Grocery shoppers are getting thrifty
The USA Today story below describes the aggressive expansion of “limited-assortment” grocers like Aldi and Sav-A-Lot. According to Aldi, they plan to open 80-100 stores this year, and Sav-A-Lot says they will double their stores from 1200 to 2400 in the next five years. Some interesting tidbits from the story: A recent report forecasts a […]
Interview with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey
The link below contains a 24-minute Harvard Business Review interview with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. He talks about making a business “conscious,” navigating the company through economic crisis, the great food localism debate and the evolution of a company’s purpose, among other things. Bigthink.com/johnmackey
Customer Service – The Difference Maker in Food Retailing
By George Latella, Professor of Food Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University If you are over 40 years old, you remember the milkman, Sunday being a day of rest, reflection, and grocery stores being closed. And that all retailers valued customer service and a personal connection with their customers. Most of these stores started as […]
Together, let’s plan for 2011
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking very positively about 2011. Sure, the economy hasn’t recovered yet and retail is still sluggish, but 2010 was better than 2009, and holiday sales were pretty good. Almost all indicators point to continued improvement as this year progresses. Looking back, the last couple years were critical […]
Union workers in PA reject Acme offer
This article from the Philadelphia Inquirer details the Pennsylvania union’s rejection of Acme’s plan to eliminate 300 positions through a buyout. A New Jersey union accepted a plan to eliminate 100 jobs through buyouts late last year. Unionized workers in Pennsylvania reject offer from Acme markets
Earnings reports, Wegmans, and speculation about Ahold buying some A&P stores
Many fourth quarter reports are in, including Delhaize (Bottom Dollar, Food Lion), Ahold (Giant) and Supervalu (Acme, Sav-A-Lot). Delhaize: Comparable sales fell 0.8% in the U.S. in Q4, an improvement over recent results and driven in part by strong sales at Hannaford Bros. For the year, comparable sales were down 2% in the U.S. Total […]
Man steals meat, then has a heart attack
Who drinks coffee with meat? I hope this guy is okay, and that he chooses a more appropriate refreshment (wine?) to steal with his meat next time. He also gave no thought to dessert. Safeway Meat Entices a Man to Steal, Suffer a Heart Attack
Big retailers fill more aisles with groceries
This story from The New York Times talks about the recent trend of retailers stocking a wide variety of groceries in an attempt to increase the frequency of trips consumers make to their stores. Early results show that it has been a successful strategy, and we will continue to see more of it, much to the […]
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 […]