Loblaw freezes prices of all No Name products until end of January

Canada’s biggest grocer is freezing prices on all of its No Name products until next year as the cost of grocery items continues to soar across the country.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. said Monday the price freeze for more than 1,500 grocery items of its private label brand, well known for its distinctive yellow-and-black packaging, would be in effect until Jan. 31, 2023. Some of the products include apples, potatoes, butter, eggs, cheese, rice, pasta, toilet paper and paper towels.

“Food prices are up about 10 per cent year-on-year, and it’s really starting to make an impact on Canadians’ wallets,” Loblaw chairman and president Galen G. Weston said.

Weston said most of the prices increases stem from the rise in basic costs for suppliers.

“A big part of what’s happening is the cost of everything that goes into producing food is higher than it’s been in decades. And so, we’re trying to think about what can we do to help Canadians.”

He said that’s why Loblaw has decided to focus on what it can control and promises more deals in the weeks ahead.

“Anyone who regularly visits the grocery store knows that over the past year the cost of food has increased rapidly. Maddeningly, much of this is out of our control,” Weston said in an email sent to members of the company’s loyalty program PC Optimum.

“In the weeks ahead, we’ll continue to lower prices [through PC Optimum], in our flyer, and across our stores, all designed to provide immediate relief from escalating food costs.”

The No Name brand is sold in more than 2,400 stores, including Loblaws, Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, T&T, Atlantic Superstore, Maxi and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said Loblaw should have done this at least a month ago but “it’s better late than never.”

“A lot of families will take all the help they can get, and this is definitely helped … I think the highest number of items I’ve seen around the world related to a price freeze was 300 items. This campaign actually includes the very lucrative holiday season,” he said.

On Wednesday, Statistics Canada will release the inflation numbers for September, and Charlebois said it will be interesting to see if other grocers follow Loblaw’s move.

“It’s going to be interesting to see exactly how Sobeys and Metro will respond to profiteering accusations once again because every month grocers face a barrage of criticism,” he said.

“Loblaw is very well-positioned to do something like this because of its private labels. They do have a lot of private-labelled products, both under President’s Choice and No Name, they can actually go back and negotiate with contractual manufacturers better deals.”

Last month, Statistics Canada said while the annual inflation rate slowed to 7.0 per cent in August, grocery prices rose at the fastest rate since 1981, with prices up 10.8 per cent compared with a year ago.

Prices for bakery goods were up 15.4 per cent, while prices for fresh fruit were 13.2 per cent higher than a year ago.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called on the agriculture committee to investigate the prices of groceries, saying Canadians dealing with sticker shock isn’t fair and doesn’t make sense.

“We’re seeing prices go up when it comes to food. We’re seeing profits go up, and we aren’t seeing the prices come down,” Singh said. “It is clear to us that there is corporate greed contributing to inflation. This is a problem.”

Loblaw’s plan to freeze prices of its No Name brand follows similar announcements by grocers in other countries.

During the summer, French supermarket chain Carrefour announced plans to freeze prices on about 100 of its house-brand products until Nov. 30. The U.S. arm of Lidl dropped prices on more than 100 items in its stores across nine East Coast states until August.

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With files from The Canadian Press and CityNews staff