Farmers’ markets, business groups feuding with Loblaws over disparaging text ad

A mass-advertising NoFrills text message encouraging customers to “skip the line” at their local farmers’ market and visit their stores instead.

Farmers’ markets and business groups say they are “sad and disappointed” in NoFrills and its parent company Loblaw after the company sent a mass-advertising text message encouraging customers to “skip the line” at their local farmers’ market and visit their stores instead.

The Farmers’ Market Cooperative of Nova Scotia and the Ontario Small Business Community both say they were alerted to a text with NoFrills’ latest flyer featuring the disparaging message on July 20.

Both groups have issued social media statements accusing Loblaw of attacking small business owners, who are not able to remain open to customers year-round and often face many barriers when looking to sell goods at grocery stores.

The text message comes just two months after thousands of Canadians participated in a Loblaw boycott in response to the company’s soaring profits and amid rising living costs across the country.

In a comment posted in response to the Instagram post from the Nova Scotia farmers’ market cooperative, NoFrills said the company understands the “vital role” Canadian farmers play in feeding communities and partners with many of them each summer to sell local produce in their stores.

It isn’t yet clear how widely the text was distributed, and Loblaw did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.