Long live free competition!

There are many perks to being a Canadian resident. Unfortunately, a choice of drugstores is not one of them. For most Canadians, Shoppers Drugmart is the main/sole drugstore of choice - it is the most widely accessible and has most choices. I myself live close to several of them and visit my closest one (3 min. walk) on a weekly basis. Although I get a lot of beauty products from MAC or other beauty boutiques, I enjoy drugstore thrills just as much. The drugstore used to be my go-to place for experimenting with a new colour/consistency/concept of makeup, as well as for cheaper pick-me-ups. However, lately I've noticed that I can no longer indulge my inner shopaholic at Shoppers due to the dramatic increase in prices.

Case in point - at my local store (downtown, somewhat of a "posh"/yuppie area), the Revlon Colorstay Foundation goes for 23.99 plus tax! Most mascaras are over 10 dollars, and a Bonne Bell lipgloss is 5.99. There are weekly sales but they are usually modest (i.e 15% or 20% off) on top of the high prices, and the selection of items on sale are usually discountinued or unpopular items. Last week, I went to get a backup of my beloved Jergens Natural Glow mousse on sale for 50%. I usually buy it at various places for around 9 dollars, regular price. The same mousse at shoppers was 14 dollars. Even taking off 50%, it's only a 2 dollar discount on a 9 dollar product - far from the self-proclaimed 50% off that shoppers was boasting.

Yes, I am a big cheapo when it comes to makeup. It is only a few dollars more but in terms of percentage, Shoppers prices are around 25-40% over its US counterparts. The thought of me paying so much more for drugstore products than those in the US really bothers me. I think this is partly due to the lack of competition. Shoppers dominates the Canadian market while in the US, there are Rite Aid, Walgreens, Ulta, and CVS to name a few. The US consumers also get real deals such as Buy one get one free, or Buy one get one half off, that I've yet to see here. Although I still love Shoppers for bringing some Canadian exclusives - Quo and Gosh (also avail. in Europe), I will try to restrict my purchases from there.

But all is not lost. I have recently discovered another drugstore called Pharmaplus. It is not as ubiquitous as Shoppers, but their prices are a bit lower, they carry more brands (NYX, Prestige, POSH brushes), and they have REAL sales, such as 50% off all lip products. Here are a few items I picked there recently, each "lot" for under under 10 dollars (that is including tax):p.





Also, a good online option is Well.ca. Their prices are slightly below that of shoppers, and they have great customer service + free shipping across Canada for all orders!

www.well.ca

That's all for now. If you have found a good drugstore for makeup, please let me know!