Supermarket News tracks the stock prices of food retailers, and they reported last Friday that Whole Foods Market was the industry leader for the first half of the year with a 37.69% gain in price. The Fresh Market, a similar store to Whole Foods in that it’s a high-end market, was next with a 34.41% gain in its share price.
Stock prices for most of the traditional supermarket operators fell during the first half of the year. Supervalu (Acme, Save-A-Lot) fell 34.18%, Safeway (Safeway, Genuardi’s) fell 12.23% and Ahold (Giant, Stop & Shop) fell 4.18%. On the other hand, large retailers like Walmart, Target and Costco all gained. Overall, the Supermarket News Index was up 13.25%, which is well above the gains for the Dow Jones Index (5.42%) and S&P 500 Index (8.31%) during the same period.
Here are how some of the food retailers closed at the end of June:
Winners
Costco – closed at $95.00; up 14.72%
Target Corp. – closed at $58.19; up 14.89%
The Fresh Market – closed at $53.63; up 34.41%
Village Super Market (ShopRite operator) – closed at $32.58; up 16.44%
Wal-Mart Stores – closed at $69.72; up 18.25%
Weis Markets – closed at $44.52; up 12.99%
Whole Foods – closed at $95.32; up 37.69%
Losers
Ahold (Giant, Stop & Shop) – closed at $12.39; down 4.18%
Delhaize (Food Lion, Bottom Dollar) – closed at $36.71; down 30.93%
Safeway (Safeway, Genuardi’s) – closed at $18.15; down 12.23%
Supervalu (Acme, Save-A-Lot) – closed at $5.18; down 34.18%