I saw the stickers before it hit the news. I was not impressed.

Living across the street from two major grocery stores has allowed me to be somewhat cushioned from the rapid inflation in food prices over the past couple of years. Despite overall price hikes of ten per cent (and 20 or 30 per cent for some items) I’ve been able to find some bargains that have kept my grocery bills manageable.

-My favorite bargain is when I am able to buy fresh food, meat, breads and produce, the last day of its “best before” date. Given the high prices, that has been pretty much the only I have purchased meat and bread. Wal Mart offers such meats at 30 per cent off – but the biggest deal has been from Loblaws, Canada’s biggest grocery chain, which, until this week offered those goods at half price.

The reductions make sense. If nobody buys the food it will just get thrown out. No profit for the store there.

Last week, for example, I picked up a dozen bagels for half price. The previous week it was some fresh salmon, which is now in my freezer alongside the bagels.

The drawback for the consumer is that you either have to eat the food that day or freeze it. And selection is pretty limited – sometimes when I visit the store there is nothing marked down. Still, I probably have saved hundreds of dollars over the past few years.

Now though, that 50 per cent discount is no more. Now the last day of sale price is only 30 er cent off. I am not alone in being unimpressed.

Loblaws has been recording record profits in recent years. Admittedly, some of that, maybe even most, is from their non-grocery sales. The fact remains though that they are hugely profitable.

For someone like me, the change isn’t that big a deal. But for students and seniors, for those with lower income, this is a huge change. Food insecurity is a major issue in Canada. Grocery store executives, who have already had to answer to Parliament over their prices, are well aware of that.

Apparently they figured the loss of goodwill that the change has brought to be worth the extra money they will make. Grocery prices remain high. Most people will still buy the food figuring a small discount is better than no discount.

As for me, I much prefer shopping at Loblaws to Wal Mart. (My antipathy towards Wal Mart is a long story, perhaps I’ll write about it another time.) With this change though I expect Wal Mart is going to be getting more of my business.

I’m probably not the only one who feels that way.