Canadian compares FreshCo and Loblaws prices and the difference is ‘astounding’

FreshCo or Loblaws? If you’re wondering where you can get more bang for your buck, one Canadian found out.

A Redditor shared their findings on Sunday after comparing the prices of neighbouring FreshCo and Loblaws stores in Toronto.

“For the exact same basket the price difference is astounding,” @jackospacko wrote in the post.

They shared a screen shot of a list of items from both of the grocery stores broken down by price per unit.

The Redditor compared these groceries:

• Janes nuggets
• Pork back ribs
• McCain Bistro Selects fries
• English cucumber
• Generic store brand lemon peppers seasoning
• Limes
• Red peppers

In all cases, Loblaws prices ended up being way higher than FreshCo prices.

The biggest differences are lemon pepper seasoning, which is $4.29 at FreshCo for a bottle compared to $12.11 at Loblaws (182 per cent difference); limes, which are $0.98 at FreshCo and $1.98 and Loblaws (102 per cent difference); and red peppers, which are $1.99 at FreshCo and $5.55 at Loblaws (178 per cent difference).

The total came out to $80.73 at Loblaws and $47.30 at FreshCo, which means the Redditor saved almost double shopping at the latter.

Canadians reacted to the price differences in the comments.

One person said they would have never gone to FreshCo if it wasn’t for the Loblaws boycott in May.

“It is SO much cheaper. And the store is huge and has tons of food from other countries,” reads the comment. “Totally changed our buying habits.”

Many agreed that Canadians should be comparing prices between the major grocers more often.

One shopper argued that Loblaws is a “full service store” and the Sobeys-owned FreshCo is a discount store, so it’s not a fair comparison.

However, another person countered that point.

“I laugh when people say that Loblaws is a full service store, and hence it must be more expensive,” wrote a commenter. “If having a butcher-deli, flower shop, Joe Fresh section, a pharmacy, a wine shop etc. increases my grocery shopping bill by 30 per cent or more, screw the so called ‘full service.”