The Loblaws shopper boycott for the month of May is well underway, and the Toronto Star reports that the protest over high food prices has not even made a nick in the retailer’s armor.
The Star reported that executives at four major food suppliers said Loblaws’ sales and orders have not changed over the last couple of weeks. One executive even went as far as to say Loblaws orders with his company increased in May.
The Reddit group Loblaws Is Out of Control, which now has more than 60,000 members, called for the boycott this month due to the ongoing high price of grocery food.
Per Bank, president and CEO of Loblaw Companies Limited, seemed sensitive to the boycott during the company’s Q1 earnings call on May 1. He said the company’s No. 1 goal is to fix any problems with shoppers.
Bank recently met with Emily Johnson, who helped organize the Reddit page. The conversation went well for the most part, but the boycott continues.
Bank told Johnson about actions Loblaw is taking to help inflation-struck shoppers, including removing “multi-buy” promotions from No Frills stores. The deal happens when customers get a better price per unit if they buy more than one item. With inflation as high as it is, buying multiple units is difficult.
Loblaw also claims to be producing new promotions and is expanding its discount footprint.
Posters calling for shoppers to steal from Loblaws stores on May 12 have also been seen around the Toronto area.
There are no reports of increased theft at Loblaws locations.
As of April 24, Loblaws, based in Brampton, Canada, operates 65 stores in Canada according to Scrape Hero.