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Dollarama sales peak in second quarter: A sign more Canadians are shopping at discount stores to make ends meet

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Montreal-based discount retailer, Dollarama, reported a in the second quarter, signalling more Canadians are looking for a deal as the cost of living remains high.

The company鈥檚 net earnings increased to $285.9 million compared to $245.8 million in the second quarter last year. The retailer says its net sales rose 7.4 per cent to $1.56 billion compared to a year ago.

Barry Choi, a personal finance expert based in Toronto, says whenever there is a 鈥渄ownturn in the economy鈥 or people have 鈥渉igh record debt levels,鈥 discount stores see record numbers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not really a surprise. People tend to tighten up. And their first line of defence is typically dollar discount stores,鈥 said Choi.

A number of shoppers 麻豆影视 spoke to outside of a Dollarama store in Calgary say it鈥檚 been difficult to make ends meet and they鈥檝e had to be creative to stretch their dollar.

鈥淪hopping wisely and collecting coupons, trying to make it stretch out your food,鈥 said Bonnie Stainbrook.

鈥淚 shop every couple of days instead of once a week. I find it鈥檚 better and I don鈥檛 tend to throw as much away.鈥

Jenny Hoffos picked up some cleaning supplies for her niece before leaving Dollarama.

鈥淭heir prices are decent. You might not get the quality, but for things like cleaning supplies, they鈥檙e pretty decent,鈥 said Hoffos.

Other items that have been in demand from the retailer include low-priced essentials like groceries.

Eve and her daughter buy their snack foods at the store.

鈥淯nfortunately, they don鈥檛 have fresh produce and milk and necessities. But for treats we do," she said.

Shoppers say between mortgage or rent payments, car insurance, gas and groceries, there鈥檚 not much left in their bank account at the end of the month.

鈥淯nfortunately, with the cost of living, the cost of wages doesn鈥檛 go up,鈥 said Eve.

A recent Equifax report shows to $2.5 trillion in the second quarter of 2024, marking a 4.2 per cent increase compared to last year. 

Choi says although inflation has gone down, the cost of living hasn鈥檛 decreased because there isn鈥檛 deflation.

鈥淚 don't even remember the last time we've seen deflation. You know, occasionally you might see gas prices drop a little bit and it tends to last a few days before we see them quickly spike,鈥 said Choi.

鈥淚 think Canadians are hoping for deflation, and that's not necessarily the right answer. They might need to look for other ways.鈥

Choi says when times are financially tough, people get creative when it comes to making money on the side. He says the number of people taking on side hustles has increased.

鈥淎 few years ago, it was maybe only 30 per cent of the population that had a side gig or extra income. Now we're looking at 50 to 85 per cent, which is an insane number when you think about it.鈥 

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