Narcity went shopping to find out whether Halloween packs at grocery stores like Costco, Walmart and Loblaws are cheaper than choosing your own amounts at Bulk Barn.
We found similar chocolate, candy and chips at each store, including a few Kirkland Signature items at Costco, and checked prices.
Since you choose your own quantities at Bulk Barn, every product is priced by 100 grams. So, Narcity also broke down the price tags at Costco, Walmart and Loblaws into "price per" costs.
Here's a price comparison of the Halloween candy, chocolate and chips you can get at these retailers.
KitKat, Aero and Smarties
KitKat and Aero at Bulk Barn. Centre: Smarties at Bulk Barn. Right: Coffee Crisp, KitKat, Aero and Smarties at Walmart.
It costs $3.83 per 100 grams for mini KitKat, $2.36 per 100 grams for mini Aero and $2.80 per 100 grams for Smarties at Bulk Barn.
It costs $15.97 for a 977-gram box of treat-sized KitKat, Aero, Coffee Crisp and Smarties at Walmart, which is $1.63 per 100 grams.
It costs $24 for a 977-gram box of treat-sized KitKat, Aero, Coffee Crisp and Smarties at Loblaws, which breaks down to $2.45 per 100 grams.
If you buy 300 grams of each chocolate at Bulk Barn so it's similar to the quantities at Walmart and Loblaws, the cost is more than $26, and there are no mini Coffee Crisp bars.
That's a price difference of more than $10 compared to Walmart and $2 compared to Loblaws.
Reese's Pieces, peanut butter cups and Thins
Reese's Pieces at Bulk Barn. Centre: Reese's mini peanut butter cups at Bulk Barn. Right: Reese's Pieces, Reese's peanut butter cups and Reese's Thins at Loblaws.
Bulk Barn has Reese's Pieces for $3.02 per 100 grams, Reese's mini peanut butter cups for $2.89 per 100 grams and Reese's Thins for $3.44 per 100 grams.
Loblaws has a 909-gram bag of Reese's Pieces, Reese's peanut butter cups and Reese's Thins for $20, which works out to $2.20 per 100 grams.
If you get 300 grams of each Reese's chocolate at Bulk Barn to match the quantity of the Loblaws product, it costs just over $28. That means you pay $8 less at Loblaws.
Assorted candies
Gummy bears at Bulk Barn. Centre: Rockets at Bulk Barn. Right: Kirkland Signature Funhouse Treats candy at Costco.
Costco has a bag of Kirkland Signature Funhouse Treats with Chupa Chups, Rockets, Dare Realfruit, Dare Realfruit Sours, Skittles, Starburst, Haribo Bears and Airheads.
Bulk Barn has gummy bears, Rockets and Skittles.
It costs $1.57 per 100 grams for gummy bears, $2.26 per 100 grams for Rockets, and $3.22 per 100 grams for Skittles.
A two-kilogram bag of the Kirkland Signature assorted candies costs $24.99, which works out to $1.24 per 100 grams.
The assorted bag at Costco gets you more types of candy, and the total "price per" cost is less than each individual "price per" cost at Bulk Barn.
Twix, Snickers and peanut M&M's
Twix and Snickers at Bulk Barn. Centre: Peanut M&M's at Bulk Barn. Right: Mars, Twix, Snickers and peanut M&M's at Costco.
You can get peanut M&M's for $2.14 per 100 grams, mini Snickers for $3.90 per 100 grams and mini Twix for $3.90 per 100 grams at Bulk Barn.
It costs $23.99 for a 1.48-kilogram box of mini peanut M&M's, Snickers and Twix bars at Costco, which works out to $1.62 per 100 grams.
At Walmart, it costs $14.97 for a one-kilogram box of mini peanut M&M's, Snickers and Twix bars, which breaks down to $1.49 per 100 grams.
If you get 500 grams of each chocolate at Bulk Barn to match the quantity of the box at Costco, it costs more than $49, and there are no mini Mars bars. You pay $25 less for the Costco product.
If you buy 300 grams of the chocolates at Bulk Barn to get the same amount as the box at Walmart, it costs over $29. That's a price difference of more than $14.
Jolly Rancher gummies and licorice
Jolly Rancher gummies at Bulk Barn. Centre: Cherry licorice at Bulk Barn. Right: Jolly Rancher gummies and Twizzlers at Loblaws.
At Bulk Barn, it costs $2.05 per 100 grams for Jolly Rancher two-in-one gummies and $1.99 per 100 grams for cherry licorice.
It costs $20 for a 1.02-kilogram bag of Jolly Rancher two-in-one gummies, cherry Twizzlers and strawberry Twizzlers at Loblaws, which breaks down to $1.96 per 100 grams.
A 1.02-kilogram bag of Jolly Rancher two-in-one gummies, cherry Twizzlers and strawberry Twizzlers costs $12.97 at Walmart, which is $1.27 per 100 grams.
If you get 500 grams of both candies at Bulk Barn to match the quantity of the bags at Loblaws and Walmart, it costs just over $20.
So, the bag at Loblaws is only cheaper by a few cents, but the bag at Walmart is cheaper by more than $7.
Cheese puffs
Cheese puffs at Bulk Barn. Centre: Cheetos puffs at Walmart. Right: Cheetos puffs at Loblaws.
It costs $1.69 per 100 grams for cheese puff sticks at Bulk Barn.
It costs $12.97 for a 640-gram box with 40 snack-sized bags at Walmart, which works out to $2.02 per 100 grams.
It costs $12.99 for a 640-gram box with 40 snack-sized bags at Loblaws, which breaks down to $2.02 per 100 grams.
The "price per" cost for cheese puffs at Bulk Barn is lower than at Walmart and Loblaws, so you can get the same amount for less at the Canadian bulk retailer.
Assorted chocolates
Peanut butter cups at Bulk Barn. Centre: M&M's at Bulk Barn. Right: Kirkland Signature Treatsize Favourites chocolates at Costco.
Kirkland Signature Treatsize Favourites chocolates come with mini Reese's peanut butter cups, Oh Henry, M&M's, peanut M&M's, Snickers, Twix, and Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme.
Bulk Barn has peanut butter cups, M&M's, peanut M&M's, mini Snickers, and mini Twix.
It costs $3.22 per 100 grams for peanut butter cups, $2.14 per 100 grams for M&M's, $2.14 per 100 grams for peanut M&M's, $3.90 per 100 grams for Snickers and $3.90 per 100 grams for Twix.
A two-kilogram bag of the Kirkland Signature assorted chocolates costs $29.99, which means you pay $1.49 per 100 grams.
The assorted bag at Costco gets you more chocolate, and the total "price per" cost is less than each of the individual "price per" costs at Bulk Barn.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
But the industry wasn't as kind behind the scenes. His American label, MCA Records, was absorbed by Geffen, and plans for a follow-up album featuring Pharrell and Timbaland fell apart. Offishall says the new executives tried to force him into a "cookie-cutter" mould.
"I was like, oh, you guys really have no idea who I am," he shares in a recent interview.
After parting ways with the label, Offishall struggled financially.
"Money's running out and I'm like, yo, we got any tours coming up? They're like, nah," the rapper recalls asking his team.
"It was rough, to where them bank accounts were going on E after a few years."
He eventually toured with Akon and Gwen Stefani, though life on the road was far from glamorous.
"I didn't even have a room every night. So I was sleeping on the tour bus and I would just go in somebody's room and use their shower every day."
For two months, he recorded music in the back of the bus, increasingly uncertain about his future.
"I remember just being like, yo, what is going on with my life?"
Then, on the final night of the tour, he recorded "Dangerous," the Akon-assisted smash that would introduce him to a new generation of listeners.
"As soon as we did that, that's when my life changed again," he says.
Nearly two decades later, Offishall is looking back on that journey with "Firestarter Vol. 2: Everyday, Sometimes...," a long-awaited sequel that finds the rapper, born Jason Harrow, trading bombast for candid reflections on grief, relationships and being a 50-year-old family man.
Despite his public profile as a "Canada's Got Talent" judge and the global A&R lead for Def Jam Records, Offishall says he's long guarded his personal life. Opening up on the record meant accepting that he'd have to discuss painful subjects with strangers.
"People could ask you about your dad that passed. People could ask about your wife and that relationship," he says. "I've always been a pretty private guy."
Offishall's last album was 2015's "Kardi Gras, Vol. 1: The Clash." In recent years, a succession of deaths among loved ones left him in no emotional state to make another.
"There was so much death," he says. "They didn't warn me about this when I was a kid, that I was going to get to an age where there will be people passing away like flies."
Nearly a year without another funeral finally gave him room to heal and rediscover the joy of making music.
The 10-track "Firestarter Vol. 2" features some song ideas he's had for years. The chest-thumping "Top 3" boasts verses from reggae star Buju Banton and British actor Idris Elba.
Singer BJ the Chicago Kid joins title track "Everyday, Sometimes…," which addresses days when even getting out of bed feels overwhelming. Offishall wanted to show that celebrity offers little protection from ordinary human suffering.
"Money, accolades, fame, those things do not come into play when you have a loved one who is sick," he says.
Offishall is releasing the album independently, noting streaming and direct-to-consumer distribution allow artists more freedom to chart their own course, without the pressure to make an immediate commercial splash.
"You can kind of do things the way that you want it. It's not as rigid as it used to be in the industry," he says.
Kardinal Offishall poses for a photograph at Reggae Lane in Toronto on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Meanwhile, his executive role at Def Jam allows him to influence the industry from within, an approach inspired by advice from Stephen Marley: "You can't change the system from outside of the system."
That means being in meetings where he can advocate for artists and challenge executives' assumptions, he says.
Offishall won't wait another decade to drop more music. He and Elba, a longtime friend, have recorded an entire collaborative project they're hoping to release in spring or summer 2027.
Most of the vocals were recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Offishall reworked the production this year, adding orchestral flourishes.
"Strings and orchestras and brass sections and it's nasty. It's really nasty," he says.
Other projects in the works include an EP with Toronto producer Slakah the Beatchild and a possible collaboration with Canadian R&B singer Glenn Lewis.
Offishall is currently on a U.S. press tour, including a stop with radio personality Ebro Darden, who at the height of the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud sparked debate by suggesting Toronto lacked a distinctive sound.
For a rapper who helped export the city's diverse music scene, the idea of a singular "Toronto sound" is unnecessarily limiting.
"I'm just glad that the whole Toronto sound thing has died down because I just feel it puts everybody in a box," Offishall says.
Pointing to the different styles of Drake, the Weeknd and Nav, he adds: "I think the Toronto sound is excellence."
He says the city's artists should focus more on setting trends than following them, citing advice from his friend, Toronto Raptors announcer Mark Strong: "You never move with the times, you move the times.”
"We’ve got to continue to create that wave."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2026.
By Alex Nino Gheciu | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
8 réalités que tu connais trop bien si tes parents sont sur Facebook
Loin de moi l’idée de parler en mal de nos parents, mais on va s’le dire, parfois j’aurais le goût d’acheter « Médias sociaux pour les nulles » à mes parents. Je suis pas mal certaine que je ne suis pas la seule (et si je suis vraiment la seule… GOD, POURQUOI MOI ?) qui est arrivée un beau jour et qui avait une notification de la friend request tant redoutée.
Sérieusement, c’est pas méchant. J'ai rien à cacher à mes parents pis j'ai compris v'là longtemps que si je ne souhaite pas qu'une photo de profil soit vue par un membre de ma famille, c'est qu'elle n'est pas profile picture material. Je serais probablement pire qu’eux, s’il fallait qu’on m’arrive dans 30 ans avec une nouvelle technologie qui deviendrait quasi obligatoire avec les années.
Genre quand l'hologramme sera the next big thing dans vingt ans, je me dirai sûrement que mes parents se débrouillaient pas si mal avec Facebook... But still, je dois sortir ça de mon système une bonne fois pour toutes...
1. L'hésitation à la demande d'amitié
(Accepter ou ne pas accepter, là est la question)
Si je les refuse, ils vont lonnnnngtemps m’en parler, c’est certain. Pis ils vont me lancer des pointes jusqu’à temps que je les accepte. Mais si je les accepte… Oh, God knows what ce qu’il va se passer dans mon newsfeed.
2. LES MAJUSCULES
C'était comme ça quand mon père m'envoyait des e-mails avant l'ère des médias sociaux, pis on dirait que ça a pas changé avec le temps. C'est fou comment le "COMMENT ÇA VA?" prend un sens différent en majuscule et me stress un peu plus. J'ai l'impression qu'à chaque fois il me pointe du doigt avec un air suspicieux/me gronde/est trop heureux/me crie après. Sérieusement, on devrait enlever le bouton "CAPLOCKS" à certaines personnes...
3.Les abus de commentaires/likes
*Avoir 38 notifications*
*Voir que ma mère vient simplement de liker mes photos des six derniers mois*
Ou simplement:
"Allô ma fille!"
"Oh vous avez l'air d'avoir eu une belle soirée"
"Tes amies sont bien drôles là-dessus!"
"Appelle-moi demain soir!"
"Fais attention à toi hihihi"
Tout ça, sous une seule photo. *Insérer photo de facepalm*
4. Les publications publiques au lieu de messages privés
(Classique). Je cherche encore à comprendre comment tu peux te dire: "Oh! J'vais lui envoyer un message pour lui poser *telle question*." Elle arrive sur mon profil et croit qu'en écrivant sur ma page, seulement MOI pourra le lire. J'hésite tout le temps entre lui répondre en commentaire ou en message privé (et prendre le risque qu'elle ne comprenne pas comment voir ses messages privés).
5. La découverte des emojis
La première fois que j'ai eu un message de ma mère avec un emoji/émoticône, je crois que j'ai relu le message 8 fois pis je me suis assurée que c'était réellement ma mère qui m'avait envoyé le message. Dans ce cas, y'a deux réalités; soit ils comprennent et s'en tiennent aux bases, soit ils abusent les smileys et les autres que tu lui avais (naïvement) montrés qui pouvaient lui être utiles.
6. La signature
" Tu es bien jolie! De ta mère et ton père" ou " xx Ginette."
Tu m'écris pas une lettre sur papier parchemin, envoyée par un messager. Tu m'écris sur Facebook, où t'as une photo de toi et moi v'là 7 ans comme photo de profil!!! I mean, je sais qui laisse le commentaire! Y'a ton nom juste en haut!!!
7. Les friend requests... à tous mes amis
Ma mère:" Ahhh, Mariane, sa grande amie! *Friend request sent*, Audrey-Ann, celle qui est venue dimanche passé à la maison! *Friend request sent*, Ah oui, Alexandre elle parle souvent de lui! *Friend request sent*. Heureusement que j'ai des amies en or/compréhensives/qui, elles aussi, ont leurs parents sur Facebook et comprennent la friend request de Roger Bouchard et Jacqueline Girard. Mais by the way vous, vous avez le droit de les refuser!
8. Les partages de pensées positives sur mon wall
*Jacqueline Girard posted on your wall*
"Si je venais sonner chez toi à minuit le soir, les larmes aux yeux, m'aiderais-tu? Si oui, clique sur J'aime et partage sur ton mur..."
*Jacqueline Girard posted on your wall*
"Pensée de Chantale Lacroix: Si on se donnait comme défi aujourd'hui de dire aux gens qui nous sont chers Merci d'être dans ma vie."
*Jacqueline Girard posted on your wall*
"La plus belle courbe sur ton corps, c'est ton sourire."
(I mean, tout ça est très sweet (vraiment là!!!) mais t'sais... trop, c'est comme pas assez!)