It never occured to me to look for panettone at Winners. I would want a small one though. The Italian grocer usually carries a few small ones but last Christmas they only had big ones and I usually only want enough for one or two desserts - one after Christmas dinner and the other on NYE.
panettone freezes well, if you have the space, and it makes delicious French toast!
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And I happen to have some maple syrup left in the fridge! Brilliant! Thanks 
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The panettone are usually 1 lb or 1 kg at Winners, and they’re sometimes deluxe brands in a tin, so manufacturers suggested retail price might be $80, and Winners is selling them for $40, then they might get marked down to $15 around Dec 23rd.
They also have so quirky, weird or lesser known brands of panettone, sometimes quirky flavours. Sometimes not made in Italy or North America.
I enjoy looking at the labels to see where things are made. There were some cookies in a tin that looked a little like a Fortnum + Mason tin yesterday. I checked the label, and they were made in Indonesia. 
I like Loison brand, and I go out of my way to find that brand at Italian stores, and I don’t like rind or citron, so I haven’t bought any panettone at Winners yet! I have admired the packaging on the saffron Dolce and Gabbana panettone that was at Winners a couple years ago.
Some Italian stores sell personal -sized panettone and colomba when they’re in season, that are around 85 -100 grams. You end up paying a lot for the packaging. A small one might be $5 or $10, when a whole kg panettone made by the same brand is $30.
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I’ve never been able to find Italian panettone in the US Marshall’s /HomeGoods. Only South American which I understood to be lower quality.
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I think the selection varies a lot, from store to store and region to region.
Marshall’s is tripleted at strip plazas with Homesense and Winners in Canada, and all three use the same loyalty program.
In London Ontario and in Toronto, all 3 brands tend to stock the same brands of panettone or other European imports, but that stock changes frequently.
There is a high end Italian fruit jelly candy being stocked at the stores now, same brand as is stocked in the Italian cafe I visit in Toronto.
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Produce Depot? Still there. I don’t think there’s a lot else at South Keys, except Bulk Barn.
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Carbone sauce at $9.99 CAD, $13.99 CAD at my indie grocery store
Moose Munch is back at Winners
(My haul, plus dog treats from Pet Valu)
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Has anyone had any good finds at Winners or Homesense recently
I wanted to mention, in case anyone is stretching their dollars, Winners and Homesense usually have massive discounts on their holiday foods and drinks on the 23rd and 24th.
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I stopped by a smaller Winners in London, Ontario. The holiday foods are already picked over, and very little good stuff is left. I was surprised. They only had a few panettones, and any chocolate was either a little weird, or a lesser known brand.
I didn’t purchase any holiday treats today. I purchased some tissue paper and gift tags today.
I might stop at a bigger location tomorrow.
While most stores in Ontario seem to close by 12 pm or 3 pm on Dec 24th, Winners in London and probably other locations across Canada is open 8 am to 5 pm on the 24th, in case anyone needs some last minute gifts or clothes for Xmas!
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Most stores in Ottawa close at 5 or 6 on Christmas Eve. Even in my mum’s small town they are open till at least 4.
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Do you think the rising cost of living might have something to do with it? I think a lot of people are cutting costs this Christmas.
Interesting. I tend to be last minute shopper, and I’m usually in London on the 24th. Many of the stores close by 2 or 3 pm. I am usually the only person shopping if I’m still out at 3 pm.
The chain grocery stores tend to close at 6 pm. The independent grocery stores close by 4 pm.
I guess it’s another Your Mileage May Vary.
I think that London is pretty impoverished relative to the Toronto area and Ottawa area, and as a result, people here right now are quicker to stock up on treats on sale than they might have been a few years ago.
What’s weird is the big mall’s parking lot is packed. Even without having a Bay or a Sears. Maybe people are just going to the mall to loiter, shoplift, and dine and dash?
I would not be surprised if other locations have lots of good stuff right now.
tangent : I have found Rexall in London has a ton of good deals on holiday treats as well as beauty products on Boxing Day. Better deals than Shoppers.
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I went to the Homesense store yesterday to see if they had any stuff marked down from Christmas; yes, late, I know.
I picked up two boxes of Charbonnel et Walker truffles, marked down to $12. One was pistachio, while the other was eggnog. Unfortunately both are white chocolate, but I bought them just because of the name. The pistachio, while nice-tasting, was too sweet; I haven’t yet tried the other.
I also picked up a box of (also British) Prestat truffles, $6 for 6 pink Champagne Marc de Champagne truffles. These were really good, so good in fact that I’m going to take a ride there this evening to see if they have more, and at the same time check the Winners store in the same strip mall. Conveniently, they’re just a few km from me.
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I am glad you found some Charbonnel et Walker truffles. Harters likes them a lot. I used to find them at the Winners in London, ON , as well as at Holt Renfrew (full price ) , but I haven’t seen any at Winners or Homesense lately.
I tried a few different Scottish shortbreads from Winners and Homesense last year. The Dees from Deeside was fine, but one of the other brands was pretty bad. Definitely not as good as Walker’s. I would have thought all pure butter shortbread from Scotland, even the stuff sold at Winners, should be at least at the 8/10 taste level.
We don’t seem to be getting as many British or French products as we once did at the London stores. I’ll take a look at some Toronto stores next time I have a chance.
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Oh I love Prestat truffles… will look to see if the one near me has any!!
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I couldn’t find any more Prestat truffles, so I checked their website. $24 (US$, I guess) for 4 truffles! So I got a great deal, paying $6 for 6 truffles. Of course, I have no idea if they are the same size or not.
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I picked up a couple of bottles of Shoda double fermented soy sauce from Japan. Nice flavour with lots of umami. 200 ml for 5.99.
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I decided to check some London Homesense and Winners locations for British truffles today. Neither location has any, and they are carrying almost no chocolate compared to what they were carrying from 2015 to 2023. I used to buy chocolate salt caramels for one DC.
The Winners had a few Valentine’s Chocolates from Italy that looked similar to Lindor. That was about it for chocolate at the Winners. There were a few unique chocolates near the cash registers.
Lke this:
I’m glad some of your local stores are carrying some good stuff.
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