Vince’s Market touts Canadian-made products
With U.S. tariffs looming, many Canadians are seeking home-grown products—and one independent grocer is answering the call. Vince’s Market, which has four locations in Ontario, is rolling out ‘Product of Canada’ shelf labels at its stores to make it easier for customers to spot Canadian products.
Giancarlo Trimarchi, president of Vince’s Market, says that in the past week, the company received messages from customers—both via email and on Facebook—inquiring about how to identify made-in-Canada products.
The idea to introduce labels came after an email from the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) went out to members over the weekend, in response to the news that U.S. tariffs would take effect on Feb. 4 (though they’ve now been paused for 30 days.) The email highlighted that the federal and provincial governments are encouraging Canadians to choose more local products—a call that Canada’s independent grocers support.
“[CFIG members] started sharing their ideas about getting labels or flags that could go on shelves to call out made in Canada,” says Trimarchi. “It seemed like it was the logical thing to do [at our stores] because if a few customers are asking, usually that means lots of people are thinking the same thing.”
READ: How Vince’s Market’s Giancarlo Trimarchi Takes The Lead
Trimarchi turned to existing signage and label suppliers to explore what might be available, but realized it would be some time before new labels arrived. In the meantime, the team looked at what resources they already had. “Sure enough, we have tag labels that we use to print our shelf price tags and we’ve got some colour printers in the stores,” he says. “So, I made up a quick file and printed off a few pages and off we went. It doesn’t always have to be super complicated. We tried to keep it simple.”
Customer response has been overwhelmingly positive. In stores, Trimarchi has interacted with customers who say they’re glad the grocer is doing this. On Facebook, a post about the Product of Canada labels has more than 1,000 likes—far more than the likes and comments Vince’s Market usually gets on a single post. “It’s definitely resonating with customers—it’s something important that they’re wanting us to help with.”
Asked if Vince’s Market has any plans to adjust its buying strategy as the ‘buy Canadian movement’ gains momentum, Trimarchi says the buying team has been instructed to become more informed and prepared, with an aim to understand which American products might be at risk of slowing sales or potentially becoming shrink or waste.
“Right now, it’s about educating ourselves as a company to identify what products are at risk of potentially becoming not as attractive to customers, and then having [alternatives] ready to go,” he says. “We are not going to be removing product at this point… Ultimately, customers are going to choose how they pick products. If they stop buying an item, we’re going to stop replenishing the shelves.”
While Trimarchi acknowledges that identifying made-in-Canada products is complex—for example, many U.S. companies have a presence here and many ingredients are sourced from south of the border—he emphasizes that Vince’s Market is simply trying to do its part to help customers.
“Right now, customers are asking to be made aware of what items are Canadian,” says Trimarchi. “And so, that’s what we’re doing.”
