We compared prices for the same 11 groceries across 4 PC Optimum banners in Ontario for 6 months. Shopping at the wrong banner costs you
Not necessarily a deal (or even a surprise) but sharing some findings across Loblaw owned stores to show just how insane price spreads are based on the store you select.
A bit of context on where this data is from - we run SAVR (savr.app), a Canadian grocery price comparison tool that tracks real-time shelf prices across major retailers as people search for their groceries. We analyze data like this regularly and wanted to share what it actually shows with the community.
This one is specifically about PC Optimum. Four banners, same loyalty program, same points earn rate. We pulled average shelf prices for 11 grocery staples across No Frills, Loblaws, Superstore, and Zehrs in Ontario over the first half of 2026 - 11,237 price observations in total.
The variance column shows the gap between the cheapest and most expensive PC banner for each item - not No Frills vs Loblaws specifically, just cheapest vs most expensive within the program.
A few things that jumped out at us:
Olive oil has the biggest single-item variance at $3.05 - Superstore cheapest, Zehrs most expensive, same points on both
Eggs, milk, and cheddar are nearly identical across all four banners - $0.10 to $0.17 spread. These appear to be benchmark items priced competitively across the whole program
The proteins and cooking oils are where the real gap opens up
No Frills is cheapest on 7 of 11 items. Zehrs leads on 3. Loblaws leads on 2
Loblaws basket total is $97.18 vs No Frills at $90.81 - $6.37 more for the same items in the same loyalty program
The $10.82 total variance is what it costs to always pick the most expensive PC banner rather than the cheapest one, on just these 11 items
This is average observed shelf price over 6 months - a blend of regular and promotional weeks, not a single snapshot. Points earned are not factored in, this is shelf price only.
For the full breakdown, item-by-item analysis, and methodology the blog post is here: Blog Link
Happy to answer any questions!