Groceries

Meat is shown in a grocery store in Toronto on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. Canadians will pay more for groceries this fall as severe drought drives up prices for agricultural commodities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Grocery store sticker shock hitting consumers as drought takes toll on crops

Statistics Canada projects this fall’s wheat harvest will be 35 per cent below last year’s

 

Yumbrosia Fine Foods offers a wide variety of quality products imported from Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. (Evert Lindquist/News Staff)

Best of the City: Yumbrosia brings a world of flavour to Oak Bay

Owner Ihsan Askar provides quality international products to Victoria and beyond

 

Customers fill their carts at The Root Cellar store on McKenzie Avenue. Daisy and Adam Orser opened the location 13 years ago and are working on transforming the former Oxford Foods in Cook Street Village into theiir second store. (Emma Rossum Photography)

Second Root Cellar store to open in Victoria as early as late fall

Customers serve as motivators for co-owner Daisy Orser amid pandemic

 

Retailers say they’re ready for the ban on single-use plastic checkout bags in Nanaimo when it takes effect July 1. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)

Nanaimo’s single-use checkout bag ban ready to go into place Canada Day

Business operators say there’s been plenty of time to plan and prepare for bylaw that kicks in July 1

Retailers say they’re ready for the ban on single-use plastic checkout bags in Nanaimo when it takes effect July 1. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)
(Photo courtesy of USDA.)

Federal report urges changes in Canada’s grocery store competition laws

Review says current law risks ‘a slippery slope towards cartel-like conduct’

(Photo courtesy of USDA.)
An 11-year-old boy, who is a coffee worker in Mexico, is shown in this undated handout photo. A World Vision report warns Canadians could be contributing to child labour with every grocery trip. The Risky Goods report says economic pressures of the pandemic are forcing more children to harvest and produce many of Canada’s food imports. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Juan Cuevas, World Vision Mexico *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Child labour behind every Canadian’s grocery haul, and it may get worse: World Vision

Report says imports from Mexico account for the largest value of risky products,with $965 million in 2019

An 11-year-old boy, who is a coffee worker in Mexico, is shown in this undated handout photo. A World Vision report warns Canadians could be contributing to child labour with every grocery trip. The Risky Goods report says economic pressures of the pandemic are forcing more children to harvest and produce many of Canada’s food imports. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Juan Cuevas, World Vision Mexico *MANDATORY CREDIT*
The Neighbourhood Market at Saanich Baptist Church is one of 10 that provide fresh produce to people in need across Greater Victoria. (Jane Skrypnek/News Staff)

Daily free food markets offer fresh produce to Greater Victorians in need

Ten Neighbourhood Markets operate across the region

The Neighbourhood Market at Saanich Baptist Church is one of 10 that provide fresh produce to people in need across Greater Victoria. (Jane Skrypnek/News Staff)
A customer shops at a meat counter in a grocery store in Montreal, on April 30, 2020. The average Canadian family will pay up to an extra $695 for food next year, as the pandemic, wildfires and changing consumer habits drive up grocery bills to the highest ever increase predicted by an annual food price report. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Canadian families will pay up to $695 more a year for groceries in 2021, report says

Vegetables could be particularly hard hit, with prices expected to jump as much as 6.5 per cent

A customer shops at a meat counter in a grocery store in Montreal, on April 30, 2020. The average Canadian family will pay up to an extra $695 for food next year, as the pandemic, wildfires and changing consumer habits drive up grocery bills to the highest ever increase predicted by an annual food price report. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Victoria police arrested a man in a Yates Street grocery store Nov. 27 after he refused to wear a mask. (Black Press Media File photo)

Belligerent man arrested in Victoria grocery store after refusing to wear mask

Officers fined the man $230 under the COVID-19 Related Measures Act

Victoria police arrested a man in a Yates Street grocery store Nov. 27 after he refused to wear a mask. (Black Press Media File photo)
Quality Foods advertising manager, Regan Beaulieu, (left) and president, Noel Hayward, (right) stand in front of the Clean Cart on its first day of testing, Nov. 12. (Jane Skrypnek/News Staff)

Victoria-area Quality Foods launches innovative new cart cleaning device

The Clean Cart uses far-UV light and is the first of its kind in Canada

Quality Foods advertising manager, Regan Beaulieu, (left) and president, Noel Hayward, (right) stand in front of the Clean Cart on its first day of testing, Nov. 12. (Jane Skrypnek/News Staff)
Two Saanich businesswomen are taking over what was previously Dig This gardening store in Broadmead Village Shopping Centre, and turning it into a hub for local food and community. (Google Maps)

New restaurant, grocery hybrid brings local food and community to Saanich

Niche Grocerant is partnering with restaurants and producers to bring local food to the suburbs

Two Saanich businesswomen are taking over what was previously Dig This gardening store in Broadmead Village Shopping Centre, and turning it into a hub for local food and community. (Google Maps)
A person wears a mask as he stands in line at Costco Saturday, April 4, 2020, in Salt Lake City. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now advising Americans to voluntarily wear a basic cloth or fabric face mask to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Canadian Costco shoppers now being asked to wear non-medical face masks

This comes nearly a month after the warehouse outlet said that it wouldn’t be implementing a mask policy

A person wears a mask as he stands in line at Costco Saturday, April 4, 2020, in Salt Lake City. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now advising Americans to voluntarily wear a basic cloth or fabric face mask to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Machilo Spak restocks the shelves at the Market on Millstream. The local grocery story has offered to provide free grocery delivery to military families during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Black Press Media file photo)

Market on Millstream helps military families with free grocery delivery

Eight ships and 850 members from CFB Esquimalt are currently deployed

Machilo Spak restocks the shelves at the Market on Millstream. The local grocery story has offered to provide free grocery delivery to military families during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Black Press Media file photo)
Janene Walker says she has been criticized publicly for taking her two children with her while she grocery shops during the COVID-19 pandemic, but with her husband deployed she struggles to find other options. (Photo courtesy of Janene Walker)

COVID-19: Sooke mom faces ‘pandemic police’ for bringing kids to the grocery store

Mother pleads for people to stop shaming single parents

Janene Walker says she has been criticized publicly for taking her two children with her while she grocery shops during the COVID-19 pandemic, but with her husband deployed she struggles to find other options. (Photo courtesy of Janene Walker)
A plexiglass barrier is pictured creating a barrier to protect a cashier at a grocery store in North Vancouver, B.C. Sunday, March 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. issues guidelines about distancing, reusable bags to grocery stores amid COVID-19

Hand sanitizer and markers to keep lines two metres are apart are needed, province says

A plexiglass barrier is pictured creating a barrier to protect a cashier at a grocery store in North Vancouver, B.C. Sunday, March 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
(The Canadian Press)

Experts weigh in on best handling of groceries during COVID-19 pandemic

Study suggests the virus can live for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic

(The Canadian Press)
Hundreds of people queued in multiple lines waiting to pay for their purchases at a Costco store, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, in Burnaby on March 16. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

Grocery stores hiring more staff, offer wage boost as B.C. adapts to COVID-19 buying habits

Companies make changes to protect staff, customers during the outbreak

Hundreds of people queued in multiple lines waiting to pay for their purchases at a Costco store, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, in Burnaby on March 16. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
Empty shelves have been greeting Cowichan shoppers looking to buy toilet paper. Most grocery stores have begun limiting the number of packages each person can buy to curb hoarding. (Andrea Rondeau/Citizen)

Hoarding hurts the vulnerable, Cowichan Valley heart patient says

Grocery chains doing their best to keep up with demand

Empty shelves have been greeting Cowichan shoppers looking to buy toilet paper. Most grocery stores have begun limiting the number of packages each person can buy to curb hoarding. (Andrea Rondeau/Citizen)
The line stretches down the side of the Langford Costco as the store opens for business March 15 at 9 a.m. (Don Denton/News Staff)

Langford Costco limits number of shoppers in store during ‘monumental’ sales surge

Langford encourages customers to avoid early morning shopping

The line stretches down the side of the Langford Costco as the store opens for business March 15 at 9 a.m. (Don Denton/News Staff)
Quality Foods, Superstore, Country Grocer, Whole Foods and Shoppers Drug Mart will be dedicating a portion of their opening hours for seniors and vulnerable members of society to shop, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. (Black Press Media file photo)

Vancouver Island grocery stores dedicate early hours to seniors, health-compromised shoppers

Shoppers Drug Mart, Superstore, Whole Foods and Country Grocer offers one hour

Quality Foods, Superstore, Country Grocer, Whole Foods and Shoppers Drug Mart will be dedicating a portion of their opening hours for seniors and vulnerable members of society to shop, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. (Black Press Media file photo)