‘Just send us whatever you have’: Super Valu owner says supplier to blame for $34.99 toilet paper price tag

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A desperate attempt by the Super Valu near Commercial Drive to stock up on toilet paper backfired this weekend, as angry shoppers accused the store of gouging amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, the store’s owner-operator wants to set the record straight.

After four days of empty shelves, the owner-operator ordered a truckload of the only product available on Thursday.

“We said, ‘Just send us whatever you have,'” co-owner Darcey Houser tells NEWS 1130. “We were scrambling to get whatever we could in the store.”

When the shipment arrived, Houser says even the passenger seat in the cab was piled high with toilet paper.

“We had ordered as much as we could because we want to look after our customers,” he explains.

One effect of the demand to fill shelves is that invoices are delayed.

“The system is so overwhelmed right now. It’s crazy. It’s just been so busy but not only that–shortages,” Houser says.

Initially, each pack was priced at $24.99

But when the invoice arrived on Saturday, it showed a charge of $31.65 for each 24-pack of three-ply Royale.

So, they set the price at $34.99, which Houser says is a modest 10 per cent mark-up.

“We were getting people yelling at us and stuff in the store and that’s when I became aware of it,” Houser says. “I was a little gobsmacked when this all blew up.”

He looked into prices of the same product elsewhere and found it being sold for $15.98 at other stores.

“They charged us too much, way too much,” Houser explains. So he got on the phone with the supplier.

“I held his feet to the fire. I said ‘How can you justify this price, it’s undefendable?'”

 

Houser says he is not interested in “throwing the supplier under the bus,” adding the entire industry is struggling to keep people fed and supplied with essentials.

He was able to negotiate a discount and anyone who paid more than $18.49 can bring their receipt to the store for a refund.

“I do want to set the record straight,” he says.

“I just have empathy for my staff with people looking at them like they’re trying to gouge and that’s not the case.”

Houser said the manager has worked 24 days in a row, and everyone trying to keep shelves stocked and people served is feeling the strain.

 

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