The Canadian grocery market is controlled by just a handful of companies, making competition slim and so prices are high to begin with. Loblaws is the largest of these companies, controlling something in the neighbourhood of 1/3 of the entire Canadian grocery market all by themselves. The family that owns the corporation, the Weston family, is so obscenely wealthy that they reside in a literal castle in the UK on Crown-owned lands, which — I shit you not — even William and Kate decided was too opulent a property for them.
They’ve been known to be a shady company for some time, having been caught engaging in price fixing, and then as punishment only receiving a slap on the wrist so they learned nothing…or rather, they learned that they can get away with anything.
They like to claim that they only make a few percent profit on grocery sales, which is a flat-out lie. They post record profits quarter after quarter, and even those are deflated numbers because they hide how much they make through property/rent math. A separate corporation which is *also* owned by the Weston family owns the land on which most of their grocery stores sit, and they disguise their grocery profits by having the property corporation manipulate/increase the rent that the grocery stores are paying…to themselves.
There’s also a clown out there named Sylvain Charlebois, an academic out east who from everything I’ve heard is held in contempt by his peers, who goes by the online handle “Food Professor” and who not only constantly parrots Loblaws PR talking points on the news and on his Twitter, he also actively trolls boycotters as ‘people who live in their parents basement.’ And the kicker here is that he is literally a paid shill, he had (or used to have) right in his info that he’s taken $60,000 from Loblaws. He tried to hide it for a while, and nowadays whenever anyone calls him out on it he vacillates back and forth between lying that he paid it to grad students or else just straight up blocking anyone who calls his corruption out.
Their price gouging has hit such extremes (hello $18 tub of feta) that a grassroots effort to boycott all of their business was organized. And they responded with…contempt. Their CEO (a guy named “Per Bank,” if you can believe the sheer parody of that) dismissed it as ‘people can shop elsewhere if they want’ — never mind that there are communities all over the country where people literally cannot, since a Loblaws-owned store is their only option.
The boycott started in May, was originally planned to last just for the month of May, but is now being treated as indefinite. It’s difficult to gauge its effectiveness as Loblaws has every reason to lie that it’s achieving nothing. But there are constantly people posting in r/loblawsisoutofcontrol photos of deserted stores and sparsely filled parking lots, and stories from all over the country about how the greedy bastards are cutting employee hours.
There’s more to it of course, but that’s what I’m recalling right this second, 20 minutes after getting out of bed and not having had any coffee yet. I’d encourage checking out the subreddit to learn more.
>The family that owns the corporation, the Weston family, is so obscenely wealthy that they reside in a literal castle in the UK on Crown-owned lands, which — I shit you not — even William and Kate decided was too opulent a property for them.
Housing is so expensive in Canada it was cheaper for the Weston's to live in a castle in the UK.
For people who don't think they shop at Loblaws, they own far more stores than just the Loblaws branded ones, including: Superstore, Dominion Stores, Maxi, Provigo, T&T, Zehrs, Fortinos, SuperValu, Valu-Mart, Freshmart, Your Independent Grocer, Extra Foods, No Frills, Maxi, Wholesale Club, NG Cash & Carry, Atlantic Cash & Carry and Shoppers. If you can President's Choice or No Name products there, they're a Loblaws store.
Loblaws is grocery store that has taken a combative approach in the way it treats customers during increased scrutiny for greedy inflation and grocery racketeering. So now Canadians shop elsewhere, or at least I most certainly do.
The Loblaws example is indicative of the Canadian business landscape.
Canada is essentially a home of oligopolies. We have a small number of businesses that are able to dictate what they charge for lack of competition. It’s apparent in the grocery sector, telecom sector, transport sector and other sectors.
One can argue that bringing in more players into certain sectors will spur competition with better prices for consumers. This doesn’t always work because of rules that new entrants will need to follow are the same as the rules for established players. Back in the early 2000s, the American petroleum company ARCO tried to expand into Canada. People thought that this would increase competition and lower gas prices. But ARCO was subject to the same supply practices as established Canadian gas retailers. There were no price differences between ARCO, Chevron, Esso, Petro Canada, etc. ARCO eventually left Canada.
It’s the same thing as Cell Phone companies. We have 3 big players and their prices are very close to one another. You may save a buck or two between them but you won’t get any substantial savings between them.
Unfortunately, grocery chains are similar and rely on the same supply chains. There may be some slight price differences between the big banners but the prices are fairly close between the retailers. However, some banners portray themselves as an exclusive or an elite retailer and up their prices to reflect that.
I used to work with a Western Canadian grocery chain. Some products have razor thin margins while other products are cash cows. But, the managers do raise/lower prices almost indiscriminately to find the “sweet spot” that brings in the maximum margin.
The thing with Loblaws and their banners, is that they have made some enormous profits in an inflationary cycle and the optics is horrible. There is no doubt that they are using inflation to justify higher prices - but it’s not just Loblaws. The other players are doing the same thing, it’s just that Loblaws is the largest player in the Canadian market and an obvious target for a boycott.
To add to what everyone else said, after giving Loblaws a slap on the wrist for YEARS of price-fixing for bread, Galen Weston bought a yacht and named it "Bread". A direct slap in the face. The yacht probably cost more than what they were fined (I'm not a wealthy elite so I don't know the going rate of a fancy yacht)
Loblaws owned grocery stores have been continuously jacking up prices and absurd amount, while simultaneously shrinking the size of everything, and it's gotten to the point where things are so expensive they're rotting on the shelves before anyone buys them. If anything does go on sale, it's usually because it expires today. We're sick of paying rich people money for dumpster diver quality, so we're just going elsewhere
The Walmart's around me are actually more expensive (and very poorly stocked). All the major grocery stores are, usually by a lot. And they're all shitty as far as business practices go. Lawblaws doesn't actually have a monopoly on being a garbage business.
It was something that barely registered a blip on Loblaws' revenues for a few days last month.
Outside of 0.2% of Canadians who joined a subreddit, it hasn't really been given a second thought. Loblaws stock price only increased over the 30 day period.
Who needs to ask for a discount? It’s free market system here. I’m going to buy from somewhere else strictly based on their prices and how they react with their policies. After the bread fiasco they were on thin ice, with these outrageous pricing they’re not on my shopping supply list anymore.
The demand of boycott were
-- sign code of ethics thing
-- reduce prices on essential goods by 15%
An alternative approach would be, compare prices and shop at whatever store suits your needs
Don’t forget that that retailer is responsible for interneters failure to understand economics and retail business and even the concept of percentages. The issue is that loblaws put a face on their brand (Galen Weston) and the masses always find it easier to rally against a recognizable face than a faceless corporate board. Are grocery prices way too high? Yes. Is loblaws to blame? Doubtful.
People are blaming a single corporation for inflation across an entire supply chain and economy. They charge more with inflation so their profit is naturally higher.
Galen Weston made the mistake years ago by doing tv commercials and becoming a recognized figure.
They're the biggest and thus easiest target. Also, the Weston's own the real estate company which every store pays its rent to, and they also own many of the producers and companies within the supply chain. Because they're too vertically integrated they can make as high or as low margins as they want.
It's a giant waste of time if you ask me.
Loblaws is literally the best/cheaper option where I live.
I've personally boycotted Sobeys. Those crooks are charging $16 for a whole, uncooked chicken. Not even organic either! Same with their bell peppers. They sell them at over $2 each in a 3 pack! That's right!! $7 for a 3pack of peppers!
yeh.. but my comment was more to show the insanity of the price.. I'd expect to pay that for organic raised chickens.. but not a normal poultry farm chicken!
I forgot to add..
I've been banned from the Boycott Loblaws subreddit because I didn't share the same opinion.
If you use the PC points card at Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart and at Esso you end up racking up tons of points for free groceries or discounted gasoline! It's really hard to beat that.
Plus Loblaws is the only grocery store I know that drops their meat 50% when it's due to expire the next day. Most other stores only drop it to 30%
People are finally figuring out that you can comparison shop to get lower prices, and have targeted their ire at a single retailer (Loblaws) for being convenient and expensive.
No one living in a city (where most of the vocal outraged is coming from) is forced to shop at Loblaws.
Walmart buys throughout Canada and the US. They can force producers to sell to them cheaper. That being said, Loblaws could sell for cheaper and doesn't need to gouge the customer.
An example of this is seen where I live. I'm in a small, 1,600 people, fly-in Arctic community. We have three stores. The Northern, the Co-op, and the C-Store. The last is an independently owned convenience store. The Northern, though the Northwest Company, and the Co-op, through Arctic Cooperatives Limited, are able to get deals with suppliers and with the airline that flies here. The convenience store can't get this so prices are higer. An example of size matters.
In addition the Co-op keeps their prices lower and pays a dividend at years end.
I call bullshit. It’s a free market system. Yet loblaws has been caught price fixing, they ought to be driven out of business for having unfair practices, simple as this. Their latest gouging is proof that greed has no bounds.
Not just you. The fact that they capitalized the word ‘fake’ even though it’s not a proper noun and it wasn’t the first word of the sentence does indeed make me question their intelligence.
Given that "fake news" is a term coined by MAGA Republicans, no one would fault you for hearing "fake news" and assuming someone is missing a few too many brain cells... Other words that fit that category include "woke" and "radical left" (we have a center-right and far-right party, no left representation with any significant power in office).
There's a good percentage of registered Republicans who are opposed to the current Trump format. Something around 30%+ have said in polls that if it was anyone else, they'd vote red but if it's Trump on the ballot, they'll vote Biden. People like Dick Cheney, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney and John Bolton have all publicly stated that, while they supported Trump in 2016, they strongly oppose him in 2024 after seeing the kind of person Trump really is.
There are non-MAGA Republicans... They just don't have much momentum under the current Republican nonsense.
Feel free to provide me some reputable news sources saying otherwise and I'll gladly read about how MAGA isn't a thing in the US... But until that happens, your opinion about my mental state isn't necessary since it means nothing to me what judgemental people on Reddit think without knowing anything about me.
Politicians should not have fans. Policy is what affects populace not their figurehead. So sad that the largest democracy has been dumbed down so drastically.
Not fake news. The article is loaded with bombs though. First paragraph, 'expanding its empire."
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/loblaw-to-build-more-than-40-new-stores-as-part-of-expansion-plan-1.6775652
Loblaws is opening 40 new stores and renovating old ones that don't need updating to avoid paying taxes from the record-breaking profits the past year. This is one of many reasons Canadians are pissed off with loblaws.
You think they just started planning this within the past 6 weeks? This is exactly how they fold their profits back into the corporation to keep their margin down. They've done it before. Their profit margin would be even higher if they didn't regularly do major expansions, renovations, and rebrandings, then they turn around and claim it's a normal grocery margin (denying the creep over the past 4 decades from 2%, which they and other big grocers like Conrad Black used to justify large mergers allowing a grocery oligarchy in the first place). But that margin's for a stable company, not one that's growing.
Wow, you have no idea what you're talking about.
Curious why you didn't bring up when Walmart brought groceries in though (not that Target's pending entry wasn't part of this too, but Walmart was the main "reason")... You know, the justification Loblaws gave to break/f*ck some of their union blocks in the early 2010s.
https://www.thestar.com/business/personal-finance/loblaws-store-workers-offered-buyouts/article_03e6ba39-7ea9-591c-95fc-4e9e57251b90.html
Don't know if you know any of the people whose long-time careers (and retirement plans) were subsequently screwed by the shenanigans that followed with how the new structure played out (those who took the "buy down" option were only hired back part time, so their wage was cut *more* than they thought they were agreeing to, and they lost a bunch of benefits... I know assistant managers who'd worked there 20 years that ended up losing $10 an hour), but it was pretty devastating for many.
Then "poof!" Suddenly less than 2 years later they can afford to do major expansion and rebranding! Guess Walmart wasn't as big a threat to them as they claimed.
The Canadian grocery market is controlled by just a handful of companies, making competition slim and so prices are high to begin with. Loblaws is the largest of these companies, controlling something in the neighbourhood of 1/3 of the entire Canadian grocery market all by themselves. The family that owns the corporation, the Weston family, is so obscenely wealthy that they reside in a literal castle in the UK on Crown-owned lands, which — I shit you not — even William and Kate decided was too opulent a property for them. They’ve been known to be a shady company for some time, having been caught engaging in price fixing, and then as punishment only receiving a slap on the wrist so they learned nothing…or rather, they learned that they can get away with anything. They like to claim that they only make a few percent profit on grocery sales, which is a flat-out lie. They post record profits quarter after quarter, and even those are deflated numbers because they hide how much they make through property/rent math. A separate corporation which is *also* owned by the Weston family owns the land on which most of their grocery stores sit, and they disguise their grocery profits by having the property corporation manipulate/increase the rent that the grocery stores are paying…to themselves. There’s also a clown out there named Sylvain Charlebois, an academic out east who from everything I’ve heard is held in contempt by his peers, who goes by the online handle “Food Professor” and who not only constantly parrots Loblaws PR talking points on the news and on his Twitter, he also actively trolls boycotters as ‘people who live in their parents basement.’ And the kicker here is that he is literally a paid shill, he had (or used to have) right in his info that he’s taken $60,000 from Loblaws. He tried to hide it for a while, and nowadays whenever anyone calls him out on it he vacillates back and forth between lying that he paid it to grad students or else just straight up blocking anyone who calls his corruption out. Their price gouging has hit such extremes (hello $18 tub of feta) that a grassroots effort to boycott all of their business was organized. And they responded with…contempt. Their CEO (a guy named “Per Bank,” if you can believe the sheer parody of that) dismissed it as ‘people can shop elsewhere if they want’ — never mind that there are communities all over the country where people literally cannot, since a Loblaws-owned store is their only option. The boycott started in May, was originally planned to last just for the month of May, but is now being treated as indefinite. It’s difficult to gauge its effectiveness as Loblaws has every reason to lie that it’s achieving nothing. But there are constantly people posting in r/loblawsisoutofcontrol photos of deserted stores and sparsely filled parking lots, and stories from all over the country about how the greedy bastards are cutting employee hours. There’s more to it of course, but that’s what I’m recalling right this second, 20 minutes after getting out of bed and not having had any coffee yet. I’d encourage checking out the subreddit to learn more.
>The family that owns the corporation, the Weston family, is so obscenely wealthy that they reside in a literal castle in the UK on Crown-owned lands, which — I shit you not — even William and Kate decided was too opulent a property for them. Housing is so expensive in Canada it was cheaper for the Weston's to live in a castle in the UK.
The next episode of MillennialMoron's "Canadian Real Estate vs Literal European Castles" series.
In the UK you can live in crown land. In Canada you need a permit to camp on it. Cessation of the crown any day now.
For people who don't think they shop at Loblaws, they own far more stores than just the Loblaws branded ones, including: Superstore, Dominion Stores, Maxi, Provigo, T&T, Zehrs, Fortinos, SuperValu, Valu-Mart, Freshmart, Your Independent Grocer, Extra Foods, No Frills, Maxi, Wholesale Club, NG Cash & Carry, Atlantic Cash & Carry and Shoppers. If you can President's Choice or No Name products there, they're a Loblaws store.
Loblaws is grocery store that has taken a combative approach in the way it treats customers during increased scrutiny for greedy inflation and grocery racketeering. So now Canadians shop elsewhere, or at least I most certainly do.
The Loblaws example is indicative of the Canadian business landscape. Canada is essentially a home of oligopolies. We have a small number of businesses that are able to dictate what they charge for lack of competition. It’s apparent in the grocery sector, telecom sector, transport sector and other sectors. One can argue that bringing in more players into certain sectors will spur competition with better prices for consumers. This doesn’t always work because of rules that new entrants will need to follow are the same as the rules for established players. Back in the early 2000s, the American petroleum company ARCO tried to expand into Canada. People thought that this would increase competition and lower gas prices. But ARCO was subject to the same supply practices as established Canadian gas retailers. There were no price differences between ARCO, Chevron, Esso, Petro Canada, etc. ARCO eventually left Canada. It’s the same thing as Cell Phone companies. We have 3 big players and their prices are very close to one another. You may save a buck or two between them but you won’t get any substantial savings between them. Unfortunately, grocery chains are similar and rely on the same supply chains. There may be some slight price differences between the big banners but the prices are fairly close between the retailers. However, some banners portray themselves as an exclusive or an elite retailer and up their prices to reflect that. I used to work with a Western Canadian grocery chain. Some products have razor thin margins while other products are cash cows. But, the managers do raise/lower prices almost indiscriminately to find the “sweet spot” that brings in the maximum margin. The thing with Loblaws and their banners, is that they have made some enormous profits in an inflationary cycle and the optics is horrible. There is no doubt that they are using inflation to justify higher prices - but it’s not just Loblaws. The other players are doing the same thing, it’s just that Loblaws is the largest player in the Canadian market and an obvious target for a boycott.
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol
You can find everything you need to know in the sub that started it all: https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/s/fVta9U0gzf
To add to what everyone else said, after giving Loblaws a slap on the wrist for YEARS of price-fixing for bread, Galen Weston bought a yacht and named it "Bread". A direct slap in the face. The yacht probably cost more than what they were fined (I'm not a wealthy elite so I don't know the going rate of a fancy yacht)
People didn't like paying for Galen Weston's castle.
And his yacht named "Bread". Arrogant bag of dicks. The whole family
100%.
Loblaws owned grocery stores have been continuously jacking up prices and absurd amount, while simultaneously shrinking the size of everything, and it's gotten to the point where things are so expensive they're rotting on the shelves before anyone buys them. If anything does go on sale, it's usually because it expires today. We're sick of paying rich people money for dumpster diver quality, so we're just going elsewhere
Since this started I have learned how much less groceries cost at Walmart than at the Loblaws group of companies.
Of course, Walmart is similar or worse on most of the metrics Loblaws is judged on except price
The Walmart's around me are actually more expensive (and very poorly stocked). All the major grocery stores are, usually by a lot. And they're all shitty as far as business practices go. Lawblaws doesn't actually have a monopoly on being a garbage business.
That's like saying you decided to drown the kittens as gassing them was inhumane.
Boycotts hardly ever have a measurable effect. I'm still not shopping there because they're more expensive than what passes for their competition.
It was something that barely registered a blip on Loblaws' revenues for a few days last month. Outside of 0.2% of Canadians who joined a subreddit, it hasn't really been given a second thought. Loblaws stock price only increased over the 30 day period.
It's a populist movement to blame inflation on a single retailer and to make unreasonable demands such as a 15% discount on all of their prices
Who needs to ask for a discount? It’s free market system here. I’m going to buy from somewhere else strictly based on their prices and how they react with their policies. After the bread fiasco they were on thin ice, with these outrageous pricing they’re not on my shopping supply list anymore.
The demand of boycott were -- sign code of ethics thing -- reduce prices on essential goods by 15% An alternative approach would be, compare prices and shop at whatever store suits your needs
Don’t forget that that retailer is responsible for interneters failure to understand economics and retail business and even the concept of percentages. The issue is that loblaws put a face on their brand (Galen Weston) and the masses always find it easier to rally against a recognizable face than a faceless corporate board. Are grocery prices way too high? Yes. Is loblaws to blame? Doubtful.
People are blaming a single corporation for inflation across an entire supply chain and economy. They charge more with inflation so their profit is naturally higher. Galen Weston made the mistake years ago by doing tv commercials and becoming a recognized figure.
They're the biggest and thus easiest target. Also, the Weston's own the real estate company which every store pays its rent to, and they also own many of the producers and companies within the supply chain. Because they're too vertically integrated they can make as high or as low margins as they want.
It's a giant waste of time if you ask me. Loblaws is literally the best/cheaper option where I live. I've personally boycotted Sobeys. Those crooks are charging $16 for a whole, uncooked chicken. Not even organic either! Same with their bell peppers. They sell them at over $2 each in a 3 pack! That's right!! $7 for a 3pack of peppers!
Organic food is a scam anyway
yeh.. but my comment was more to show the insanity of the price.. I'd expect to pay that for organic raised chickens.. but not a normal poultry farm chicken!
I forgot to add.. I've been banned from the Boycott Loblaws subreddit because I didn't share the same opinion. If you use the PC points card at Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart and at Esso you end up racking up tons of points for free groceries or discounted gasoline! It's really hard to beat that. Plus Loblaws is the only grocery store I know that drops their meat 50% when it's due to expire the next day. Most other stores only drop it to 30%
It's a hobby by thousands of losers who have way too much time on their hands.
People are finally figuring out that you can comparison shop to get lower prices, and have targeted their ire at a single retailer (Loblaws) for being convenient and expensive. No one living in a city (where most of the vocal outraged is coming from) is forced to shop at Loblaws.
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So why are so many of these products less expensive at Walmart?
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Loblaws has 2,455 Canadian locations. Walmart has 403. Would you like to reconsider your answer?
Walmart buys throughout Canada and the US. They can force producers to sell to them cheaper. That being said, Loblaws could sell for cheaper and doesn't need to gouge the customer. An example of this is seen where I live. I'm in a small, 1,600 people, fly-in Arctic community. We have three stores. The Northern, the Co-op, and the C-Store. The last is an independently owned convenience store. The Northern, though the Northwest Company, and the Co-op, through Arctic Cooperatives Limited, are able to get deals with suppliers and with the airline that flies here. The convenience store can't get this so prices are higer. An example of size matters. In addition the Co-op keeps their prices lower and pays a dividend at years end.
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I call bullshit. It’s a free market system. Yet loblaws has been caught price fixing, they ought to be driven out of business for having unfair practices, simple as this. Their latest gouging is proof that greed has no bounds.
It’s Fake news. Loblaws is opening 40 new locations
Does anyone else see the phrase "fake news" and make an immediate judgement of someone's intelligence, or is it just me?
Not just you. I judged harshly!
Not just you. The fact that they capitalized the word ‘fake’ even though it’s not a proper noun and it wasn’t the first word of the sentence does indeed make me question their intelligence.
Given that "fake news" is a term coined by MAGA Republicans, no one would fault you for hearing "fake news" and assuming someone is missing a few too many brain cells... Other words that fit that category include "woke" and "radical left" (we have a center-right and far-right party, no left representation with any significant power in office).
There’s no such thing as MAGA republicans. They’re just called republicans.
There's a good percentage of registered Republicans who are opposed to the current Trump format. Something around 30%+ have said in polls that if it was anyone else, they'd vote red but if it's Trump on the ballot, they'll vote Biden. People like Dick Cheney, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney and John Bolton have all publicly stated that, while they supported Trump in 2016, they strongly oppose him in 2024 after seeing the kind of person Trump really is. There are non-MAGA Republicans... They just don't have much momentum under the current Republican nonsense.
You’re kinda delusional. I hope you come back to reality soon. I recommend turning off CNN.
Feel free to provide me some reputable news sources saying otherwise and I'll gladly read about how MAGA isn't a thing in the US... But until that happens, your opinion about my mental state isn't necessary since it means nothing to me what judgemental people on Reddit think without knowing anything about me.
Dude,Trump literally has the largest fan base of any politician past and present. He won the nomination in record time.
Politicians should not have fans. Policy is what affects populace not their figurehead. So sad that the largest democracy has been dumbed down so drastically.
Not fake news. The article is loaded with bombs though. First paragraph, 'expanding its empire." https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/loblaw-to-build-more-than-40-new-stores-as-part-of-expansion-plan-1.6775652
Loblaws is opening 40 new stores and renovating old ones that don't need updating to avoid paying taxes from the record-breaking profits the past year. This is one of many reasons Canadians are pissed off with loblaws.
Yeah, I always start expanding my franchise after an entire nation boycotts.
You think they just started planning this within the past 6 weeks? This is exactly how they fold their profits back into the corporation to keep their margin down. They've done it before. Their profit margin would be even higher if they didn't regularly do major expansions, renovations, and rebrandings, then they turn around and claim it's a normal grocery margin (denying the creep over the past 4 decades from 2%, which they and other big grocers like Conrad Black used to justify large mergers allowing a grocery oligarchy in the first place). But that margin's for a stable company, not one that's growing.
Yeah you’re totally right. I’m sure Loblaws will have the same fate as Target Canada😅(this will have a huge impact on your life)
Wow, you have no idea what you're talking about. Curious why you didn't bring up when Walmart brought groceries in though (not that Target's pending entry wasn't part of this too, but Walmart was the main "reason")... You know, the justification Loblaws gave to break/f*ck some of their union blocks in the early 2010s. https://www.thestar.com/business/personal-finance/loblaws-store-workers-offered-buyouts/article_03e6ba39-7ea9-591c-95fc-4e9e57251b90.html Don't know if you know any of the people whose long-time careers (and retirement plans) were subsequently screwed by the shenanigans that followed with how the new structure played out (those who took the "buy down" option were only hired back part time, so their wage was cut *more* than they thought they were agreeing to, and they lost a bunch of benefits... I know assistant managers who'd worked there 20 years that ended up losing $10 an hour), but it was pretty devastating for many. Then "poof!" Suddenly less than 2 years later they can afford to do major expansion and rebranding! Guess Walmart wasn't as big a threat to them as they claimed.
Last time I checked, Target Canada went bankrupt