EQUITY RETAIL BLOG

Independent grocery stores may soon be a thing of the past

I listened in on a conference call yesterday about supermarket consolidation. Meredith Adler, managing director at Barclays Capital, had lots of interesting stats (and I love stats… see Montgomery County, PA – the land of the Supermarket), including the following: 35,000 – number of food stores in the U.S. (not including drug and dollar stores) […]

Supervalu Challenged on 'Transformation'

Providing store managers with more authority is a step in the right direction, but Supervalu (Acme) has a long way to go. From the Supermarket News story below: “The loss for the 12-week quarter was $202 million, with sales down 5.9% to $8.7 billion, and identical-store sales in the retail food division falling 4.9%. For […]

Penny pinchers, big spenders hurt traditional grocery stores

This is a Chicago story, but the issues are the same nationwide. From the Chicago Tribune: Penny pinchers, big spenders hurt traditional grocery stores – chicagotribune.com

Acme closing five area stores

The middle class continues to erode. The middle class of supermarkets, that is. While mega stores Wegmans, Walmart and Costco expand, and space savers Aldi, Sav-A-Lot and Bottom Dollar attract more customers, 45,000 square foot stalwarts Acme, Super Fresh and Genuardi’s keep closing. The latest news is that Acme will close five area stores next […]

Retail outlook continues to improve, slowly but surely

This story in today’s Wall Street Journal reminds us that although the news of late has been good for retail, the recovery process is a slow and lengthy one. Retail Improves, but Doubts Persist By KRIS HUDSON U.S. malls and shopping centers continued their slow, fitful recovery from the recession in the fourth quarter, holding relatively steady in […]

Downgrades Hit Supervalu and Safeway Stocks

Downgrades Hit Grocery Stocks| Supervalu stock | Safeway stock | Kroger stock Stocks Off to Rocky Start After 2010 Growth The crystal ball is decidedly cloudy for supermarket stocks in the coming year, with the prospect of creeping inflation weighing against the possibility of improvement in employment and the economy. Against a backdrop of heavy […]

Target's Grocery Format is Gearing Up For Growth

A couple weeks ago The New York Times published an article called “Shopping at Target? Now You Can Pick Up a Dozen Eggs.” The focus of the story was on Target’s advertising, but it revealed much more than who their ad agencies were and how much ad money they spent. The story mentioned Target’s marketing […]

Retail sales recover as buyer fears ease

Retail sales rose for the fifth straight month in November. “It was the return of the retail industry,” said Michael Niemira, chief economist for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Retail sales recover as buyer fears ease (from the Boston Herald)

Weis Launches 6th 'Price Freeze'

I think this is a supermarket we’ll be hearing more about in 2011. Weis Launches 6th ‘Price Freeze’ Happy New Year!

A&P, Pathmark grocery distributor may shut down

The following story is from the Newark Star Ledger. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects A&P’s reorganization plan. N.J. grocery distributor for A&P, Pathmark warns of 1,100 layoffs