Price Comparison - Co-ops vs. Giants

Comparing prices at Canada’s largest grocer with a single-store independent food co-op in Nelson, British Columbia.

There’s a long list of differences between food co-ops and privately owned grocery stores, however, for shoppers most concerned with prices, these differences may become secondary in importance. Prices are top-of-mind.

When comparing prices between grocers, it’s important to compare identical products. If the products are not identical, then many other considerations need to be included in the comparison - food quality, nutritional profile, production methods, etc.

So what happens when comparisons are made between identical products at food co-ops and grocery giants? Are food co-ops more expensive?

On January 19, 2020, author Jon Steinman walked into The Wholesale Club (TWC) in Nelson, British Columbia. TWC is owned by Canada’s largest grocer - Loblaw Companies Ltd. of Toronto. In 2019, TWC began carrying many of the same organic/natural products carried at Nelson’s Kootenay Co-op - a 45-year-old food co-op owned by over 14,000 area residents. Similar to perceptions shoppers have of food co-ops across the continent, the Kootenay Co-op is often believed to have higher prices than other grocers. So is it true?

Compared here are prices between the Kootenay Co-op and The Wholesale Club (Loblaw) on January 19, 2020.

Notes:

• Only identical products were compared - eliminating the need to discern food quality

• Most items compared are ‘grocery’ items. Produce, meat, and dairy were not compared as very few identical products could be found in these departments.

• Items from as many categories as possible were compared but efforts were made to avoid comparing multiple products in a single category (i.e. nut butters… there are a lot of them!, so only a few were compared).

• Sale prices at both the Co-op and The Wholesale Club were included.