Ontario Grocery Shoppers Blame Loblaws CEO For 'Through The Roof' $39 Olive Oil Price Tag

Some grocery shoppers in Ontario are once again showing their frustration with Loblaws and its President and CEO Galen Weston Jr. after someone shared the prices for extra virgin olive oil at a discount grocery store chain.

Seen at a No Frills, the prices for brand-name, and even no-name-brand, olive oil in bulk topped out between $35 and $40 — numbers you can bet won't be on a No Frills flyer anytime soon.

"Oil prices are through the roof," reads the post in the r/Ontario Reddit by user vead123. "EVOO was $23 3 months ago. Thanks Galen."

Despite having been here before, with the inflated price for a pack of chicken at Loblaws and a tub of cooked rice at Zers having previously gone viral, people were once again beside themselves to see prices this high for olive oil, even in bulk.

"Stop shopping there," one person commented. "That’s literally the only thing we can do as a collective to beat them."

"Them" likely refers to the Loblaws chain, which many other angry commenters named in this Reddit thread.

As one frustrated shopper accused Loblaws of rebranding their No Name products as premium, the original poster later confirmed the chain wasn't even where he saw these high prices.

"This was No Frills. Literally a discount grocery store," they wrote in response to someone blaming them for shopping at Loblaws in a suggestion that, by now, we should all know how high their prices are.

Of course, Loblaws does own No Frills.

As always though, through the mix of angry grocery shoppers in these more frequent dialogues on Reddit, some weigh in to offer their helpful grocery shopping solutions.

"1L of EVOO is $6.99 at Freshco this week if you have one nearby (or can price match)," one person commented.

On that calculation, you could get 5 litres for the price of three no-name-brand items at this No Frills. Not a bad tip!

"Gotta creep that costco membership. worth it for stuff like that," another suggested.

But on the other end of the conversation, one shopper even came up with the term "galenflation" to merge their frustration with the Loblaws chain, its President, and high grocery prices into one.

Having been summoned to speak on Parliament Hill about grocery prices in early March, Weston Jr. blamed the prices on inflation and supply chain disruptions.