Grocery cart economics hits home

Stretching a dollar and feeding your family — it’s something shoppers are finding harder to do these days.

Stretching a dollar and feeding your family — it’s something shoppers are finding harder to do these days.

“When I came to Canada in 2018 I can do groceries for just $100 in one month, and now it’s almost double,” said Prem Peep who just stocked up at his local No Frills in East London.

Brandy Shaw was out for her weekly shopping as well. She said she’s also seeing the upward trend in food prices and she’s none too pleased about it.

“Probably by 25 per cent I noticed, compared to this time last year,” said Shaw.

It’s not just shoppers with the bottom blues. At Berries Market in south London, CEO and President Husam Mohammad said he gets hit with bigger bills from suppliers, which he in turn has no choice but to pass along to consumers.“Which is unbelievable for the customer,” he said. He added that he understands their frustration. “Usually in the market there’s five per cent, 10 per. cent, but for time being sometimes 100 per cent.”

And whether temporary or longer term, some items appear to be in short supply.

A quick tour through a major chain grocery store in London Tuesday revealed a number of nearly empty shelves — something most Ontario shoppers aren’t accustomed to seeing.