Canadian shoppers bitter over pricey President's Choice chocolate
Having a sweet tooth will cost you, and one shopper found this out the hard way after seeing the price of a bar of President’s Choice chocolates.
Spence was shopping at a Real Canadian Superstore in St. Catharines, Ontario, on Thursday, August 15, when he came across a display of chocolate bars that made him stop and take a photo. The picture, which he shared on Reddit, shows a wooden pallet stacked with boxes of President’s Choice chocolate bars, a Loblaw-owned brand. The dark and hazelnut chocolates are each priced at $8.49. The sign states, “Free card pack (for) every $25 spent.”
In his post titled “WTF” Spence stated, “Thought I would go in and take a peek. The only thing on sale was watermelons. Prices [are] still going up. These bars used to be $5.99. Robbery.”
Gr8brit/Reddit
Daily Hive contacted Spence, who said the price increase was relatively recent.
“These bars were $7.50 last week (and) they were $5.99 a couple of months ago,” he said. “I have also seen them on sale for $2.99 about a year ago.”
Spence added that he only goes to Real Canadian Superstore for items he can’t find elsewhere.
“I find the produce at Loblaws not very good. The fruit doesn’t last like it used to. Prices are disgusting, especially at Zehrs,” he said. “I only go to Real Canadian Superstore because some of the other stores I use don’t have the same stuff. I go to Farm Boy; it’s more expensive but better for produce.”
Walmart Canada
Walmart Canada’s website shows that the President’s Choice hazelnut chocolate is almost the same price as Lindt’s Swiss classic milk chocolate with hazelnuts. The 300 g bar of chocolate retails for $8.78, which is 29 cents more expensive.
At No Frills, the President’s Choice hazelnut chocolate is one cent more expensive at $8.50.
No Frills
At Loblaws, the same 300 g bar of President’s Choice hazelnut chocolate is even more expensive, at $8.99.
Loblaws
As for the $8.49 President’s Choice chocolates at Real Canadian Superstore, Spence stated, “It’s so ridiculous that a product shows on sale with 1 cent off. The sale prices are what the usual prices used to be.”
Shoppers were undoubtedly not thrilled by the sharp price increase.
“I remember a time when they had pallettes of the hazelnut ones on sale for $0.47. For MONTHS!” wrote one commenter.
“How did these go from $5 to $8.50 so fast?” demanded one Redditor.
“Wtf is right… they were selling these for $0.44 a price the other day at my local NoFrills,” said another.
And while others were upset about prices, one commenter took issue with Loblaws’ Marvel collector cards.
“Loblaws is so out of touch. Not one single person asked for f*** superhero cards,” they wrote.
Daily Hive has reached out to Loblaws for more information about the reason behind the price increase.
In April, The Atlantic reported a worldwide chocolate shortage due to poor cocoa harvests in West Africa, which caused cocoa prices to double.
However, one Redditor pointed out that despite the chocolate shortage, Walmart also sells a 400 g Waterbridge Belgian milk chocolate bar for just $6.98.
Walmart Canada
In July, Bloomberg stated that better weather in the West Africa region should see prices start to fall by October — hopefully in time for Halloween.