RUNNING WITH EQUITY RETAIL

Placer names Kroger as most visited grocery store in 2023

Data analytics firm Placer.ai named Kroger as 2023’s most popular grocery banner in the U.S. in terms of foot traffic. Placer’s end-of-year recap report said that Kroger and its banner locations captured 18.8% of annual grocery foot traffic. Other top five grocery retailers included Publix (17%), Safeway (10.5%), Aldi (9.4%), and H-E-B (8.7%). Walmart Neighborhood […]

Kroger-Albertsons merger delayed but still in the works

Kroger had hoped its proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons would be completed in March of this year but now expects it to close in the late spring or early summer. In a joint statement released by Kroger, Albertsons, and C&S Wholesale Grocers, ongoing discussions with regulators were cited as the reason for the delay. […]

Aldi is first major retailer to eliminate plastic shopping bags

Aldi reached its goal of eliminating all plastic shopping bags from its approximately 2,300 stores by the end of 2023, and at the same time became the first major U.S. retailer to do so. In a letter to customers, Aldi U.S. CEO Jason Hart said the removal of plastic bags will prevent nearly 4,400 tons […]

Wegmans to open small(ish) Yardley store in March

Wegmans announced that its Yardley, PA store, which will be part of the new Prickett Preserve development, will open on March 20. It’s the company’s second Bucks County location (Warrington), and at 88,000 square feet (SF), it’s smaller than many of its other supermarkets in the Greater Philadelphia market. Historically Wegmans stores were at least […]

Digital grocery budgets to rise despite losses in 2023

U.S. digital grocery sales ended the year at approximately $121 billion, down from $128 billion in 2022, yet overall grocery sales increased 3.1% to $926 billion for the year, according to a report from Grocery Doppio as reported in Supermarket News. Despite the decrease in digital sales, executives remain optimistic and still plan to invest […]

Pennsylvania saw the nation's largest grocery price increases in the last year

A recent report from Consumer Affairs said that the state of Pennsylvania and city of Philadelphia had the highest grocery price increases in the country over the last year. At 8.2% and 7.4% respectively, the state and city saw increases significantly higher than the 5.3% national average. Consumer Affairs, a customer review and consumer news […]

FTC to rule on Kroger-Albertsons merger by Dec 15

The Cincinnati Business Courier reported last week that Kroger told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it had met all the antitrust law requirements for its $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons. The FTC now has until December 15 to respond, at which time it can let the deal proceed, ask for more information, or take […]

Price Chopper purchases ShopRite's assets in upstate NY

Northeast supermarket chain Price Chopper/Market 32 announced yesterday that it finalized the purchase of the leases, store equipment and fixtures of the five ShopRite stores in the Albany, NY market that recently closed. Price Chopper intends to convert two stores to the Market 32 brand and sublease the location directly across from an existing Market […]

Aldi, fastest-growing grocer in the U.S., named retailer of the year

Progressive Grocer, a leading publisher in the food retail business, named Aldi its Retailer of the Year, stating that shoppers seeking relief from high grocery prices – and seeking products not found anywhere else – have become obsessed with them. Furthermore, “the fastest-growing grocer in the country just added more fuel to the rocket ship” […]

Giant Food Stores announced this week that it plans to move from its Allentown location on West Emmaus Avenue to the South Mall in Salisbury Township in 2025. The new 68,000 square foot store will open in the vacated Bon-Ton space, with a fuel station on a pad.