no frills toronto

Chaos breaks out over cheap corn at No Frills in Toronto

All is fair in love and corn at the Michael's No Frills in Scarborough, it seems — up to and including the act of knocking old people to the ground.

Savvy shoppers flocked to the grocery store at Steeles Ave. and Silver Star Blvd. on Sunday for the kind of deal that only ever comes about once in a blue (corn) moon: A dozen ears of the good stuff for just $1.68.

That's 12 corn-on-the-cobs for less than a toonie. Fourteen cents an ear! Such value! Fans of discount produce might say that the excitement among shoppers was justified in light of such pricing.

It's the way these consumers got their hands on the corn that has some people crying foul.

Video footage shot by someone who happened to be shopping at No Frills on Sunday shows what can only be described as a corn gathering frenzy.

The clip isn't long, but it is quite stunning.

People are seen literally climbing over each other to get into a box with the corn, tossing pieces of cardboard and corn husks into the air, and frantically collecting produce from the ground.

At one point, an eager man body-checks what appears to be an elderly shopper, sending him flying backwards. The older man then trips on a basket behind him and falls over completely.

This wasn't the first time shoppers have gone toe-to-toe over some corn at a No Frills either, according to people commenting on the video today.

"I shop at this No Frills every week (live in the area)," wrote one person on Reddit in response to the video. "You'll be surprised how often this happens."

"After working at a grocery store this doesn't surprise me," wrote someone else in the same thread. "People are willing to fight people for any deal even if it's only 10 cents."

"It's 80 days until Black Friday," wrote someone in a different thread about this same video, to which another Redditor replied "Thank f corn will be out of season by then."

Lead photo by

Helen Poon


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