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Grocery store shelves at Redcliff Family Foods sit fully stocked. (Photo Courtesy Ross Lavigne)

Local grocery stores increasing prices again amid rise in inflation

Apr 27, 2022 | 10:46 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Grocery store shelves sit fully stocked, but customers are feeling the pressure of price increases.

Canada’s inflation rate sits at 6.7 per cent, the highest it’s been since January 1991. This rise is causing some grocery stores to make the choice to raise their prices once again.

Sue Macinnis, store manager at Redcliff Family Foods, says the jump has affected the items households need every day.

“It’s not just one area, it’s certain areas,” Macinnis says. “Anything you would need to have in your home, right? So that’s where I find that it’s going up. It’s not your cleaning supplies, it’s what they have to eat.”

Macinnis points to cereals and canned vegetables as examples of marked-up goods. Produce has also been hit especially hard, and the change is noticeable at the till.

“Customers are picking and choosing what they’re ordering or buying now,” Macinnis says. “Things have slowed down because things have increased quite a bit.”

More niche stores have also been affected. Evangeline Sastrillo is the owner of the Med Hat Asian Market, and says this is the first time she has had to raise her prices since she took over the business two years ago.

“Since the pandemic started last year, two years ago, I increased prices,” Sastrillo says. “Then this month, like last month when I was doing my ordering again, I’ve noticed that the price is increasing a lot.”

Sastrillo says while she still has a steady stream of customers, she knows people are trying to find the cheapest prices where they can.

“We cannot compete (with) the big grocery stores,” Satrillo says. “I’ve noticed that some customers, they also find ways to buy cheaper than coming here.”

For Macinnis, she understands why customers are changing the way they shop.

“I’m a shopper too, and I feel for everybody here,” Macinnis says. “I get stomach sick when I have to look at these prices changing. It used to be just produce every time. An order would come in, you’d check. Now you have to check the grocery price.”

With trends on a steady increase, customers will have to decide what makes it into their grocery carts for the foreseeable future.