This Lanark County grocery store is reducing prices to fight food inflation
In the midst of record food inflation, one local grocery store in Lanark County is actually cutting prices.
Since the beginning of March, Balderson Village Cheese has been lowering the prices of all its products in store by 15 to 35 per cent.
"I see people in our community, friends of mine, family, people walking into the store that are having trouble putting food on the table for their families. I thought, there's something we need to do about this," says Greg Black, owner of Balderson Village Cheese.
Black is going about it the old fashioned way, phoning up his suppliers and shipping companies to negotiate lower prices. Black says in many cases, the companies he works with were on board to make products more affordable for customers at the end of the supply chain.
"They all came back and said we'll be able to cut five per cent here, a little percent there, this much here, maybe we'll give you free shipping here, and we pass that on right to the customer," Black said.
In some instances, Black says it was removing fuel surcharges from when gas was above $2 a litre that was still on his bill. Other savings came from cutting shipping costs all together.
"Instead of spending $250 on shipping, I spend $80 on gas. That savings from shipping goes right to the customer."
Products like chips have been reduced from $7.99 to $5.99 and hot chocolate from $2.99 to $1.99.
Black has also committed to price matching any products that are found elsewhere at a lower price, and then reducing his price permanently.
While Black is in business to make money and create a living for himself and his family, he says reducing prices hasn't been bad for business.
"Our margins are less, absolutely. We pay our bills, everybody makes a modest paycheque, nobody is hurting."
The small village store owner is hoping his actions prove to big box grocers that steps to reduce food inflation can be made at relative ease.
"It's just the right thing to do," said Black.
"Sometimes you just have to hit the pause button and on that big corporate machine and say we need to stop charging what we're charging."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.