Rising grocery prices push Calgarians to shop local

As grocery prices continue to climb, some Calgarians are ditching big chain stores in favour of local markets.

According to Stats Canada, the February 2023 average price of food jumped 10.6 per cent compared to last year.

For some Calgarians, the cost of convenience simply isn’t worth the price.

“You buy tomatoes at Safeway or Co-op and it’s three or four dollars per tomato pound. Here it’s 99 cents,” said one person to CityNews.

Another shopper says, “People are rushing over here, people are in a lot of financial crisis nowadays after COVID,” he said.

“People are rushing because they’re getting very cheap [prices]. That is the reason why, you know?”

Talking produce, apples, oranges and lettuce have all seen price increases of 15 per cent or more since 2022.

Ali Soufan, owner of grocery store Freestone , speaks with CityNews in Calgary on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Tate Laycraft, CityNews image)

Freestone owner Ali Soufan says big chain prices are driving consumers to small businesses.

“Our customers will come shop here for their produce and their vegetables and their fruit… Then they’ll maybe go to a local butcher,” he said.

“Before, you used to go to the big chain stores because it was cheaper.”

One customer who’s also a local restaurant owner does exactly that.

“I go to a butcher shop locally in Calgary too where I get my meat for wholesale costs … and honestly, that saves me a lot of money from going to Walmart or going to Costco even,” he told CityNews.

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With Canada’s major grocers reporting record-high profits, accusations of price gouging are becoming more and more frequent.

While Soufan acknowledges that stores like freestone could also raise their prices, he feels it would contradict their identity.

“We’ve had the same prices for most of our products for almost ten years. Nothings changed and that’s all we try to do.”