With the internet vastly replacing the idea of paper flyers, it has become so easy to find bargains on everything you would need and comparison shop. With everyone's hands squeezing every penny of every dollar we have, this trend becomes crucial to our ability to save money.
Karen and I use the Flipp app that you can get at www.flipp.ca, which is a great reference when going out to do any shopping. It's as simple as putting in your postal code and voila, every flyer for that week in the area you are in the country.
Because the major retailers match prices, you should download the app to your cell phone because you need proof of a lower advertised price. Flipp is not paying me for this. My main point was to share this with you as a tool to help you search out the best prices for your food dollars. 
The idea of retail has changed so much since the 1980s when Karen and I officially joined the multitudes of consumers flooding into the marketplace, buying up whatever seemed to catch our fancy. Now, laughably, we were not as fiscally frugal as we and most others are today. So, I would say that I mostly would go into an impulse-buying mode while Karen would be the one who understood that what we should have been doing is shopping for needs and saving for wants.
Being in Toronto in the 1980s, I was introduced to a diverse marketplace with many choices. Coming from Western Canada, I had never seen commerce on the scale that was happening daily in the GTA. Independent retailers down every street, the concept of franchise chains had yet to take off, and every neighborhood had an abundance of entrepreneurs in every form of commerce. The mass factory franchise stores were few and far between.
When people think of big box stores, they think of Costco, Sams Club, or Wholesale Club. When I look back, I think these stores today owe a great deal of their success to owners of Herbies (Herb Title) Hy and Zels (Hy Himmel and Sel Goldstien) Howie's (Howard Trifler), Knob Hill Farms (Steve Stavro) and of Course Honest Eds (Ed Mirvish)
These business entrepreneurs understood that when you were able to buy products in bulk, you could pass savings along to the customers you were attracting and make equal profits by selling more of the item.
They were also huge self-promoters and worked hard within the communities in which they had their businesses. Coming into the nineties, this would change dramatically. The concept of retail moved fundamentally to an online format, and control of the supply chain fell into fewer and fewer hands, forcing these big box pioneers to shutter their doors, leaving only photos and memories of their existence.
There are still plenty of independent stores and retailers out there, and you should seek them out. Karen and I would like to celebrate these independent businesses, and although we do not receive any money from them, we think it's important to mention them.
Our first independent business is Old Park Pharmacy at 1042 Eglington Ave West in
Toronto.
Old Park Pharmacy is a small Community-based pharmacy that has been along Eglington Ave West for decades. I first set foot in the Store in the eighties when it was owned by Gilbert Rose, and I worked as a driver for National Drugs, which would later become McKesson. Dealing with these small community-based stores keeps your dollars precisely within the community, and although not as well stocked front-shop-wise as the big drugstore chains, the level of care and professionalism is second to none.I look forward to paying Old Park a Visit with Karen in Toronto!
Remember to buy Canadian and buy local, as this helps to support the communities in which we live. Also, don't forget to like and subscribe to our blog, radio station, and YouTube Channel.
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