I’ve written before about the wealth of information in the June issue of Food Trade News, which includes Publisher Jeff Metzger’s annual Market Study. It’s 100 pages of Elias Sports Bureau-type information; just substitute food retailers for professional sports leagues.
An interesting stat to me is sales per store. Much has been written in the last couple weeks about ShopRite overtaking Acme as the sales leader in the Philadelphia market (defined as Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Chester, Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties), but the overall sales leader is often a factor of how many stores each retailer has (although it should be mentioned that ShopRite has 26 fewer stores in the Philadelphia market than Acme does).
Sales per store is a telling stat. It’s not surprising that Wegmans tops the list (for the period from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011). The stores are huge, and people routinely drive past other supermarkets to experience the superior customer service and selection. And at $62 million per store, no other food retailer is close.
It’s also not surprising that ShopRite and Giant are next on the list. They are adding stores, gaining market share and succeeding, partly at the expense of Acme, A&P and Genuardi’s (the “Big Three”). Average sales per store for ShopRite are close to $40 million, while Giant is just below $33 million.
The rest of the list is not so predictable. For instance, it’s common knowledge that the “Big Three” have been struggling, but I wouldn’t have guessed that A&P (Super Fresh, Pathmark & Food Basics) would be eighth in sales per store in the Philadelphia market. At $21.3 million per store, they are behind both Redner’s Warehouse (seventh) and Whole Foods (fifth).
Here’s the list:
1. Wegmans – $62 million per store (#6 in overall sales)
2. ShopRite – $39.5 million (#1)
3. Giant – $32.6 million (#3)
4. Genuardi’s – $26.2 million (#5)
5. Whole Foods – $24 million (#10)
6. Acme Markets – $22.8 million (#2)
7. Redner’s Warehouse – $22.3 million (#9)
8. A&P – $21.3 million (#4)
9. Thriftway / Shop ‘N Bag – $11 million (#8)
10. Save-A-Lot – $7.6 million (#7)