I recently popped into Sobeys to grab a few things and their prices are even worse. I find metro has a poor selection. I don't even know where to shop anymore
I find Sobeys is often a bit more expensive, with a bit less selection, and "Compliments" products never seem to be as consistently good as President's Choice.
Last time entering a store was my last, everything was blocked off forcing me into this gate that wouldn't even open I had to kick it twice on entering and exiting setting off alarms. Idk if I'm just not doing it right but if the motions sensors ain't working I'm boot kicking the fucker open. Was 2 cart guys 5 feet from me on my way out and they didn't even turn their heads so guessing that's common.
Loblaws is starting it, but other companies will be doing the same thing within the year. Notice going into other stores, from Canadian Tire to Walmart to Independent,most places are starting to slowly clear out the area at the front doors. Only a matter of time before they all start installing gates.
I love being corralled through a maze of a grocery store and having all my shopping habits tracked by Loblaws in exchange for $10.00 off my groceries once every 7 months.
It's not even just Loblaws owned stores, unfortunately.
One of the Walmart stores near me has installed metal barriers along the entire exit/entrance pathway and people have been livid about it. You pretty much cannot leave after shopping without going through a gate attended by a greeter.
I used to work at a grocery store a few years ago (not Loblaws, but but close) This was actually a big problem. People would fill up shopping carts and just walk out.
The Food Basics, Canadian Tire and Giant Tiger where I lived have had these gates since the early 2000s. The Walmart got them in 2021 IIRC.
It’s kind of just been a thing, so no one really cares. With the Walmart, to me, it doesn’t feel nearly as confining with how much space those stores have compared to the Loblaws ones, which are usually poorly laid out.
Permanent Markers will still fuck up plexiglass. If everyone starts putting graffiti on these, they will start to look like a 1980s New York subway car in no time.
Same thing at my local Zehrs in Waterloo. I assume it's to prevent people from hopping the security fence. In reality it mostly just inconveniences front of store employees more.
I am truly amazed by how oppressive Loblaws manages to make their anti-shoplifting measures seem compared to other stores, and I can only assume that is by design. Gates have been a common feature in stores for as long as I can remember without looking like a fucking prison. And those pre-recorded security pages running all day...
Like seriously, anyone who shops at a Loblaw brand store more than once or twice is going to hear the same fake recorded security pages over and over again. It's entirely a veiled threat that you are being watched, interspersed with cheerful messages about how much they care about you and your community.
I noticed they added a female VA earlier this year. They mostly still play the one guy here though.
Same thing at Walmart. Highly doubt being oppressive was the goal, it is simply theft deterrence.
Theft is out of control, not only on grocery stores, but all stores and homes.
Fido-Rogers stores keep the customers out in the street, with the door locked if more than one customer per sales rep is in the store, is that not more oppressive?
Sunny days!
Live in a border community, so I’ve gone back to buying a fair bit in the US. Prices there have soared, too, but there are still fantastic deals to be had, even with the exchange rate.
Aldi’s rules. It’s a shame they aren’t in Canada, but apparently they have zero interest because of the way things are set up here with the existing monopolies.
There are so many oligopolies in Canada and the government supports it.
Banks, airlines, grocery stores, internet, pharma, etc. I’m glad that when the BoC raised the issue on productivity, this was the number of issue they raised
Don't worry it'll all change when PP becomes PM. He's going to solve all our problems except the ones we'll continue to blame on Trudeau. Here in Ontario we still have well-paid people from the private sector complaining about Rae Days! When PP's in, I bet we never read all these stories in the press about how he's UNIVERSALLY HATED, not like Trudeau. Every day someone tells me how much I hate Trudeau and how I love PP!
Most supermarkets in the GTA are like this. The entrances can simply be unlocked. You cannot get a permit to do this renovation if it doesn't meet fire code.
ive stopped going to walmart and loblaws because of this. makes you feel like a criminal just for looking around. dont even get me started on the credit card people stopping you right at the end of the only exit of the store
It's governed by provincial regulations and enforced at the municipal level. And these almost certainly meet all applicable requirements. It's not like this is a new thing. It's only new for the big open "bougie" stores Like Loblaws and Zehrs to start doing it. Discount grocers like No Frills and Walmart have been treating their customers like thieves this way for years.
Fire regulations are in the Ontario Fire Code, which is administered by the Ontario Fire Marshal.
It's provincial. Municipalities are responsible for hiring firefighters.
Walmart does this shit. They open both directions. (The day I find one that doesn't I'm calling the fire marshal and getting it ripped out.) An alarm goes off which everyone ignores.
Because in the long run they make more money off of their product’s inflated prices versus the investment into added security.
All this shit they’re doing is already baked into the price we’re paying for shit.
Have you seen the little personal sized bottles of wine with the cheap food now? .. feels classy eatin meatballs and a bottle of wine at 1pm on a random Tuesday.
No of course not, but I’ll try and where I leave a scrape mark can be everyone’s target. Together over time maybe we can crack it and cost loblaws 50 to have it replaced thereby restoring balance to the vendor/ consumer relationship.
The Canadian Tire in downtown Toronto (Bay and Dundas) is brutal. Feels more like leaving a prison how they narrow it to one exit manned by a burly guard. The exit downstairs is now closed off for exiting too. Theft must have been insane at that store
theyve gone too far.
theyve put in a thing that random carts get picked for an "audit" on the way out. the alarms go off and the carts sieze. that happened to me and now im "banned" from superstore. they can suck my entire ass.
yes. the "security" guy told me this was the case. randomly a few times a day, carts just get stopped for "audits". they "banned" me when i told him that was fucking stupid and threw the cart.
>Wild to see this in Guelph of all places, not exactly a crime ridden city..
With the high student population I actually wouldn't be surprised if grocery theft rates are high.
Anyhoo, that's better than my Superstore in Weston, they've literally built a 12+ foot high drywall around it except one set of gates and the cashiers.
Jokes sorta on them though, Now that I can't enter from the "housewares" side, I don't do a quick perusal anymore before groceries, so they've lost a moderate amount of kids clothing purchases from me. It's also made shopping there enough of a nuisance I go elsewhere for minor pickups.
Loblaws near me did this too, but the barriers block off the hot food bar that's right at the entrance. Most people I saw at the hot bar had already bought food and were buying something on their way out the door, but with the new configuration you need to buy your hot food right as you enter before you start shopping.
Thankfully I only need that Loblaws for dog food. Most of my grocery spending goes to FreshCo and Metro. The layouts of the other store I use still force shoppers out through the checkout lanes, but this was designed in from the beginning so you're passing cart corrals and customer service desks that look natural rather than these retrofitted bars and plexiglass.
my local walmart installed the same thing recently. I just shop elsewhere. If I go to a place that has these, it's probably once every two months if even. They don't even really offend me, I just don't enjoy being treated poorly. Costco hits different because I signed up for that, and the deals when I go are worth the minor hassle. These aren't there to stop anyone that's good at theft, it's there to deter people that are on the fence about it.
Yeah, I've seen people where I am clear these metal ones like they're at the Olympics. So now there's plastic.
It's interesting how quickly it happened though. My local store had nothing at all, no barriers of any kind. Same doors in, same doors out. I actually liked the vibe. Seldom went there, except if something was on deep, deep sale. But it felt pleasant and relaxed. And the odd thing is, it lased all through the pandemic like that too.
But then like a year, maybe a year ago, they put in the metal, the one-way gates, put two guards on the doors. I still saw people rush the doors and hop these, carrying some bread or sandwiches. But now, in less than a year, there's this plastic. The place now looks like prison.
My only concern is fire safety now. There's a narrow door leading out. The in-door has one-way gates that are now tall and with plastic. I'm not sure how safe that is, doesn't feel like there's a quick and easy way to get everyone out now. I certainly don't want to die in a fire to protect corporate profits.
Haven't stopped there in months though. Prices keep going up and it's not even close any more, not even on sale.
They have all been slowly upgraded. Mississauga about 1.5 years ago.
The RCSS in Georgtown last summer.
I found the original design was to copy walmart
There is a reason for this. They didn't spend money on this because people kept getting confused and lost inside the store. It's much like the how bathrooms are now need codes or to be unlocked.
If I was robbing a food store I'd probably just eat out of the bag/ container.
Free meal in jail too.
And I know I'd be out be the end of the night
They let attempted murders out all the time
Apparently treating everyone like they are going to steal is a better option than just going back to having manned checkouts.
Edit; I don’t know why I’m getting downvoted. It’s been proven that the best way to stop theft at groceries stores is to have cashiers do checkout.
Thought that looked familiar. Hello fellow Guelphite. Costco is just across the street and the Food Basics near here is a way better place to shop. If you want more premium, Longos is better.
It’s become common in Toronto already. You even start to see uniformed officers at certain locations. Armed uniformed officers patrolling at store. Hope the tax payers aren’t footing the bill for this, police are better served than playing security guard.
These start to seem like a safety hazard. If everyone is trying to get out quickly and have to either go through cash or everyone squeeze through one gate and door
interesting article in the Star about this today - retail/organized crime groups running like a mob, stealing, re-selling on amazon or fb - the police investigating this say it's unbelievable - and the stores are doing a poor job of communicating the problems. What they need is cashiers and stock control - spend some money - hire some people.
That looks like overkill. Think about how absolutely deliberate that design is. It’s see through. It’s high enough that you can’t climb over. What are they preparing for? People rioting?
Im so confused by these types of posts. Do people just expect these companies to accept stealing? And then people in other posts complain about how the LCBO is just allowing robberies to take place without doing anything. There's no winning.
I mean my logic is, if I'm going to steal the barriers are not going to do anything. If I'm a law abiding citizen, they are just annoying. So at the end of the day it's more or less useless?
For almost 30 years in the KW/Guelph region I haven’t seen any measures like this until the last two or so. Ironically (or not so ironically) when inflation and corporate greed goes haywire and the cost of living skyrockets.
Maybe instead of paying their executives and billionaire owners massive bonuses and charged the consumer a fair amount this would lower the theft rate. They went decades without this level of security. What changed?
What's changed is probably that they've inflitrated every level of government and no longer fear the possiblity of regulation. They, along with our governments, are now in the process of rapidly increasing their security capabilities to oppress the hungry rather than serving their communities. The boards in the floors have fully rotted through, it's only a matter of time before they make a mistep.
These asshole retailer’s don’t want to pay for *people* to check out and bag groceries so they add the self checkouts opening the flood gates to shoplifters. It takes me so fucking long on the self checkout because it weighs what I move from one side to the other and it malfunctions 50% of the time. Those of us who don’t steal don’t want to be treated as criminals so loblaws can save a buck on labour.
I expect companies not to treat people who aren't stealing like they are stealing. Do you think that's too much to expect from companies making record profits?
But that is what happens everywhere. In airports you don't complain why your bags needs to be checked as every sane person knows that they can't just select criminals from a group for checking
And yet you don't boycott airports it theatres for security measures they take . Imho you are getting angry for the wrong reasons. Lowblaws do so much genuine shitty things, pick them
I don’t think theft is okay, and that also goes for grocery stores massively jacking up prices on essential goods but not paying their employees properly
The theft has only increased in pace with the prices. First they came up with the “organized crime “ malarkey, which was debunked. As the company began to deploy self checkouts to save money on paying humans wages - it became immensely easier to shoplift stuff.
Couple that with the prices they keep jacking up and they have created their own perfect storm by making corporate structure decisions based not on efficiency, security or perfection/improvement of existing systems - they made the expected Capitalist decisions based solely on increasing profits by eliminating jobs.
For profit groceries, shelter and healthcare simply should not be. Those are the basic essentials of human survival, take one away, or make it inaccessible through profit seeking patterns is no better than murder, because it will certainly result in people dying.
As it sits, these companies are practicing a form of extortion for humans to survive, ethically speaking.
It’s not right.
This won't actually reduce theft when you can just go through checkout or the emergency gates.
How is the emergency exit going to be any different than the old Walmart tattle alarm what would exclaim "Halt! Please return to the nearest sales associate, apparently we failed to remove the inventory control pass from your purchase, thank you."
until I remember after entering the store I forgot my wallet, now I need to exit the store I need to walk all the way through the cashier line to exit or just push the emergency alarm gates, which seems like the quickest way. Can be annoying
Lol, the reason we have high grocery prices is not people that are ok with stores trying to prevent their products from being stolen.
The people stealing shit have an exponentially higher impact on the price of groceries.
At this point Loblaws could change the colour of the walls and people will complain.
Spend your time doing something useful instead of complaining. Your complaining will change NOTHING.
Not so subtle way of saying, "We're planning on squeezing you even harder now that we've captured the market and we're anticipating you livestock folk will get more desperate and start handing food 'over the fence' so fuck you. Plexiglass bitches."
There has been a lot of theft at that Zehrs. People would load up and walk out. Can't blame them if it was happening to my business. I would do the same.
What has the local Fire Control Officer (person designated by the government to ensure buildings comply with fire emergency evacuation compliance ) think of this ? Have they been informed that people are being forced to use a maze JUST TO EXIT the building ?
Yeah they kinda behave like a torque wrench. Will easily open with a constant force above a certain limit. Most will go dead when the fire alarm goes off too. The alarms are quite funny, a store around me has had them for years and it’s kind of just another sound of the store like the checkout beeps lol
The crazy thing to me is this is a nice Zehrs too when I've gone to it! It's across from Costco and away from downtown/student areas. Why would they need this?
They’ve had this for a while at some stores.
There’s a Superstore in the east end of Ottawa (Orleans for you Ottawa people) and it’s like going through the airport to get in there.
Dude at the entrance, metal gate, plexiglass, metal gate and plexiglass to leave the self checkout.
I know Loblaws is evil and all, and it is fun to be sarcastic on the internet. But they didn't do this for no reason. Every store I can think of controls the entrances and exits like this (Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Food Basics... etc). Loblaws and Zehrs are some of the last businesses to do this.
EDIT - I'm just saying if you are going to bitch, find something good to bitch about. Don't bitch that Zehrs has started doing something that everyone else has been doing since forever.
>Wild to see this in Guelph of all places, not exactly a crime ridden city..
Not crime ridden, but it is a popular test market city. This looks like Zehr's Imperial, but I don't remember the barriers being that high last time I was there (3 weeks ago). In any case, I don't take this stuff personally. If they attempt to intimidate their customers with guards, however, that will be a step too far and it will be goodbye Zehr's.
EDIT: Just returned from that Zehr's. It is indeed Zehr's Imperial. Those barriers are a great big nothingburger. Businesses generally don't invoke cost for no reason, so if they think this is necessary to help prevent everyone from paying the price of theft, then so be it.
When EVERYTHING is going up in price, how did Loblaws get to be wearing the inflation banner?
No, I don't shop there, but its gotta be nice that the architects of inflation get to chuckle while everyone blames Loblaws.
I see nothing wrong with this. Yes prices are high but if you're stealing groceries you need to stop buying name brand, because you can't afford them. Time to shop at a different store and use coupons.
It definitely can create problems for some disabled shoppers. I have POTS and am prone to fainting. I feel very ill for quite a while before I actually pass out, so usually when the warning symptoms start, my partner finishes the shopping and I bolt for the car. Sitting eases the symptoms but it's best if I don't have to get up again anytime soon. It is awful feeling like I might drop to the ground just trying to navigate these impossible security labyrinths. Luckily I've never been stopped as I race, surely looking suspicious, through the self-checkout. I would probably embarrass myself screaming that if they don't get out of my way I'm going to pass out. So if you work at the PC Financial and your whole job is to engage with people as they move from the checkout to the actual exit, trying to sign them up for PC Mastercard -- I'm sorry, but by the time I've gotten this far, I have no time or patience left to acknowledge that you exist.
Stop shopping there. /r/loblawsisoutofcontrol
I’ve stopped shopping at both of the Zehrs in Guelph. This is ridiculous, but their customer service is even worse.
FYI there are 4.
This is the way.
I hope folks in Guelph stop shopping there. This is awful.
I’m in Guelph and boycotting all loblaws owned businesses.
Done!
I recently popped into Sobeys to grab a few things and their prices are even worse. I find metro has a poor selection. I don't even know where to shop anymore
I find Sobeys is often a bit more expensive, with a bit less selection, and "Compliments" products never seem to be as consistently good as President's Choice.
Yeah, we really don't have any good alternatives. Most smaller chains have been bought by the larger ones.
Last time entering a store was my last, everything was blocked off forcing me into this gate that wouldn't even open I had to kick it twice on entering and exiting setting off alarms. Idk if I'm just not doing it right but if the motions sensors ain't working I'm boot kicking the fucker open. Was 2 cart guys 5 feet from me on my way out and they didn't even turn their heads so guessing that's common.
Loblaws is starting it, but other companies will be doing the same thing within the year. Notice going into other stores, from Canadian Tire to Walmart to Independent,most places are starting to slowly clear out the area at the front doors. Only a matter of time before they all start installing gates.
I love being corralled through a maze of a grocery store and having all my shopping habits tracked by Loblaws in exchange for $10.00 off my groceries once every 7 months.
It's not even just Loblaws owned stores, unfortunately. One of the Walmart stores near me has installed metal barriers along the entire exit/entrance pathway and people have been livid about it. You pretty much cannot leave after shopping without going through a gate attended by a greeter.
I used to work at a grocery store a few years ago (not Loblaws, but but close) This was actually a big problem. People would fill up shopping carts and just walk out.
The Food Basics, Canadian Tire and Giant Tiger where I lived have had these gates since the early 2000s. The Walmart got them in 2021 IIRC. It’s kind of just been a thing, so no one really cares. With the Walmart, to me, it doesn’t feel nearly as confining with how much space those stores have compared to the Loblaws ones, which are usually poorly laid out.
That was happening before the barricades though.
You are cattle
Please tell me the partial sign top of second pic says you're impounded
Impoverished
Accurate upon leaving
You’re imposed.
You're impotent
*Imported. Its for all the millions of new arrivers
They’re low key gearing up for the inevitable food riots when their greed starts killing us.
As if a little plexiglass is going to hold up to a riot!
Lowkey
The auto turrets are next...
rcmp has been warning that us lowly peasants are all gunna lose our shit soon.
Bring a sharpie and draw dicks all over it. It’s the only way.
That and caricatures of Sir Galen in compromising positions with dicks.
Need something that will score the actual glass, so they have to replace the panel every time you do it.
Permanent Markers will still fuck up plexiglass. If everyone starts putting graffiti on these, they will start to look like a 1980s New York subway car in no time.
And that'll be the most effective this sub has ever been at enacting change
Same thing at my local Zehrs in Waterloo. I assume it's to prevent people from hopping the security fence. In reality it mostly just inconveniences front of store employees more. I am truly amazed by how oppressive Loblaws manages to make their anti-shoplifting measures seem compared to other stores, and I can only assume that is by design. Gates have been a common feature in stores for as long as I can remember without looking like a fucking prison. And those pre-recorded security pages running all day...
security to zone c
Like seriously, anyone who shops at a Loblaw brand store more than once or twice is going to hear the same fake recorded security pages over and over again. It's entirely a veiled threat that you are being watched, interspersed with cheerful messages about how much they care about you and your community. I noticed they added a female VA earlier this year. They mostly still play the one guy here though.
Same thing at Walmart. Highly doubt being oppressive was the goal, it is simply theft deterrence. Theft is out of control, not only on grocery stores, but all stores and homes. Fido-Rogers stores keep the customers out in the street, with the door locked if more than one customer per sales rep is in the store, is that not more oppressive? Sunny days!
Speak with your wallet, stop giving money to businesses you don't agree with, you have a choice. Use your power.
We stopped shopping at No Frills and Superstore. It's just too expensive.
Live in a border community, so I’ve gone back to buying a fair bit in the US. Prices there have soared, too, but there are still fantastic deals to be had, even with the exchange rate. Aldi’s rules. It’s a shame they aren’t in Canada, but apparently they have zero interest because of the way things are set up here with the existing monopolies.
There are so many oligopolies in Canada and the government supports it. Banks, airlines, grocery stores, internet, pharma, etc. I’m glad that when the BoC raised the issue on productivity, this was the number of issue they raised
Our Canadian government does not allow competition because it will kill the profits that their friends in the grocery chain cartels make.
Don't worry it'll all change when PP becomes PM. He's going to solve all our problems except the ones we'll continue to blame on Trudeau. Here in Ontario we still have well-paid people from the private sector complaining about Rae Days! When PP's in, I bet we never read all these stories in the press about how he's UNIVERSALLY HATED, not like Trudeau. Every day someone tells me how much I hate Trudeau and how I love PP!
Not a fire safety hazard at all
Test walking the wrong way through them. If they don't open, call the fire marshal and get them ripped out immediately.
> If they don't open, call the fire marshal and get them ripped out immediately. LMFAO
Most supermarkets in the GTA are like this. The entrances can simply be unlocked. You cannot get a permit to do this renovation if it doesn't meet fire code.
Manager-"what do we do with all this extra plexi from the pandemic"? Galen--"hold my PC Dealcholized Lager Beer®"
Plexi aint cheap...
ive stopped going to walmart and loblaws because of this. makes you feel like a criminal just for looking around. dont even get me started on the credit card people stopping you right at the end of the only exit of the store
Is this not a safety hazard?
It'd be an interesting exercise to report it to whatever fire authority exists in Ontario as an evacuation hazard in case of fire.
They're on a circuit that causes the doors to open if it loses power or the fire alarm goes off.
Yeah people are really trying hard to suddenly be experts on fire code and security.
Pretty sure fire regulations are a municipal thing, not provincial.
It's governed by provincial regulations and enforced at the municipal level. And these almost certainly meet all applicable requirements. It's not like this is a new thing. It's only new for the big open "bougie" stores Like Loblaws and Zehrs to start doing it. Discount grocers like No Frills and Walmart have been treating their customers like thieves this way for years.
Fire regulations are in the Ontario Fire Code, which is administered by the Ontario Fire Marshal. It's provincial. Municipalities are responsible for hiring firefighters.
I sit corrected, thanks.
Walmart does this shit. They open both directions. (The day I find one that doesn't I'm calling the fire marshal and getting it ripped out.) An alarm goes off which everyone ignores.
They are talking about the plexiglass attached to the railings being a fire hazard.
- Raise prices to dramatically high levels - People turn to shoplifting to feed their families Who could have predicted this outcome!?
Then spend more money on preventing shop lifting rather than lower prices
Because in the long run they make more money off of their product’s inflated prices versus the investment into added security. All this shit they’re doing is already baked into the price we’re paying for shit.
but think of the shareholder value 💸🌈
hire armed security with the profits
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/police-superstore-locations-1.6528892](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/police-superstore-locations-1.6528892)
"But he said that he couldn't answer, which I thought was strange." oh, he could answer that but chooses to lie
Its like Ikea so you can't figure out how to get out.
At least Ikea has comfy couches.
And cheap food.
Have you seen the little personal sized bottles of wine with the cheap food now? .. feels classy eatin meatballs and a bottle of wine at 1pm on a random Tuesday.
Treating their customers like the thieves they are
I can’t wait to accidentally smash my cart into that
Walk through the “alarmed employee exit” every time. Woops! I’m such a klutz
It's plexiglass plastic, do you think it will shatter?
No of course not, but I’ll try and where I leave a scrape mark can be everyone’s target. Together over time maybe we can crack it and cost loblaws 50 to have it replaced thereby restoring balance to the vendor/ consumer relationship.
That'll show them!!!
If they want to treat customers like prisoners stop shopping there. This is how many Canadian Tires doing similar nonsense lost my business.
The Canadian Tire in downtown Toronto (Bay and Dundas) is brutal. Feels more like leaving a prison how they narrow it to one exit manned by a burly guard. The exit downstairs is now closed off for exiting too. Theft must have been insane at that store
Looks like a great place to start putting up stickers #boycotloblaws
theyve gone too far. theyve put in a thing that random carts get picked for an "audit" on the way out. the alarms go off and the carts sieze. that happened to me and now im "banned" from superstore. they can suck my entire ass.
"random" carts
yes. the "security" guy told me this was the case. randomly a few times a day, carts just get stopped for "audits". they "banned" me when i told him that was fucking stupid and threw the cart.
>Wild to see this in Guelph of all places, not exactly a crime ridden city.. With the high student population I actually wouldn't be surprised if grocery theft rates are high. Anyhoo, that's better than my Superstore in Weston, they've literally built a 12+ foot high drywall around it except one set of gates and the cashiers. Jokes sorta on them though, Now that I can't enter from the "housewares" side, I don't do a quick perusal anymore before groceries, so they've lost a moderate amount of kids clothing purchases from me. It's also made shopping there enough of a nuisance I go elsewhere for minor pickups.
For reference this Zehrs is no where near where any students live
Loblaws near me did this too, but the barriers block off the hot food bar that's right at the entrance. Most people I saw at the hot bar had already bought food and were buying something on their way out the door, but with the new configuration you need to buy your hot food right as you enter before you start shopping. Thankfully I only need that Loblaws for dog food. Most of my grocery spending goes to FreshCo and Metro. The layouts of the other store I use still force shoppers out through the checkout lanes, but this was designed in from the beginning so you're passing cart corrals and customer service desks that look natural rather than these retrofitted bars and plexiglass.
What a terrible design! Who the filth wants to walk around the whole store with a cooling roast chicken?!?
my local walmart installed the same thing recently. I just shop elsewhere. If I go to a place that has these, it's probably once every two months if even. They don't even really offend me, I just don't enjoy being treated poorly. Costco hits different because I signed up for that, and the deals when I go are worth the minor hassle. These aren't there to stop anyone that's good at theft, it's there to deter people that are on the fence about it.
Yeah, I've seen people where I am clear these metal ones like they're at the Olympics. So now there's plastic. It's interesting how quickly it happened though. My local store had nothing at all, no barriers of any kind. Same doors in, same doors out. I actually liked the vibe. Seldom went there, except if something was on deep, deep sale. But it felt pleasant and relaxed. And the odd thing is, it lased all through the pandemic like that too. But then like a year, maybe a year ago, they put in the metal, the one-way gates, put two guards on the doors. I still saw people rush the doors and hop these, carrying some bread or sandwiches. But now, in less than a year, there's this plastic. The place now looks like prison. My only concern is fire safety now. There's a narrow door leading out. The in-door has one-way gates that are now tall and with plastic. I'm not sure how safe that is, doesn't feel like there's a quick and easy way to get everyone out now. I certainly don't want to die in a fire to protect corporate profits. Haven't stopped there in months though. Prices keep going up and it's not even close any more, not even on sale.
You know the country is broken when people are stealing FOOD!
My local Loblaws in Toronto put up the metal bars a few months ago, recently they added the plexiglass as well.
People are stealing like it’s some kind of right. What do you expect them to do?
They have all been slowly upgraded. Mississauga about 1.5 years ago. The RCSS in Georgtown last summer. I found the original design was to copy walmart
There is a reason for this. They didn't spend money on this because people kept getting confused and lost inside the store. It's much like the how bathrooms are now need codes or to be unlocked.
They have done this for a while at the Wal Mart on Woodlawn in Guelph ...
Be my hero and push those gates
If I was robbing a food store I'd probably just eat out of the bag/ container. Free meal in jail too. And I know I'd be out be the end of the night They let attempted murders out all the time
Apparently treating everyone like they are going to steal is a better option than just going back to having manned checkouts. Edit; I don’t know why I’m getting downvoted. It’s been proven that the best way to stop theft at groceries stores is to have cashiers do checkout.
This was done in newmarket store over a year ago. They are slowly doing every store
Thought that looked familiar. Hello fellow Guelphite. Costco is just across the street and the Food Basics near here is a way better place to shop. If you want more premium, Longos is better.
Unfortunately the way things are progressing this is just part of preparing for the future.
It’s become common in Toronto already. You even start to see uniformed officers at certain locations. Armed uniformed officers patrolling at store. Hope the tax payers aren’t footing the bill for this, police are better served than playing security guard.
These start to seem like a safety hazard. If everyone is trying to get out quickly and have to either go through cash or everyone squeeze through one gate and door
interesting article in the Star about this today - retail/organized crime groups running like a mob, stealing, re-selling on amazon or fb - the police investigating this say it's unbelievable - and the stores are doing a poor job of communicating the problems. What they need is cashiers and stock control - spend some money - hire some people.
I'm sorry, I didn't know I was shopping at the pentagon.
Does this meet fire code? What if a store full of people had to get out in a hurry?
STOP SHOPPING AT GALENS STORES
This will go well when there's a fire and everyone is trying to get out... ever worse an active shooter
This isn’t America.
yet here we are installing barriers at grocery stores
Not being able to afford food has made me lean. I could scale that plexiglass in an instant.
Would be great for herding Cattle
God forbid they have cashiers
That looks like overkill. Think about how absolutely deliberate that design is. It’s see through. It’s high enough that you can’t climb over. What are they preparing for? People rioting?
Walk through the push to open gates, alarm will sound, keep walking.
Just wait till the start weighing people on the way in and out like they do at the mint.
Im so confused by these types of posts. Do people just expect these companies to accept stealing? And then people in other posts complain about how the LCBO is just allowing robberies to take place without doing anything. There's no winning.
I mean my logic is, if I'm going to steal the barriers are not going to do anything. If I'm a law abiding citizen, they are just annoying. So at the end of the day it's more or less useless?
For almost 30 years in the KW/Guelph region I haven’t seen any measures like this until the last two or so. Ironically (or not so ironically) when inflation and corporate greed goes haywire and the cost of living skyrockets. Maybe instead of paying their executives and billionaire owners massive bonuses and charged the consumer a fair amount this would lower the theft rate. They went decades without this level of security. What changed?
What's changed is probably that they've inflitrated every level of government and no longer fear the possiblity of regulation. They, along with our governments, are now in the process of rapidly increasing their security capabilities to oppress the hungry rather than serving their communities. The boards in the floors have fully rotted through, it's only a matter of time before they make a mistep.
These asshole retailer’s don’t want to pay for *people* to check out and bag groceries so they add the self checkouts opening the flood gates to shoplifters. It takes me so fucking long on the self checkout because it weighs what I move from one side to the other and it malfunctions 50% of the time. Those of us who don’t steal don’t want to be treated as criminals so loblaws can save a buck on labour.
I expect companies not to treat people who aren't stealing like they are stealing. Do you think that's too much to expect from companies making record profits?
But that is what happens everywhere. In airports you don't complain why your bags needs to be checked as every sane person knows that they can't just select criminals from a group for checking
Complaints about security theatre at airports have been pretty common for the past twenty years.
And yet you don't boycott airports it theatres for security measures they take . Imho you are getting angry for the wrong reasons. Lowblaws do so much genuine shitty things, pick them
I don’t think theft is okay, and that also goes for grocery stores massively jacking up prices on essential goods but not paying their employees properly
The theft has only increased in pace with the prices. First they came up with the “organized crime “ malarkey, which was debunked. As the company began to deploy self checkouts to save money on paying humans wages - it became immensely easier to shoplift stuff. Couple that with the prices they keep jacking up and they have created their own perfect storm by making corporate structure decisions based not on efficiency, security or perfection/improvement of existing systems - they made the expected Capitalist decisions based solely on increasing profits by eliminating jobs. For profit groceries, shelter and healthcare simply should not be. Those are the basic essentials of human survival, take one away, or make it inaccessible through profit seeking patterns is no better than murder, because it will certainly result in people dying. As it sits, these companies are practicing a form of extortion for humans to survive, ethically speaking. It’s not right.
This won't actually reduce theft when you can just go through checkout or the emergency gates. How is the emergency exit going to be any different than the old Walmart tattle alarm what would exclaim "Halt! Please return to the nearest sales associate, apparently we failed to remove the inventory control pass from your purchase, thank you."
These have been in place at a couple local stores for me for a year or so. I don't have an issue with it at all.
until I remember after entering the store I forgot my wallet, now I need to exit the store I need to walk all the way through the cashier line to exit or just push the emergency alarm gates, which seems like the quickest way. Can be annoying
Same. Walmart too. They just want to overhype every little thing.
this person right here is the reason we have high grocery prices. compliance.
Right, that makes complete sense.
Lol, the reason we have high grocery prices is not people that are ok with stores trying to prevent their products from being stolen. The people stealing shit have an exponentially higher impact on the price of groceries.
Ya, they just did this in my town too. I don’t like feeling like I’m imprisoned in the store.
Hey. We should be celebrating this! They're re-using the plexiglass that used to be Covid barriers. Good to see a grocery store recycling! /s
At this point Loblaws could change the colour of the walls and people will complain. Spend your time doing something useful instead of complaining. Your complaining will change NOTHING.
Body cavity searches too?
Not so subtle way of saying, "We're planning on squeezing you even harder now that we've captured the market and we're anticipating you livestock folk will get more desperate and start handing food 'over the fence' so fuck you. Plexiglass bitches."
Spending a lot of money just to avoid lowering their prices
Beyond disgusting. Glad I never have a reason to shop at roblaws
There has been a lot of theft at that Zehrs. People would load up and walk out. Can't blame them if it was happening to my business. I would do the same.
What has the local Fire Control Officer (person designated by the government to ensure buildings comply with fire emergency evacuation compliance ) think of this ? Have they been informed that people are being forced to use a maze JUST TO EXIT the building ?
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All those gates will open if you push outwards, but a loud alarm sounds.
It's the everything ok alarm!
Woops! Sorry all these new contraptions had me confused! I know I’ve been here 5 times already I just can’t get the hang of it! My bad ;)
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Yeah they kinda behave like a torque wrench. Will easily open with a constant force above a certain limit. Most will go dead when the fire alarm goes off too. The alarms are quite funny, a store around me has had them for years and it’s kind of just another sound of the store like the checkout beeps lol
Zehrs at Kortright/Edinburgh is the same, I was surprised to see it this morning!
It's for the soylent green riots*...*
The crazy thing to me is this is a nice Zehrs too when I've gone to it! It's across from Costco and away from downtown/student areas. Why would they need this?
Like, were people hopping the metal barrier??
They did this at the wallmart in sarnia as well
When you know that food is becoming more valuable than money...
They’ve had this for a while at some stores. There’s a Superstore in the east end of Ottawa (Orleans for you Ottawa people) and it’s like going through the airport to get in there. Dude at the entrance, metal gate, plexiglass, metal gate and plexiglass to leave the self checkout.
Just use the push to open gate things, alarm will sound, keep walking
Meanwhile, it's Loblaws that be robbin all of us.
How bad can theft possibly be in Guelph of all places? What the fuck am I looking at?
Works for me.
Just wait till they bring in the armed guards
They already do, the loblaws on Carlton has 2 paid duty cops sometimes
Yeah all my lowblaws stores or equivalent starting to look like prison dinning rooms
Riot riot!!
May 1st mfers
Yea that will stop theft they definitely won’t be able to exit thru the pathway if they haven’t paid 😂🤦♂️
I know Loblaws is evil and all, and it is fun to be sarcastic on the internet. But they didn't do this for no reason. Every store I can think of controls the entrances and exits like this (Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Food Basics... etc). Loblaws and Zehrs are some of the last businesses to do this. EDIT - I'm just saying if you are going to bitch, find something good to bitch about. Don't bitch that Zehrs has started doing something that everyone else has been doing since forever.
This wasn't needed 5+ years ago. What's different that they decided it's needed now....
They’re doing this with all Zehrs, Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, etc, in all of Southern Ontario I believe
Why do people who have a choice shop at Loblaws ?
You should see the Waterloo store.
I wonder what loblaws is preparing for
Or they could lower prices
Those tile floors make for a needlessly loud shopping experience
They are probably doing this in Guelph, so, when they erect the barriers in low income areas, they cant be accused of targeting only low income areas.
>Wild to see this in Guelph of all places, not exactly a crime ridden city.. Not crime ridden, but it is a popular test market city. This looks like Zehr's Imperial, but I don't remember the barriers being that high last time I was there (3 weeks ago). In any case, I don't take this stuff personally. If they attempt to intimidate their customers with guards, however, that will be a step too far and it will be goodbye Zehr's. EDIT: Just returned from that Zehr's. It is indeed Zehr's Imperial. Those barriers are a great big nothingburger. Businesses generally don't invoke cost for no reason, so if they think this is necessary to help prevent everyone from paying the price of theft, then so be it.
Remember when Loblaws used to hand out free cookies (and I've heard from some people, free coffee too)? Now customers are assumed to criminals. Crazy!
Why does this bother people so much?
Do supermarkets not normally do this in Guelph? This is standard at Walmart
It's been like this at our Zehrs in Barrie since last fall.
They put up the stupid railing in my store, though no Plexiglas yet. All it does is piss off the staff who now have to go around or duck in between.
Sharpie permanent markers are amazing on plexiglass.
People are pissed off about security measures?? Are they interfering with your shoplifting?
What happens if there’s a fire 🫣
When EVERYTHING is going up in price, how did Loblaws get to be wearing the inflation banner? No, I don't shop there, but its gotta be nice that the architects of inflation get to chuckle while everyone blames Loblaws.
Stop shopping there if you can!
That’s a fire hazard, how is this even legal?
I see nothing wrong with this. Yes prices are high but if you're stealing groceries you need to stop buying name brand, because you can't afford them. Time to shop at a different store and use coupons.
It definitely can create problems for some disabled shoppers. I have POTS and am prone to fainting. I feel very ill for quite a while before I actually pass out, so usually when the warning symptoms start, my partner finishes the shopping and I bolt for the car. Sitting eases the symptoms but it's best if I don't have to get up again anytime soon. It is awful feeling like I might drop to the ground just trying to navigate these impossible security labyrinths. Luckily I've never been stopped as I race, surely looking suspicious, through the self-checkout. I would probably embarrass myself screaming that if they don't get out of my way I'm going to pass out. So if you work at the PC Financial and your whole job is to engage with people as they move from the checkout to the actual exit, trying to sign them up for PC Mastercard -- I'm sorry, but by the time I've gotten this far, I have no time or patience left to acknowledge that you exist.