BY Alexander Burke
For many Montreal residents, the closing of independent grocers barely registers. Caio Ishii, a Montrealer who regularly shops at major chains, says he has never felt the need to change his shopping habits.
“I go to Metro because I can get everything in one place. I don’t have time to go to three different stores,” says Ishii. “ I know exactly what I’m getting into.”
Ciao Ishii shops for groceries at his local Metro on chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges. Photo by Alexander Burke.
For now price is not yet the deciding factor for Ishii. He values quality and can still afford to prioritize. But not everyone can.
Since 2020, consumer costs have risen nearly 30 per cent, affecting some people more than others. According to Statistics Canada, the 20 per cent of households with the lowest incomes spent more than 27 per cent of their disposable income on groceries in 2024, compared with just five per cent for high-income households.
“At some point, not too far in the future, I fear I will have to choose between what I want and what I can afford. I’m not there yet, but I can almost feel it,” says Ishii.
Canada’s grocery market is controlled by five conglomerates: Loblaw, Metro, Sobeys (Empire), Walmart, and Costco. Together, they account for around 80 per cent of total Canadian retail grocery sales.
“The grocery market is not competitive, and it hasn’t been for some time,” says economist Moshe Lander. “When you combine oligopolies as you go upstream, that increases the price consumers pay.”
The suppliers, distributors, and dairy farmers funelling into the big chains are themselves oligopolistic, meaning consolidation compounds at every level in our food system, he adds.
On Jan. 1, Canada’s grocery code of conduct kicked in. It was the federal government’s attempt to address the power imbalance between retailers and their suppliers. It was signed “voluntarily” by all five major grocery chains after the government threatened to make it mandatory. But Lander is skeptical that it changes anything for the consumer.
“It was merely to satisfy the frustration of Canadian consumers who are frustrated by high grocery prices,” Lander explains. “You can’t regulate your way to better outcomes, short of forcing competition into the marketplace.”
That competition, however, isn’t arriving on equal terms.
On Mont-Royal St. Valmont and the new Metro that opened up across the street in January 2026. Photo by Alexander Burke.
“There’s a new Metro on Mont-Royal St. directly across from a store named Valmont, it’s a small fruit store that has been open since 1958. When I visited the brand new Metro, of course, the supermarket was full. There were big lines to check out,” says Chris Cousineau, the owner of Fruiterie Plateau, an independent fruit store. “But then when I crossed the street, it was a total shock, there were only three employees inside of there. But normally, when I visit them, they are 12 or 15. I’m slowly seeing all the small stores close their doors because that’s the situation.”
For Cousineau, this was not an isolated incident. It’s a pattern he has been watching play out for years.
“I used to have a second store on Laurier St. and I had to close it in May of last year because it wasn’t profitable. Everyone in the area was walking two streets down to the Metro,” he says.
Independent grocery stores (blue) are gathered in more densely populated urban areas with historically lower household incomes, while grocery stores owned by the big five conglomerates (red) are spread across the suburbs, and expanding inwards. Map by Alexander Burke.
In 2026, Loblaws is set to open 31 discount stores and only five full-service stores. Metro Inc’s new-store development plan will focus on its discount banners; it plans to open 12 new discount stores this year.
But not everyone is buying in. Empire, the parent company of Sobeys, is betting that the discount boom is peaking.
“We said this last quarter, and I’ll say it again: we believe this will be advantageous to us as we continue to lean into our strengths as a full-service, foremost grocer,” said Michael Medline, CEO to Canadian Grocer.
Even so, Empire is investing $700 million in new store development this year.
In Montreal’s Gay village, Super C opened in May 2025 in close proximity to a Metro. Photo by Alexander Burke.
While Ottawa debates how to intervene, the corporations have already moved on. And not everyone sees it as a bad thing. Vivek Astvannah, professor of quantitative marketing and analytics at McGill University, says the discount banner strategy is a genuine response to consumer demand.
“Availability of options is a psychological victory,” Astvansh says. “Overall, I believe the customer wins.”
When a conglomerate opens up more than one store under different banners in the same area, the supply chain savings compound, Astvansh explains. Fresh produce goes to the full-service store, while the less fresh produce goes next door. The parent company kills two birds with one stone.
Astvansh says conglomerates design each banner to signal a specific price and quality level, down to the lighting and aisle width, so that customers will self-select automatically. “If you want low prices and you are willing to accept low quality, you will go to the cheaper store,” he says.
“We should be appreciative of discount grocers,” Astvansh adds.
Raj Patel, a research professor at the University of Texas and co-author of a recent study on public grocery options, sees the same situation and reaches a different conclusion.
“What discount banners do is normalize the idea that poor people deserve a worse shopping experience with fewer staff, worse lighting, less fresh food, while wealthier customers can shop like kings,” he states.
In Montreal’s Gay Village, a new Maxi is open days after its grand-opening on Feb. 19. Located in close proximity to both a Super C and a Metro. Photo by Alexander Burke.
For Patel, discount banners do not represent new options. “These stores are siblings. The parent corporation captures the customer whether she trades up or trades down,” he says.
Consumer costs have risen nearly 30 per cent since 2020. The profits of the top five grocery conglomerates have grown by over 120 per cent in the same period. The discount banner is how those two facts are made to appear to be a solution.
The alternative already exists in Canada in a different form. The LCBO and SAQ employ thousands of people, run their own distribution networks, manage complex international supply chains, and return billions in revenue to their provinces.
“So why not food?” asks Patel. “Part of the answer is simply political imagination. Liquor boards were born from a very specific historical moment. Nobody thinks of them as radical anymore; they’re just how things work.”
