How Loblaw became Canada’s ‘company store’

In today’s The Big Story podcast, you have to work pretty hard, in most of the country, to avoid spending money with a Loblaw-owned business. From its origins in groceries to market dominance there, the ubiquity of Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix, and everything from finance to clothing also under its umbrella, the Weston family has built a staggering retail empire.

David Moscrop is a writer and author and political commentator (Read David’s piece on Loblaw right here.) “It’s not uncommon for companies to integrate vertically, horizontally, to poke into other markets, especially in a country like Canada, where oligopoly and monopoly is fairly common […] but I do think that Loblaw is particularly good at it,” said Moscrop.   

How did they do it? What happens when one company controls so much of the market for essential goods? What does it mean for us? Should the government take action here, and what could they do about it if they were so inclined? After all, isn’t Loblaw just .. successful?

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify. You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.