While discount stores have been a bright spot recently for major grocery chains, other units within their empires have been quietly seeing a sales boom: their pharmacies.
And it's largely coming from rising sales of weight-loss drugs.
The popularity of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs, traditionally used to manage Type 2 diabetes, has exploded in recent years thanks to their weight-loss side effects. And as cheaper, generic versions become more widely available, uptake is only expected to rise further.
Semaglutides, or GLP-1s as they're sometimes called, are the active ingredient in drugs like Ozempic.
For grocers that have pharmacy units, signs of that growth are already noticeable in their financial reports.
Loblaw Cos. Ltd., which owns Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix, reported a roughly 40 per cent surge in GLP-1 sales in each of its last two quarters.
"We are beginning to see the impact of GLP-1 drugs going generic. It's still very early, but the initial indications are encouraging," Per Bank, chief executive of Loblaw, told analysts on an earnings call in July.
Loblaw executives are projecting double-digit growth for GLP-1 sales in 2027.
Metro Inc.'s outgoing chief executive, Eric La Flèche, struck a similar note during its earnings call last month. Metro owns Jean Coutu pharmacies.
"Demand fundamentals remain strong with early evidence of increased patient adoption and higher prescription volumes," he said.
Loblaw reported its drug retail same-store sales grew 4.6 per cent in its latest quarter, while Metro's pharmacy same-store sales were up 4.8 per cent. Both outpaced same-store sales metrics for food. The gains were driven by the prescriptions category.
Even though generic versions of the drug mean lower prices, the growth in volume is still a net positive.
"As generic supply continues to build, we expect ongoing expansion of the GLP-1 category to drive low-teens volume and contribution growth," La Flèche told analysts.
That's "indicating that higher volumes should more than offset a meaningful portion of the price pressure from generalization," Veritas analyst Kathleen Wong said in a note about Metro's quarterly results in August.
"The resulting price deflation is therefore likely to pressure pharmacy same-store sales measured in dollars, but Metro’s early experience suggests that increased accessibility and prescription volumes can offset part of that pressure at the contribution level."
Health Canada has so far approved three generic semaglutide products, and is continuing to review more — making the country the first among G7 nations to do so.
These used to be called the drug of the rich, said Amar Singh, senior director and head of Canadian retail insights at Kantar.
"This drug was expensive, and now, with the generics coming out, this is increasing penetration as the cost has come down and more people can afford it," he said in an interview.
Half of the respondents in a Leger poll from March said insurance coverage or a lower-cost generic would increase their likelihood of using a GLP-1. More than half cited weight loss as their primary reason for taking the drug.
At that time, eight per cent — or three million Canadians — were on prescription GLP-1s, the survey suggested.
With generics increasingly available in the market, Singh said he expects uptake to rise to about 20 per cent over the next year or two.
That surge comes as Loblaw and Metro are expanding their pharmacy networks.
Loblaw expects to have opened about 200 stores over the last three years, and roughly half are pharmacies, Wong said.
Meanwhile, Empire acquired nine Morelli’s pharmacies in Ontario last month that are already situated within some Longo’s grocery stores.
Jo-Ann McArthur, president of Nourish Food Marketing, said the increasing popularity of weight-loss drugs could be an opportunity for grocers to tailor customer experiences, especially as attitudes toward food change among weight-loss drug users.
For instance, she said grocers could suggest GLP-1-friendly foods and offer meal planning through their loyalty apps, offer health-care insights for those on and off drugs, streamline store shelf labelling and market items that are weight-loss drug friendly.
Late last year, Loblaw launched an online weight-management program for people to connect with health care practitioners and see if they qualify for the drugs.
"Where they make more money (is) by providing more services and more advice and just making it easier for the consumer to just stay loyal," she said.
And it's not just about keeping GLP-1 users within the same ecosystem.
"People who are on these drugs often are controlling the whole family's shopping and meal prep," she said.
"If one person in a family is on a diet, the whole family is on a diet."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2026.
