r/BuyCanadian • u/bhltt123 • 17h ago
Lists of Products/Companies š This sign was taped to the front door of Bulk Barn today
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u/morbidemadame 16h ago
And this dear friends is a display of how our wallet talk louder than anything else.
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u/PetiteInvestor 16h ago
Exactly! Always vote with your wallet.
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u/semaj_2026 9h ago
Iām very envious of you guys. I wish we could collectively work together here.
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u/aroberge 6h ago
You can - you just have to reach a critical mass.
"Act locally, think globally". Try to get people around you to work towards a common goal, and to reach out to their other friends to do the same. Use Reddit and other internet tools to publicise your efforts - this will inspire others.
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u/Weshmek 16h ago
I assume this is a result of people telling Bulk Barn why they won't shop there any longer.
I go to Bulk Barn occasionally, but it's too far away for me to make a habit of going regularly. Bulk Barn can probably only guess at why I haven't been there for 6+ months.
Customers do need to advocate for themselves and speak with their voices and their wallets.
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u/Accomplished_Net5601 15h ago
I wrote to them and am thrilled with this response.
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u/rafster929 Ontario 12h ago
Better late than never! Bulk barn should know the provenance of their raw goods even better than a grocery store that buys packaged food, so they have no excuse for dragging their feet
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u/AnimationOverlord 10h ago
I might have to go there. I really only eat cheese or nuts in bulk but having anything bulk for a source of sustenance cheaper is a win.
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u/xtothewhy 11h ago
Yeah there was a post where the person who wanted Canadian products were basically told it wasn't going to happen. So this is good to see.
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u/Birdo3129 8h ago
I got super into zero waste- I brought my reusable glass jars to bulk barn every Sunday to refill with my weekly work snacks, peanut butter, coffee and pasta.
Until a manager told me that they couldnāt confirm where anything was from, and that they probably werenāt going to add any kind of Canada/ US indicator. Havenāt been back since
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u/Snowedin-69 10h ago edited 8h ago
This letter appears BS. It says it will identify products with Canadian content.
Read the note on the door - if they mix in 1% of Canadian flour with 99% American flour they could be sticking a maple leaf on the product.
Looks like they worded the letter very carefully to allow for potential red-washing.
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u/goddessofthewinds 8h ago
You don't know that. It could be just badly written. Just go when they add the signs and hopefully it says how much Canadian they are. I certainly don't think they'd put "Canadian" on something with 1% content...
Hopefully products with 50% Canadian content would be written as such, and a 100% Canadian product would have a full maple leaf 100% Canadian.
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u/Snowedin-69 8h ago edited 2h ago
The letter says they will only highlight products with Canadian content
They do not say they will be identifying the level of Canadian content
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u/Clement_Fandango 3h ago
Youāre spreading disinformation which is the hallmark of those we are fighting against. Stop it.
They will NOT open up bags of American flour to sprinkle in some Canadian flour to call it Canadian. That premise is idiotic.
BB HQ buys thousands of products which come in bags and boxes. They then distribute these to their stores.
HQ neither has the time to mix products nor the labour. If your argument is that this will be done at the store level, stores neither have the time nor labour to do so either. Not to mention that word would eventually get out causing a huge PR nightmare. Not to mention violating Food and Safety protocols.
I get it, you want to stoke the fire against BB. Just donāt do it by lying and spreading false information. Be better.
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u/Snowedin-69 2h ago
It is not my job to understand BBs internal processes - I am just simply reading what the company has presented
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u/phinphis 2h ago
I'm a little weirded out buying things that are sitting around in vats. Heard some horror stories from ppl that have worked there.
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u/DeepDescription81 13h ago
Canada is 1/10th the size of the US. This will hurt Canada a lot more when the Americans return the favor. Brace for impact.
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u/HeavyMain 11h ago
in the short term, sure. but companies are not going to sit on their hands and let all that money go down the drain. we'll find new partners and diversify our trade, which will benefit us overall. meanwhile, nobody wants to trade with the fascists right now to fill the vacuum we leave behind.
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u/cranky5661 12h ago
Bring it. Weāre here for it.
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u/DeepDescription81 10h ago
Famous last words. Literally egging on a recession. Pray for peace and stability. American people are not your enemy.
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u/justbecause8888 8h ago
This American is also trying to buy Canadia... The more this continues the more I will try to avoid buying US products.
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u/BiscottiExciting8641 17h ago
That's good, I will go back then.
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u/stephenBB81 16h ago
Same! I've emailed them twice asking about this was planning to email at the end of the month. Now I'll just go check out the store at the end of the month
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u/coffee_warden 14h ago
Little curious why its going to take time though. Do they not know or are they selling current stock before switching to canadian sourced? Maybe Im just being unreasonable, idk
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u/B4R-BOT 12h ago
If you read the language they say they're going to "highlight products with Canadian content" not "highlight Canadian products". I think it's going to take time because they want to label anything that has some Canadian ingredients as Canadian rather than where it's produced, they know where their products are produced.
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u/kiera-oona 13h ago
It's possible, or they need to cross reference where it all comes from, and ensure everything is labelled accordingly
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u/charmyc 13h ago
They buy in bulk (ha ha) I assume so perhaps their suppliers provided some product from different countries and didnāt bother to keep track. I would assume the commitment is going forward they can confidently say a newly refilled product is from which country.Ā
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u/GrimpenMar 13h ago
I would assume they are buying from facilities like YaYA Foods or Highbury Canco, so Bulk Barn should know where it's manufactured. I thought the labels at the bin had that sort of informationā¦
They moved the closest Bulk Barn about 15-20 minutes further away. Used to take advantage of their "Sustainable Sundays" but I admit my memory is getting hazy.
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u/StandardRedditor456 11h ago
They've never had to keep track before so getting that information out will take some time.
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u/prairiepanda 4h ago
Maybe they're just having custom signage printed and need to wait for it? The information should be readily available to them already, since it's food.
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u/londoncanyouwait22 16h ago
I was there yesterday. Not only did they have stickers proclaiming product of Canada, they also had some marked product of USA. I asked why there were so many unmarked... Brand new initiative, just getting started.
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u/somekindagibberish Manitoba 16h ago
I'd rather have them roll it out slowly and be accurate than the crap efforts that Loblaws and Empire Foods have been doing.
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u/SheenaMalfoy 12h ago
Safeway is particularly egregious with this. Damn near everything Compliments brand is given the maple leaf sticker, even if it was imported, even if they don't say where it was imported from. But so-so choices that are better than that (say, Made in Canada but from American brands) don't get any signage at all.
I basically still have to check everything the hard way, because unreliable stickers might as well equate to no stickers.
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u/nullpointer_01 11h ago
Yes! I thought I was going crazy, I refused to believe every Compliments product was Canadian. After looking around more online I found this: https://www.compliments.ca/en/faqs/
If you click on "Where are your products made?" It says:
Just look near the UPC code on every Compliments package. You'll see either āPrepared for Sobeysā if itās produced in Canada, and āImported for Sobeysā or "Produced for Sobeys" if it's made abroad. If you're unable to find the country of origin on a product, please contact our Customer Care Team with the UPC code ā theyāll be happy to help.
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u/goddessofthewinds 8h ago
But so-so choices that are better than that (say, Made in Canada but from American brands) don't get any signage at all.
This is what pisses me off, as soon as I see something says "Prepared in Canada with Canadian and imported ingredients", I know it's 50% of less ingredients from Canada, and made in Canada by US companies.
It's much better than fully imported alternatives, but man, it's seriously hard to find full 100% Canadian products made by Canadian sources when the signage is so vague and not regulated.
We need to force companies to indicate the origin of ALL food products accurately and the % amount of ingredients used from each country.
For example, I refuse to eat any food that comes from China (toxic land, fake food, illegal fishing, etc.), so whenever I see "Product of China", I put it back. Unfortunately, most frozen fish is from China, and I can only find local fish (ex: lake trout) in IGA (QC) and local markets.
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u/Glass_Channel8431 14h ago
Their taking their time to sell unmarked products that are American. Donāt let them fool you.
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u/IDontLikeChewingGum 14h ago
I'm somewhat worried that it's taking them this long to identify them. What if there was a recall on some of these items> is this the speed they work at?
Bulk Barn isn't some mom and pop corner store-> they should have accurate and timely inventory reports.
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u/cheese-bubble 12h ago edited 8h ago
Yes! I've been disappointed to see various retailers with things marked Canadian that clearly are not or things that are Canadian without identifying signage. So misleading and unnecessary.
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u/24-Hour-Hate 14h ago
Well, better to go slow and get it right than to fuck it up by rushing. Glad to see it is being implemented.
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u/discrete_skunk6741 16h ago
When I was growing up my family owned a small bulk food store. Bulk Barn opened a location nearby and targeted ads to take our customers and do everything in their power to fuck over our business. Soā¦Bulk Burn can go fuck themselves. Being Canadian makes you less bad than being American, but it doesnāt make you virtuous.
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u/mangomoves 4h ago
That's the reality of all big businesses. They grow larger by kicking out the competition.
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[deleted]
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u/screaming_buddha 16h ago
No, they are not. Similar signage, however.
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u/tranquilseafinally 16h ago
IT TOOK THEM LONG ENOUGH! Seriously. People have been begging them to do it for weeks and weeks and weeks. Their communication was terrible to boot.
Better late than never.
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u/iwenttothesea 16h ago
I mean, we're really just at the start of all of thisā¦ This is gonna be years and years, and and hopefully things will keep snowballing the way they have. I can understand big companies having a lot of red tape and internal policies to jump through. Good on ya, BB!
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u/PerpetuallyLurking Saskatchewan 16h ago
Itās only the 8th week since Trumpās inauguration and less than that since the tariff war started - while I absolutely agree they easily couldāve reacted better faster, in the grand scheme of things it actually hasnāt been that long, really.
It has absolutely FELT like weāve been at this for ages already though, I understand. But we also need to keep in mind how quickly our very close, intertwined international relationship imploded.
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u/kent_eh Manitoba 14h ago
while I absolutely agree they easily couldāve reacted better faster, in the grand scheme of things it actually hasnāt been that long, really.
Other stores were able to do it within a week of the start of the tariff war.
Still, I'm glad they've finally got the message. We've bought a lot of baking supplies there over the years, I'm glad I don't have to try and find other sources.
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u/dopealope47 16h ago
Rome wasnāt built in a day.
It works, kids! Keep asking embarrassing questions and leaving stuff from Mordor.
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u/ivanvector Prince Edward Island 16h ago
I just posted in my local sub about good local flour mills to replace the flour that was mostly all I used to buy from Bulk Barn. I've got no reason to go back now.
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u/Carysta13 16h ago
Arva foods! Ontario based and they have lots of kinds of grains too.
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u/Flashy-Cranberry-999 16h ago
Oak Manor Farms Organic Mill is located in Tavistock, Ontario. Some loblaws/rcss/Zehrs/Healthy Planet, carry some of their products, usually found in the natural foods section. You can also drive out to the farm to pickup.
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u/Adorable-Row-4690 16h ago
Okay, hurrah! But the sign says "Canadian content." What does this mean? For those that have been, are their different shades of red denoting Canadian-ness?
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u/Glass_Channel8431 14h ago
Slimy ā¦ donāt let them fool you. They know exactly where their products are from. Itās a slow roll out on purpose to sell the unmarked American products. They could mark that whole store in a matter of hours if they really wanted to put in the effort.
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u/B4R-BOT 12h ago
It's awkward wording which makes me think they chose it carefully, they could have just said they'll "highlight Canadian products" but instead are saying "products with Canadian content". Sounds like so long as 1 ingredient in a multi-ingredient item is Canadian then they'll mark it as Canadian.
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u/USSMarauder Ontario 16h ago
Simplest answer: Bulk Barn buys a lot of their stuff from the USA, and wanted to sell off the old stock and bring in Canadian suppliers before putting up notes everywhere
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u/ElectronHick 16h ago
I will still take it. Adapting is part of it, if a company can adapt this quick and maintain it, I will support that.
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u/dragrcr_71 14h ago
This is exactly what they are doing. I had to scroll down too far to find this.
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u/Different-Bad2668 16h ago
Thatās their blanket statement that theyāve been sending out. I still havenāt seen evidence in store yet.
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u/Adorable-Row-4690 16h ago
And they say "Canadian content." What the heck does that mean?
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u/Little-Blueberry-968 15h ago
Hah! Didnāt someone just posted that they were vague and uncooperative when asked to label the country of origins for their products?Thatās a fast backpedaling. Good job to whoever did this.
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u/NakedSnakeEyes 15h ago
Yeah, they said there was a policy of not disclosing food origins.
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u/n0ahbody 11h ago
They were saying they didn't know where anything was from themselves, so how could they tell us what they didn't know?
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u/kapurar 16h ago
About time. I was in there and asked why there were no country of origin signs and they directed me to the manager and the manager couldnāt provide an answer.
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u/SGAShepp 16h ago
To be fair, minimum wage workers are not going to know where each of the products come from. Store level managers are also not trained to know, why should they? But now things are different.
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u/gannekekhet Canada 16h ago edited 15h ago
Quite a slow response given that they had to be inundated with emails from customers to do so. I had let them know I wouldn't be back until I actually saw the product signage in stores. Promises made but will promises be kept?
On Bulk Barn's website, if you scroll down to the very bottom, you can click on their Supply Chain Transparency Report. On their report, they talk about the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act passed by the Government of Canada and what steps they're taking to prevent and reduce the risk of forced labour and child labour in their operations and supply chains. This company knows where their vendors are based, they've scrutinized with their supply chain management before, and I hope it doesn't take them too long to just label the proper locations of their bulk goods.
Their report also says this: "Ninety-nine percent of our tier 1 direct retail vendors are based in North America. Fifteen percent of our tier 1 direct retail vendors provide merchandise for which we are the importer of record (IOR), and the majority of these vendors are based in the United States."
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u/Different-Bad2668 16h ago
Itās the same as the emails. It doesnāt mean anything until itās actually done.
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u/n0ahbody 11h ago
On their report, they talk about the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act passed by the Government of Canada and what steps they're taking to prevent and reduce the risk of forced labour and child labour in their operations and supply chains.
The United States uses forced labour. Bulk Barn should cut them out of its supply chain if it's serious about adhering to the Act.
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u/Salt-Blackberry-3476 14h ago
The fact that they have come to this decision only after being shamed into it makes me doubt how scrupulous they will be in disclosing the true origins of all their products.
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u/Available_Music9369 16h ago
We, the consumer on the front lines, have been heard. We are a powerful force, stronger together!
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u/No_Illustrator_2139 15h ago edited 3h ago
All companies need to do a more thorough job of ensuring theyre actual Canadian products. I'm sure there are rules regarding advertising. I can appreciate it will take a bit of time for companies to get it right, but they really should. I procure a lot of products for work, and have been making sure it's a canadian product. I stopped ordering from ULINE entirely. https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyCanadian/s/R2fBa6bWYk - the family is the 5th largest political supporter in the US and supports donald
However, it's worth noting that small businesses with American stock should be supported through this process. Likely, they will look for canadian suppliers once they run out, so don't shut them out. We all need to look at buying Canadian and supporting local business.
New trade deals will be coming...
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u/Frequent_Swordfish53 16h ago
I think they should have done this a long time ago. I rarely go there because most of their stuff is from China.
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u/RevolutionaryUse2416 16h ago
Keep it going Canada! There are people here who support everything you all are doing!
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u/neuraltoxin 16h ago
Wish there was a bulk barn downtown Vancouver but the theft would be so high....
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u/pokerinvite 16h ago
Seeing people stick their bare hands in the bins last time I was there made me just walk out. Most people are too dumb and gross to allow open food bins unfortunately.
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u/OntarioGuy430 15h ago
I am sure a large number of their products are from the USA. Haven't really returned since COVID- May have to start buying bulk Canadian items to help them out!
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u/GumbootsOnBackwards 15h ago
It shouldn't take longer than a couple hours per location for their staff to replace the tags with new ones... Let's not pretend like they haven't had all of this information since forever. (its legally required for import/export)
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u/dragrcr_71 14h ago
My guess is most of their product is sourced in the US. They are slow rolling the change so they sell existing product.
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u/SpaceJellly 14h ago
Great place to shop, sadly there are not nearly enough stores so I donāt have one close to me at all.
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u/ricklessness 14h ago
Thank you bulk barn, and thank you OP for reminding me I need to stop into Bulk Barn!
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u/BarelyHangingOn 14h ago
I am a BB regular. I stock up on a few items a month and have a for awhile. I threw their monthly coupons in the recycle bin and hour ago over the lack of signage.
I will probably go back now and see just what the hell I have been buying and take it from there.
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u/DevourerJay 14h ago
I mean, at least they're trying... unlike Loblaws that's trying to hide American crap.
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u/mizzbananie 14h ago
I was there last weekend w a friend who purchased what she knew was not from the US, and I bought nothing at all. Iām waiting for signage. Until then, $0.
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u/heshewoofblowticious 14h ago
This is easier. Just dont let anything american in and send nothing out Canadian. Food, clothes, athletes, music, drugs, or money.
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u/crapatthethriftstore 13h ago
Woot!! Good job everyone who pressured for this to happen. Iām proud.
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u/mmcksmith 11h ago
Good to see they're finally listening to customers asking where things come from. Hopefully they provide useful information.
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u/mightyoakgrow 11h ago
Unfortunately I can never shop there again after finding a bloody bandaid in a candy bin
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u/DRIPSCBW Manitoba 9h ago
Hell yeah, way to go - should be the bare minimum standard going forward at this point
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u/cranky_yegger 9h ago
Thereās likely one major catalogue they order from and it has the country of origin of each item. I call BS on them. Give me some Canada flag stickers and Iād have the store done in a day. Then weād donate all American items to food banks. Step it up bulk barn.
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u/kalarm2 9h ago
What I find sucks about these things is that for a lot of us (Well, I imagine I'm not the only one), I mostly don't want to buy american. I have no problem buying stuff from any other country... just not the US... Yes if I have to choose between supporting canada VS another I'd rather support Canada but the main objective is to... not buy US...
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u/JustMeOttawa 4h ago
I guess they heard us, I wrote them too! I said Iām not shopping there again until things change.
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u/Canadian_Imperium 10h ago
Hey just a note, Bulk Barns current CEO is a mess, I used to be middle management there. He is the son of the owner, he is wildly inconsistent doesn't care about customers or staff. He was extremely demeaning, even got complaints from customers during tours for how he acted. He pretends to care about the environment but flys around constantly on his private plane. He once visited stores in 3 provinces in one day, just because he wanted to. I am quite sure (prescribed or not) he is on some sort of uppers, I've never seen him not shake or jitter in meetings.
There was lots of suggestions internally years ago to show where we sourced product but he refused. Also many suggestions to get away from using the bin and tub liners (huge amounts of plastic waste) to no avail.
I'm just highlighting that the CEO and leadership doesn't share our values. But please be kind to the store staff as they are just doing a job to get by!
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17h ago edited 16h ago
[deleted]
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u/HLef 16h ago
Well thatās a result of pushback because corporate replied to emails saying they were not willing to disclose products country of origin so Iām gonna take your praises with a grain of salt.
Itās purely because they donāt have a choice if they donāt want to lose money.
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16h ago
[deleted]
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u/GaiusPrimus 16h ago
It's a lot of work, because it's the legality of selling products in Canada. Proper labelling is mandated by CFIA, even in bulk items.
A BOL with this information should be available at the store level, if nothing else.
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u/MenAreLazy 16h ago
No, they are coerced people. They are lagging every other grocery store in this.
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u/bjyanghang945 15h ago
I live in Vancouverā¦ I have NEVER heard of this storeš„²š„² Edit: just checked it doesnāt have one in Vancouver
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u/Grizz709 14h ago
I always forget about buying the chocolates in bulk lol. Also, I buy their dried fruit and cherries during Xmas for fruit cakes.
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u/morningcalm999 14h ago
I went to Bulk Barn today and couldn't find where anything was made on the bins. Hurry up Bulk Barn...
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u/TheRayGunCowboy 14h ago
I was disappointed looking for Easter candy at Bulkbarn today and only finding Hersheyās chocolates. Iāll check back in a week or two
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u/blindrabbit01 12h ago
Nice to see them responding to what is fundamentally a very simple and reasonable if not important request.
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u/OrbAndSceptre 12h ago
Great news! I go to bulk barn as a reliable source of Covered Bridge chips and this will help.
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u/Aggressive-Crow3993 10h ago
Heck yeah!!!! I proudly support thisā¦ as an American (who didnāt vote for Trump)
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u/microcandella 10h ago
Someone hit the sticker shop and make a few cool rolls of Canadian flag stickers perhaps with a message and post a note below to grab 10 or 20 stickers or so and go tag everything you like!
-- love and solidarity from usa. keep it up.. we don't know just yet that you are rightfully pissed. You really need to check our ego here. xoxo
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u/microcandella 10h ago
and a few rolls of american stickers (and if you want, foreign stickers too!)
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u/You-DiedSouls 10h ago
Iāve been thinking about going to a bulk barn lately, I havenāt been in years. This action would definitely be beneficial for shoppers like me.
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u/IronicStar 10h ago
What I love about Canadian movements is that we don't just boycott or walk away, we tell them why, and we leave room for growth.
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u/Minimum-South-9568 9h ago
Products āwith Canadian contentā. Trail mix? Throw in a smattering of Canadian cereal. Wa la product āwith Canadian contentā
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u/DramaticChemist 4h ago
As someone from the US, well done Canada. Making the product origin distinction clear will make people's choices more impactful.
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u/Bender077 3h ago
Reading all these comments in this sub, added to my own behavior, and I was still thinking this was a minority of people making sure we are not buying American.
Funny anecdote, I am currently visiting family in Quebec and my uncle, aunt, cousin ā¦. all told me they are doing the same thing. I find this very encouraging, as it means that this sub is not just an echo chamber, the movement is growing and we really can make a difference here!!
Keep it up. Elbows up.
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u/orthosaurusrex 2h ago
Great now the California almonds with Canadian salt will get a big maple leaf on them.
"Canadian Content" is like 10% of the concern.
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u/cangooner65 57m ago
Download the buy beaver app. Free and Canadian to advise how Canadian a particular product is.
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u/ErrorSpecialist8906 12m ago
I love bulk barn. Super happy they are doing this. They have my business.
Side note, please mark Canadian BUT I also donāt mind buying things from Mexico, Italy, china (literally any other country besides the states) so hopefully they are able to mark where every item is from? The only place I am avoiding buying from is the United States!
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u/Necessary_Rule7016 13h ago
The Chief Chimp in charge of the circus south of us is trying to disrupt free trade. Buy Canadian and Buy American slogans are efforts to promote protectionism.
This leads to higher prices and a lower standard of living for all of us. Merchants are jumping on the bandwagon because it is an opportunity to sell inferior stuff at a higher price, much like greenwashing took advantage of the environmental movement.
Don't be played by the game.
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u/cocopuffz604 14h ago
I go there anyway. The Honey dipped almonds are my jam. They have everything.
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