The AMDEQ (Association des marchands, dépanneurs et épiciers du Québec) was founded in 1983 by a group of convenience store owners and grocery stores in the Quebec City area looking to leverage their volume to obtain a stronger purchasing power.

A non-profit organization, the AMDEQ’s mission is to negotiate additional rebates, discounts or superior prices from major food suppliers and service providers to the benefit its members.

Over the years, the AMDEQ asserts that it succeeded at obtaining better deals with several suppliers. These deals allow member retailers to take advantage of competitive discounts. These are returned to the members twice a year, every six months, in proportion to the volume of purchase made from each of the suppliers.

Discounts are channeled through the head office before being paid to members and the annual membership fee is withheld. This means that the members have nothing to pay for their annual dues, while the head office can use the proceeds to finance its operations, without charging anyone (or even to the contrary, by giving them rebates).

AMDEQ claims to have 1,035 grocery and convenience store members including lots of independent owners- all except, of course, corporate store networks. The common denominator of the AMDEQ‘s members is to take advantage of sporadic or continuous discounts offered without any obligation on their part.