torontostan wrote:

They’re owned by the same company so I don’t see the big deal

100% agree. Same company. No surprise here. 
I have no idea why this even came up on this very board.

For future reference, here are your main grocery choices:

1) Loblaws & No Frills
2) Metro, Food Basics & Adonis
3) Sobey's, FreshCo, Farmboy & Longos 
4) Walmart
5) the odd privately run grocery store, like Fiesta farms (On Christie, betwen Dupont & Bloor)

There's a 6th option. Costco, but then you're only buying bulk, and a membership is required.

Long story short, the next time you see an ad on television for a grocery store that looks too much like an ad for another grocery store, chances are very high (lack of choice/competition and all) that it's the same company.

 

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 2, 2026 12:32 pm)

paterson1 wrote:

I disagree with both of you.  Food Basics is a discount grocer and Metro is mid to higher end with departments and product not found at Food Basics.  Having the same owner doesn't matter.

Does The Keg and Swiss Chalet have similar TV and radio ads?  Same owner.  Does Toyota advertise the Corolla Cross and Highlander SUV's with a similar style advertsing?  

So to me it sort of shows a lack of creativity if the higher end Metro is copying the advertising style of their smaller discount chain.  Maybe Metro is planning to go more low end?  In that case wouldn't that actually hurt Food Basics? Or Metro could lose some of their more affluent customers to Loblaws or Sobeys.

Metro has "A" stores and "B" stores. I honestly do not know if a name change for select stores will happen any time soon.
It is however, confusing which Metro store to go to for some things that other Metro stores do not carry. 

It's not always because of store size either. Sometimes "A" or "B" stores are decided based on the neighborhood they are in.  & SOME Metro stores really SHOULD be a Basics. (dangerously close already) 

Metro also owns Adonis. That would be the next option for wowza style ads, but due to lack of locations in Toronto, I doubt we will see any. (even if, only on Omni...)

paterson1 wrote:

I disagree with both of you.  Food Basics is a discount grocer and Metro is mid to higher end with departments and product not found at Food Basics.  Having the same owner doesn't matter.

Does The Keg and Swiss Chalet have similar TV and radio ads?  Same owner.  Does Toyota advertise the Corolla Cross and Highlander SUV's with a similar style advertsing?  

So to me it sort of shows a lack of creativity if the higher end Metro is copying the advertising style of their smaller discount chain.  Maybe Metro is planning to go more low end?  In that case wouldn't that actually hurt Food Basics? Or Metro could lose some of their more affluent customers to Loblaws or Sobeys.

These days, everybody's looking to save what they can on groceries, regardless of income.
 

pinto wrote:

Don't forget.. when you're not good enough to get a Sobey's, we'll open a Foodland!!

Foodland for the most part is being phased out. There's a few around here and there, but not nearly as many as there used to be.  

Radiowiz wrote:

Foodland for the most part is being phased out. There's a few around here and there, but not nearly as many as there used to be.  

There's one in nearby Coboconk, but they're hardly able to qualify as the official supplier of the North Kawarthas DX Site BBQ Cook-off. Indie supermarkets indeed top the charts. Yummy Market on Major Mac probably doesn't need to advertise on any of Toronto's multi-ethnic stations, but they have everything a DXer needs to enhance propagation from Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan and beyond. I've never heard ads from Garden Market in Markham, but I don't tune in 105.9 unless I'm in The Region, so dedicated listeners like Big yellow Boardies might need to step outside their DX shacks to find this source of free-range and non-GMO options from many exotic locales they might want to hear over the air. Going to T&T is like going to Beijing to shop at Loblaws. But I'd think some of the plethora of the GTA's indie Chinese markets advertise on the channel Foster Hewitt trailblazed with shouts of He Shoots, He Scores!

RadioActive wrote:

Whatever happened to Price Choppers?

They were converted by Sobeys into FreshCos.
 

RadioActive wrote:

Whatever happened to Price Choppers?

They became FreshCo.

Radiowiz wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

I disagree with both of you.  Food Basics is a discount grocer and Metro is mid to higher end with departments and product not found at Food Basics.  Having the same owner doesn't matter.

Does The Keg and Swiss Chalet have similar TV and radio ads?  Same owner.  Does Toyota advertise the Corolla Cross and Highlander SUV's with a similar style advertsing?  

So to me it sort of shows a lack of creativity if the higher end Metro is copying the advertising style of their smaller discount chain.  Maybe Metro is planning to go more low end?  In that case wouldn't that actually hurt Food Basics? Or Metro could lose some of their more affluent customers to Loblaws or Sobeys.

Metro has "A" stores and "B" stores. I honestly do not know if a name change for select stores will happen any time soon.
It is however, confusing which Metro store to go to for some things that other Metro stores do not carry. 

It's not always because of store size either. Sometimes "A" or "B" stores are decided based on the neighborhood they are in.  & SOME Metro stores really SHOULD be a Basics. (dangerously close already) 

Metro also owns Adonis. That would be the next option for wowza style ads, but due to lack of locations in Toronto, I doubt we will see any. (even if, only on Omni...)

Interesting that Metro has "A" and "B" stores. Makes sense depending on the location. Walmart does the same thing. The location nearest me [Jane/Wilson] has all the basic dairy and grocery items, but no meat or fresh produce. The location in North Oakville has every grocery item you could possibly need.