Metro takes on 1980s-era Dominion in part two of our grocery price showdown.

May 20, 2024

Grocery shopping has never been more challenging, with prices seemingly climbing with every visit. While Loblaws continues to make headlines, our spotlight today is on Metro. We examined flyers from the week of Wednesday, April 30 to Tuesday, May 6, 1980, and compared them to the week of Thursday, May 2 to Wednesday, May 8, 2024, to see just how much things have changed. Since many Dominion stores were converted into Metro stores about 15 years ago, we decided to pit the two against each other. Here are our findings:

Metro (2024) vs. Dominion (1980)

• Bacon: Dominion sold 500g of bacon for $0.99 in 1980. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $3.71 today. Metro sells 375g for $5.99.

• Chicken Legs: Dominion’s 1980 price was $0.97 per pound ($3.64 today). Metro’s current price for chicken leg quarters is $3.49 per pound.

• Tissues: Dominion’s 200 2-ply tissues were $0.79 in 1980 ($2.96 today). Metro offers 12 boxes of 100 sheets each for $13.99, or approximately $1.17 per 100 tissues.

• Cucumbers: Today, Loblaws and Metro sell cucumbers for $1.99 each. Back in 1980, Dominion sold cucumbers for $0.98 each. With the inflation-adjusted price, that’s about $3.68 each. That makes today’s price of $1.99 each seem quite a bit cheaper in comparison. ​​

• Oranges: And in a four-way face-off… In 1980, Dominion’s price for oranges was $1.68 per five pound bag. That’s about $1.26 per pound today. Back then, Loblaws offered a five-pound bag of oranges for $1.48. That translates to about $1.11/pound today. In 2024, Metro was selling oranges at $1.99 per pound, while Loblaws offers a 3-pound bag for $3.99, approximately $1.33 per pound.

• Ground Beef: I hate to ruin one of Loblaws’ closest things to a win with ground beef. If you remember, lean ground beef was $1.98 per pound in 1980 at Loblaws, which adjusts to $7.43 in today’s dollars. That was close to Loblaws’ 2024 price of $7.49 per pound. Unfortunately for both Loblaws back then and today, Metro has them both beat by a country mile at $4.99/lb.

The Final Checkout

Comparing prices from 1980 to 2024 shows that Metro is sometimes cheaper than Dominion after adjusting for inflation. However, processed foods have seen significant price increases, raising questions about the rising cost of groceries today.

This story is a revised version of an article that originally appeared in Vital Signs.