Loeb no longer resembles the company Bertram started years ago

I'm sure Bertram Loeb would go on for days if asked what he thought about the direction his former company has taken in recent years. I worked for a franchise store from 1990 to 1994 and my experience there gave me the tools I needed for what turned out to be an excellent career in the community service sector.

SERVICE. Loeb once stood for that. When Richard Ladas owned Loeb Lincoln Heights, he personally stood for first grade service. I applied for a job there in early 1990. Pretty soon I was asked to take on a "Service Clerk" position. That was fancy speak for "packer" or "buggy retriever". A crew of packers stood behind the checkout lines, eagerly awaiting to bag customer orders as passed through to them by cashiers. Another crew waited at the exit, asking people if they required help with their bags. If someone said yes, they'd take the shopping cart and push it to the customer's car, carefully placing the bags inside and finally, they would bring the cart back to the store for someone else to use.

I eventually got to represent the store out in the community. You see, back in the early 1990's, Loeb reached out to the community, putting on barbecues in various neighbourhoods. Your charity had a fundraiser on Saturday? Loeb would bring a few industrial-type barbecues and would provide hamburgers and hotdogs. Profits would be turned over to the group and Loeb would pack up, satisfied that it had done another good deed. This program became so successful, all local Loeb stores acquired big chipwagon-like trailers. People working in the trailer had "luxurious" quarters to work in and passers-by couldn't help but notice the big white and green LOEB barbecue smoking away. Quite the marketing coup on the part of Loeb. I got to run this trailer for a few summers and loved every minute of it.

Richard Ladas also had a soft spot in his heart for seniors who lived near his store. He hired a school bus that would go to area buildings to bring seniors to the store and return them home with their groceries. The Olde Forge Community Resource Centre, a non-profit charitable organization up the street that helps seniors stay independent in their homes, would help coordinate the weekly bus.

I left Loeb in mid-1994 and Richard Ladas got booted out soon after. It seemed that the corporate suits wanted more control of all stores (that should read - more control of stores' profits) and terminated franchise agreements with the men and women who invested their time and money into building community businesses under the Loeb banner. A lawsuit was filed and later settled, but the grocery store chain became just another grocery store chain. It seemed that there was little if any regard for the community after the franchisees retired, for the reigns of the Loeb empire were soon handed over to a mega corporation based in Montreal. Profits was goal number 1.

It didn't take long for the packers and outside help to disappear. Heck, the number of people staffing checkout lines diminished - all to help boost the bottom line. Loeb still claims to provide service that cannot be beaten, but when I stand in line for 10 minutes at a 1-8 item express lane, only to be told to wait while the cashier leaves the till to help someone at what was called a "courtesy counter" when I worked there, I can't help but slowly become infuriated. Back in the day, a person was posted there specifically to help people process returns, buy lottery tickets or cigarettes. Now? Nobody's there at my neighbourhood store - someone has to juggle two registers and two lines of customers whose opinions about the degraded service be damned.

I once tried complaining to the corporate office but they basically told me to deal with it. I have... about 90% of my grocery shopping is done at Loblaws or Price Chopper. Based on recent events, 100% of my shopping will be done at any store other than Loeb. That grocery bus the Olde Forge ran to Loeb Lincoln Heights every week? It's gone.

One "store director" after another has tried to run the bus out of town for years. The current one has finally decided to pull the plug. Based on my discussions with him, it was getting "too expensive" and the store was "losing money" when they paid the 150 or so dollars to bring up to 70 seniors to the store each week. When I asked Richard Ladas whether this was reality of fantasy, he responded with "horsefeathers" - or something to that effect.

Where has customer service being priority #1 gone? Is the grocery industry turning into a business not unlike the petroleum or banking industries? Over there they could care less about the customer as long as shareholders are kept at bay with annually increasing earnings reports.

It's all about the almighty buck. I get that, they're in business for a reason. But at what cost? I guess Loeb doesn't care if I spend my money elsewhere... after all, it's a small "family of 2" where I live, and we don't spend tens of thousands of dollars each year.

Will we ever stand up for our rights and demand to be dealt with in a humane and courteous way? Or will we keep lying down like doormats, allowing these mega corporations walk all over us? I know what most of you will do. I'll try and do my part and hope more like me come out of the woodwork.

Boycott Loeb. They don't deserve our money anymore.