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‘They don’t let us’: Dollarama stores sell bread, unless there’s a Sobeys nearby
(www.halifaxexaminer.ca)
this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
166 points (98.3% liked)
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Another price fixing scandal in the works? Lol
I honestly can’t shop at them, the deals are mostly terrible, and quite frankly I’m betting that half the product isn’t even legal.
Ever tried to buy a plate or cup there?
Read the labels carefully, they mostly say that they’re “decorative” and not to be used for food
Yes this is true. But what do you think is the reason? Like is it because there's heavy metals in the dye, so the plate is kinda toxic? Or maybe because it's just too fragile, chips easily, etc?
As the consumer I don't know what regulatory loopholes they are exploiting when they state "decorative use". I doubt the average consumer has the time to do this research. Because a plate is a plate and people will use it to put food on when it's sold in that way, the intended usage is obvious regardless of the tiny disclaimer.
The dye isn’t food rated, nor is the glass.
Yes mostly heavy metals for the glass items.
For the plastic items it’s mostly leaking plastic and estrogen into your food.
PSUEDO estrogens, which are also just plastics.
No plastics manufacturers are harvesting estrogen from women and infusing their goods with it.
My bad, but the point still stands, even with a minor correction
Let's be real, in this case we're talking about Sobey's, not a Mom n' Pop grocery store. This is a company making record profits and a significant driver of inflation, they're not going to shut down because Dollarama is selling bread.
Walmarts and Sobeys are the reason local grocery stores hardly exist anymore.
They have this year, but interest rates are also up.
Their longer-term average profit margin is only 1.77%. That's not good. Most business need a 10% profit margin to be considered healthy. Most other business doing as poorly as they would have closed their doors years ago!
However, it works in their case because the retail profit's purpose is only to service the debt, expecting the actual profitability to come from land and capital appreciation. It is no surprise that their profit margin is up this year commensurate with interest rates.
They very well might. They haven't left too much room for error in the margins. Given all the bread scandals we've heard about lately, one would be inclined to think it must be a grocery store's cash cow.
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Hmm, there's some stuff I've seen in dollar stores that could be used to make a healthy meal, like canned vegetables. Do they ever sell milk?
This is how it works for many, many businesses. Before you agree to a lease for a coffee shop you make sure that no one else is going to be able to open a coffee shop in the same area. This is how commercial leases work.
I'm confused. Are capitalists for a free market, or against it?
Publicly it is their religion, in private business deals they make sure the rules are set for themselves.
Generally against. Regulated markets are much, much easier to build moats in.
Although the above is illustrative of a free market: Individuals deciding for themselves what they want to agree to.
No, this is how it works for large wealthy powerful people who can afford to pay off all the real estate agents to act in their favor, or lobby for zoning changes immediately after opening their business and demand grandfathering status, or even just buy all the surrounding real estate so no one else can.
This is not how it works for a mom and pop shop. They have no power to make such demands.
Real estate agents? Zoning changes? Grandfather status? What?
Like the article states, Sobeys can demand this because they are the landlord. When mom and pop are the landlord, they can absolutely put the same terms in their lease agreement if they had some reason to. Dollarama will agree to it every time if the property is sufficiently desirable.
Indeed, Sobeys properties are quite desirable, as a rule, as Dollarama sees more sales when located alongside a grocery store rather than being out in the middle of nowhere. "One stop shopping" is a customer draw. And so they are willing to accept the terms in many cases.
So they've used the last option I suggested: buy up surrounding real estate.
Well, yeah. They are a real estate investment company. That's what real estate investment companies do.
For better or worse, that's the entire food system in a nutshell. Farmers operate on the same model, using the cashflow from the farm to pay creditors and counting on the land investment to be their actual payback. Even McDonalds is well documented to actually be a real estate company. The food is just a means to an end. Much like how the average Joe trying to get rich buying and selling houses will take a day job to pay the mortgage.
They have done a little better this year, to be fair, (although they need to with higher interest rates!) but Sobeys' would be a pretty shitty business if it were only a grocery store. Its owners could do so much better doing something else with that investment. But, in reality, the grocery store doesn't need to be a good business. It just needs to further their actual goals.
So you agree with me then that this is not a tactic that most businesses use, as the person I originally replied to had stated.
You agree with me that these are tactics only available to large rich powerful corporations?
Why wouldn't I agree you? Of course I agree with you. It costs me nothing and it makes you feel good, so there is no reason not to. I agree with everyone.
So if you agreed with me, why were you arguing with me?