![\"Shoppers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953193_713_default.jpg\")
Shoppers fill carts with meat specials at an independent grocery store in Dartmouth, N.S. (David Laughlin\/CBC)<\/p>\nAs she picked out meat specials, Amy Crossley checked her list and thought about parents with young children to feed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grocery bill is really, really high,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s only two of us now; my kids have grown and left. And, even for us, I\u2019m spending $500 a month if I go to the regular store.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Crossley was shopping at Gateway Meat Market, an independent store in Dartmouth, N.S., that\u2019s known for specials that draw people from around the province. Fans often beg the store to set up more locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I would like to see more stores like this that are family-run, cheaper for people to come to,” Crossley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shoppers fill carts with meat specials at an independent grocery store in Dartmouth, N.S. (David Laughlin\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Since last year, an investigation into the ability of new grocers to set up in the Halifax Regional Municipality has been quietly ticking along under Competition Bureau Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The competition bureau is looking into the use of documents by Sobeys and Loblaw called property controls. These are legal instruments that can block competitors from setting up stores on certain properties.<\/p>\n
While the agency is mainly focused on the Halifax area, it\u2019s also looking into the use of property controls throughout Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ongoing investigation hasn\u2019t made any conclusion of wrongdoing. But it\u2019s seen some twists.<\/p>\n
That includes Sobeys\u2019 parent company trying to stop the investigation, and an announcement in February by Superstore\u2019s parent that it will get rid of property controls from its stores in HRM.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, checks by CBC found that property control documents are still attached to many grocery store properties in the Halifax area.<\/p>\n
Access to land<\/strong> <\/p>\n The competition bureau says the problem with property controls is the effect on smaller competitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat is something that can really be a major barrier to entry and expansion in the Canadian marketplace,\u201d Anthony Durocher, a deputy commissioner at the bureau told a parliamentary committee in February 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou can’t start a new grocery store if you can’t get access to the land,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is something that we heard particularly from independents as being problematic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some in the grocery industry say getting rid of property controls won\u2019t necessarily make groceries cheaper.<\/a> Durocher said generally the bureau believes more competition would help.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe think the evidence speaks for itself,\u201d he told the committee. \u201cCompetition is good for consumers. It lowers prices and leads to innovation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gateway Meat Market has not had to contend with property controls, but co-founder Tamara McKay says when the store set up in 2007 they considered spots in Lower Sackville and Halifax\u2019s north end before settling in Dartmouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Location is one of the challenges when setting up as an independent.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt would definitely require a good chunk of property, somebody with the knowledge of a grocery business and being able to foresee the growth,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we opened up here, we were a tiny, tiny little store.\u201d<\/p>\n McKay doesn\u2019t foresee Gateway opening a second location, as she\u2019s wary of stretching her business too thin.<\/p>\n \u201cWe love what we have here and this is our passion,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Limited commercial space for groceries<\/strong><\/p>\n James Baxter is an associate professor at Dalhousie University\u2019s Schulich School of Law, who studies property law and food systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said there are a limited number of commercial spaces in a city that can hold a grocery store. The sites tend to be large and need investment.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, [property controls] limit the sort of supply of sites or available areas where, for example, you could open up a grocery store in the neighborhood,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The competition bureau is investigating two different types of controls in HRM: restrictive covenants and exclusivity clauses<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n A restrictive covenant is attached to the land itself. A grocery chain can place a covenant on a piece of property it\u2019s selling to prevent the land from being used for a competing supermarket.\u00a0<\/p>\n An exclusivity clause is attached to a commercial lease, and can be used by a grocery tenant to prevent the landlord from leasing to a competitor in the same plaza or within a certain area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Baxter believes restrictive covenants have drawn more attention because they last longer, but said exclusivity clauses can also last for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gary Sands, a senior vice-president at the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, says his organization is pleased to see attention on property controls.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Sands disagrees with the idea that eliminating property controls will bring down high food prices, as he says that\u2019s caused by global factors affecting food supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not so much about prices as it is about the availability of food to people in Canada, to be able to have options,\u201d Sands said.\u00a0<\/p>\n What the competition bureau was seeking<\/strong><\/p>\n In documents filed in Federal Court, Competition Bureau Canada says it\u2019s focusing on Sobeys and Loblaws (Atlantic Superstore) because they have \u201ccollective market shares\u201d between 46 and 70 per cent in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n In June 2024, the bureau got court orders saying the grocers\u2019 parent companies, Empire and George Weston, had to disclose information about property control documents, leases, development plans, and store improvements.<\/p>\n The order also included data about customer behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n In October, CBC asked whether the bureau has received the information from either company, but a spokesperson declined to answer, saying the organization conducts its work confidentially. <\/p>\n Empire\u2019s objection<\/strong><\/p>\n Empire challenged the order, and tried to quash the investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a letter filed with the court, the company\u2019s lawyers objected to the idea that Sobeys has a \u201cdominant\u201d position, writing that is \u201cclearly not the case in the HRM.\u201d<\/p>\n They called the inquiry a \u201cfishing expedition that will result in significant and disproportionate burden to Empire,\u201d and said it might be politically motivated by comments by the federal industry minister<\/a> about the grocery sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n The letter said the bureau hasn\u2019t disclosed any \u201cmeaningful basis\u201d to focus on Halifax, and the \u201cburdensome questions\u201d about HRM should be removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Empire\u2019s legal challenge was dismissed by the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sobeys did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n A competition bureau spokesperson would not give details about why HRM was chosen out of all of Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Examples of property controls in HRM<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s no easy way to find property controls in Nova Scotia except by doing an address-by-address search of property records.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s really hard to keep track of them,\u201d said Baxter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe public at least doesn’t have a very good view of where these things might exist within the bounds of a city, to try to understand the nature of the problem, the range of its effects and some of the solutions,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Atlantic Superstore’s website lists 13 locations in the HRM, while Sobeys lists 18. Some other brands include Walmart and Costco.\u00a0<\/p>\n CBC checked property records for those stores, and found multiple examples of documents that mentioned restricting the use of a property for selling food. <\/p>\n Some of the documents were covenants placed on land near the grocery stores, while five of the Sobeys and 10 of the Atlantic Superstores had documents related to the lease with a landlord.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of these leases spelled out restrictions on renting to other dealers in \u201cmeats, fruits, vegetables, fish, seafood, poultry, bakery, dairy, or delicatessen products.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Superstore at Dartmouth\u2019s Braemar Drive, the language simply restricted a \u201csupermarket business\u201d at any of the landlord\u2019s properties within two kilometres while Loblaw is still operating its store. Similar language was used for the lease at the Sobeys on Sackville Drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n In its February announcement, Loblaw said<\/a> that it would stop placing restrictive covenants on properties it sells, and release its interest in any existing covenants.\u00a0<\/p>\n It also said it would eliminate exclusivity clauses from its store leases in Halifax, and take steps to reduce their impacts elsewhere in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n The competition bureau told CBC that work has begun. It\u2019s not clear how long it will take. It\u2019s also not clear from property records whether some stores have already had property controls removed or waived.\u00a0<\/p>\n Loblaw did not respond to a request for comment on the timeline for removing property controls, but in its announcement of the changes, it wrote: \u201cWe welcome competition, which helps to provide value to Canadians.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Tamara](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953194_261_default.jpg\")
Tamara McKay is the co-founder of Gateway Meat Market in Dartmouth. (Shaina Luck\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953196_491_default.jpg\")
James Baxter is an associate professor of law at Dalhousie University\u2019s Schulich School of Law. He researches property law and food systems. (David Laughlin\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953196_889_default.jpg\")
Gary Sands is the senior vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers. (Phillip Chin Photography)<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953197_807_default.jpg\")
An aerial view of a Sobeys parking lot in the Halifax area. Empire, the parent company of the grocer Sobeys, has objected to the competition bureau investigation into property controls. (Craig Paisley\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953198_426_default.jpg\")
An Atlantic Superstore that opened recently in the Halifax area is shown. The parent company of Superstore, Loblaw, committed in February 2025 to removing exclusivity clauses from its stores in the Halifax Regional Municipality. (Brian MacKay\/CBC)<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953199_223_default.jpg\")
The former Sobeys location on Pleasant Street in Dartmouth is pictured in the background, beside an abandoned shopping cart. (Shaina Luck\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762953200_702_default.jpg\")
Susan McEachern and Grant MacDonald live in the Woodside neighbourhood and remember shopping at the Woodside Sobeys. (David Laughlin\/CBC)<\/p>\n