred to the original post. i'm aware that alberta hasn't pst.

i've actually given up on trying to find out what the hard rule for taxation on every days goods is - specially the provincial one. i just know that there are differences - and that as a general rule "luxury" is taxed. as an example it makes a difference if you buy plain rolled oats or if you buy a cereal mix with raisins.

I don't understand your example?

There should be no tax on either item. They are both basic food items.

If you purchase Kellogg's Bran Flakes or Kellogg's Raisin Bran neither item is taxed, they are both cereals.

that's what i meant with i haven't found out about the hard rule... i look at it the same way as you do.
but i do pay provincial tax on the "fancy" multi cereal mix. (haven't bought it for a while now so can't get the name or the actual price...) or is it the quantity here as well? would i pay no pst if i could buy that stuff in a 5kg bag instead of the 500g???

You should go to the websites for GST and for your own provincial retail tax to see the exact rules, provincial and federal tax rules do not agree on everything. Mostly it is interprative and based on rulings so there are no definitive lists, just generalizations. Basically the law zero rates all food so that you pay no tax, then it goes through an exempts things from that zero rating, like all carbonated beverages and most single serve items. Most of the time you are paying tax on things that are snacks or for immediate consumption so you will find that a 500ml bottle of water is taxed but a 6 pack is not, or an individual muffin is taxed but a 6 pack is not etc. They also look at everything through the eyes of an 'average' shopper and whether they would consider an item food and so forth. The rules are endless pages long and not very helpful. I spend a lot of time trying to find correct taxation rules for the items we sell at work and some of them are not straight forward.

For Grocery chains you have three main Canadian chains and they are Loblaws which is the biggest and then Dominion (A&P Canada was just sold to Metro Grocers of Quebec) and Sobeys. There is some recent incursion from Wal-Mart but those are the main three. They all operate under multiple banners. So Loblaws for example also includes No Frills which is it's discount chain(mostly franchises) and Real Canadian Superstore and Fortinos, Atlantic Superstores, Zehrs etc. Domion is also A&P as well as Food Basics which is their discount chain and Sobey's also operates Price chopper as their discount chain. You will find price parity usually between similar formats, so No Frills, Food Basics and Price Chopper all try to match prices and Loblaws, Sobey's and Dominion will be similar. Real Canadian Superstore, especially the new ones, are aimed at Wal-Mart as they sell general merchandise too and are cheaper than regular Loblaws because they run on lower labour costs and reduced unionization and contracts etc.

Then there are loads of smaller chains and indipendant stores and markets etc. In a lot of cases you get what you pay for. You can get really cheap produce at No Frills but it's barely edible and most of the low cost food they sell is low quality. Other stores will be more expensive but might have better quality products.

One major chain in Canada you missed and that is understandable because I don't believe they have any stores east of Thunder Bay is Safeway. I would almost say they are the predominant player in the west.