Yes, most grocery stores in Canada accept American Express cards. Amex cards are among the most rewarding credit cards for travelers overall, but they’re undeniably the best for grocery purchases specifically, with 2 cards earning at least 5% on all grocery store purchases. That will multiply your travel rewards!
The 2 best credit cards in Canada for groceries are both Amex Cards (along with one of the best for cash back for groceries):
- American Express Cobalt Card (≈ 7.5% or a minimum of 5%)
- Scotiabank Gold American Express Card (6% at some banners or 5% at others)
- American Express SimplyCash Preferred Card (4% cash back)
This phenomenal earn rate helps you earn a lot more travel rewards a lot faster — especially with our pro tip of buying gift cards for other retailers at the grocery store.
And it’s fairly easy for most Canadians to choose one of the grocery stores that accept Amex cards in Canada.
We’ve broken down which grocery stores accept Amex by Canadian region or province.
Ontario
Here is the list of grocery stores that accept American Express Cards in Ontario:
- Sobeys
- Metro / Metro Plus
- Food Basics
- FreshCo
- Farm Boy
- Whole Foods Market
- Longo’s
- Rabba
- Pusateri’s
- Foodland
- Safeway
Sobeys operates multiple stores across Ontario.
Metro and Metro Plus have over 365 locations in Ontario and Québec.
Food Basics is a discount supermarket with 137 locations across Ontario.
FreshCo is another deep discount supermarket chain with over 98 stores in Ontario.
Farm Boy is a specialized grocery store with over 30 locations across Ontario, with a strong presence in the Ottawa area.
Whole Foods Market (owned by Amazon) has 4 locations in Toronto and 1 location in Ottawa.
Longo’s is a family-run grocery chain with 35 stores in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area.
Rabba Fine Foods has 34 locations across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Pusateri’s serves the GTA with 5 locations.
Foodland grocery stores are located mostly in rural areas and small towns in Ontario.
Safeway only has locations in Northern Ontario, near Thunder Bay.
Québec
Here is the list of grocery stores that accept American Express Cards in Québec:
- Metro / Metro Plus
- Super C
- IGA
- Marché Richelieu
Metro and Metro Plus have over 365 namesake locations in Québec and Ontario.
Super C is a discount supermarket with more than 89 stores in Québec.
IGA and IGA extra is the other main banner in Québec.
Marché Richelieu has more than 50 grocery stores in Québec.
Western Canada
Here is the list of grocery stores that accept American Express Cards in Western Canada:
- Sobeys
- Safeway
- Save-On-Foods
- FreshCo
- Thrifty Foods
- Whole Foods Market
Sobeys operates stores mostly in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. There’s one location in Invermere, BC.
The Safeway supermarket chain has 183 stores located across Western Canada.
Save-On-Foods operates 177 stores across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Yukon Territory.
FreshCo is a deep discount supermarket chain with locations in BC, Winnipeg, Regina & Saskatoon.
Thrifty Foods is found only in BC. Stores are located mostly on Vancouver Island but also on the Lower Mainland.
Whole Foods Market (owned by Amazon) has locations in the Vancouver area and Victoria.
Atlantic Canada
Here is the list of grocery stores that accept American Express Cards in Atlantic Canada:
- Sobeys
- Foodland
- Needs
Sobeys operates many grocery stores across all the Maritime provinces.
Foodland grocery stores are located mostly in rural areas of Atlantic Canada.
Needs convenience stores are a subsidiary of Sobeys and there are more than 140 located throughout Atlantic Canada.
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Summary
Many grocery stores in Canada accept American Express Cards, including market leaders Sobeys and Metro. This allows savvy travelers to earn a lot more travel rewards with the amazing 5X grocery category multipliers on the American Express Cobalt™ Card and the Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card.
What would you like to know about maximizing grocery rewards? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: supermarket (photo credit: Rob Maxwell)
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Does viola! grocery delivery get 5x?
Hi Lori,
It does code as groceries on the American Express network so almost certainly also on Visa and Mastercard too 🙂