Giant opens six stores in four states

Giant Food Stores announced last month that it opened six new stores in four states. Five of the stores were Shop n' Save stores that Giant converted to Martin's Food Markets, and one was a newly constructed Giant to replace a closed store nearby.

Giant acquired the Shop n' Save locations from Supervalu last November and received approval to close the deal from the FTC in February. The stores are in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia (2). The Giant location is in Warrington, PA.

Giant, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize USA, now operates 178 supermarkets in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

The company recently opened its first Giant Heirloom Market in Philadelphia, and has plans to open three more of the urban-format grocery stores in Philadelphia this year.

Giant's Warrington, PA store set to open this week

Giant plans to open a store at Doylestown Pointe Plaza in Warrington, PA this Friday, April 5, one day after it closes for business in nearby Jamison on Thursday, April 4.

The new location will feature a Beer & Wine Eatery and a full-service pharmacy, in addition to Giant's typical supermarket departments. The space was previously occupied by Redner's Market, which closed a year ago.

Grocery store openings increased 30 percent in 2018

New grocery store openings were up 30% in 2018 as compared to the prior year, according to a report by JLL. More than one-quarter of the new stores were in Florida, California and Texas as a result of expansion by Publix, Sprouts Farmers Market, Aldi, Kroger and H-E-B.

"Grocery is one of the strongest retail sectors, with nearly twice as many new stores opening than closing last year," according to JLL Director of Research James Cook.

Cook also pointed out that shopper habits have shifted to more frequent, shorter trips, and as a result, food retailers are focusing on developing smaller format stores.

"In 2019 we expect to see even more grocery stores rolling out their smaller-format stores as they battle razor-thin margins in prime locations, while still serving evolving consumer needs," said Cook.

Aldi, which accounted for 16% of total new stores by square footage, continues to expand at a rapid pace. And new formats, like Giant's 9,500 square foot Heirloom Market in Philadelphia, were recently introduced.

Giant opens 38,000 SF e-commerce hub in Lancaster, PA

Giant held a grand opening earlier this week for its 38,000 square foot Giant Direct hub, built on the site of a closed Giant supermarket in Lancaster, PA. The facility serves as a curbside pickup site and grocery delivery center. It's the fifth site of its kind for Giant.

According to the company, customers can drive up and have their orders - which are made through the Peapod online service and app, or the Giant website - brought to their cars. There is also a walk-up vestibule with lockers for placing and picking up online grocery orders. Items are taken from rows of bar coded shelves, and refrigerated and frozen cases in the warehouse.

Lidl planning to take part of vacant Acme in Lansdale, PA

Lidl presented plans to Towamencin Township last month to take over about half of the former Lansdale, PA Acme that closed last summer. Acme occupied about 60,000 square feet.

"We're definitely looking at opening this year, this calendar year. That's the hope," said Sam Kachidza, Real Estate Manager of Acquisitions for Lidl U.S.

The site is just two miles from two existing full-service supermarkets - Giant and ShopRite, and two miles from Ralph's Corner Shopping Center, where Aldi is under construction.

So far Lidl has one store open in Pennsylvania - on MacDade Boulevard in Folsom, and the company is actively looking for more. Lidl stores in Lower Providence Township and Royersford are also planned.

Giant's Heirloom Market to open more Philly stores

Giant opened its first Heirloom Market in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood of Philadelphia less than two weeks ago, and according to the company, three more city locations will soon follow.

An Heirloom Market store is scheduled to open this summer in University City, followed by stores in Northern Liberties and Queen Village.

Giant's small, urban format features grab-and-go technology for payment, as well as online pickup and delivery options.

The size of the Graduate Hospital store is approximately 9,500 SF, and it is expected that the new locations will be similar.

Giant/Martin's and Stop & Shop to add robots that roam store aisles

Giant Food Stores announced earlier this month that each of its Giant/Martin's and Stop & Shop stores will soon feature a 6-foot, 5-inch, 130-pound robot named Marty.  Marty will scan the aisles for fallen items, and will move around slowly enough for customers to take selfie's with it, according to President Nicholas Bertram.

The effort is being hailed as the largest front-of-store robot rollout in the world.

Badger Technologies CEO Tim Rowland explained that Marty can detect objects and movement, and will avoid bumping into shoppers. If something falls off a shelf, Marty will find it and activate an alert system that will result in an employee coming to pick up the item. Badger Technologies partnered with Giant's parent company, Ahold, to create the robot.

Marty also has the capability to scan shelves for out-of-stock items, but that is not part of the initial rollout.

According to Giant, the new technology will not replace employees; rather, it will "replace tasks."

Last October, Walmart said that 78 stores had a self-driving robot cleaning floors, and that they planned to expand the technology to 360 stores.

Grocery Outlet to close Royersford, PA store

The Grocery Outlet in Royersford, PA announced that it will close on October 30, but township residents and several government and elected officials are pleading with the company to keep the store open.

There is a Giant supermarket down the road, and several supermarkets in the Route 422 corridor.

The Grocery Outlet currently has more than 300 independently-operated stores in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Giant opens new, improved store in Feasterville

Earlier this month Giant Food opened its new Feasterville, PA location. The new store is 66,000 square feet, approximately 25 percent larger than the store down the street that closed a day before the new Giant opened.

The new location includes an expanded fresh produce department with more organic selections, fresh-squeezed juices, in-store cut fruit, and a full salad bar. It also features a Beer & Wine Eatery with over 400 types of beer available. According to a news release, Giant is partnering with 13 local breweries from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all of which are featured in the store.

In addition, the new Giant includes a full-service pharmacy with pharmacists available seven days a week, and a Starbucks-on-the-Go kiosk.

Giant currently has 171 stores in four states.

Several Aldi stores opening soon in Southeastern PA

The Mercury reported recently that Aldi plans to open stores in Pottstown and Malvern, with the Pottstown store slated to open at the end of this month, and the Malvern store coming in the fall. And last week The Delaware County Times reported that Aldi would open on June 14 in the former Giant supermarket space in Brookhaven.

In addition, Aldi will begin construction in Lansdale once the former Super Fresh space is knocked down.

Aldi currently has more than 1,750 stores in 35 states, and has been aggressively opening new stores and renovating existing stores. The company plans to open about 750 new stores in the U.S. by the end of 2022.

Overall, Aldi has over 10,000 stores in 20 countries.

Giant expands Peapod service in PA

Giant announced last week that Peapod's shopping and delivery services have become available to customers in a dozen new Pennsylvania zip codes, including stores in Reading, Birdsboro and Temple. The company says that 109 of the 170 stores under the Giant and Martin's banners are now within the geography of Peapod's delivery range.

Through the Peapod website or mobile app, customers can have groceries delivered as soon as the next day after the order has been placed. First-time customers get $20 off their first order and 60 days free delivery.

Giant, Martin's and Peapod are subsidiaries of Ahold Delhaize USA.

Giant adding stores and fuel stations in PA

Ahold Delhaize USA announced last month that Giant will undertake a $70 million capital spending plan that includes six new supermarkets, major remodels to two stores, and five new fuel stations in the next two years. 

New stores are planned for East Stroudsburg and Walnutport, and new stores will replace older locations in Feasterville-Trevose, State College, Warrington and Broomall.

The stores being remodeled are in West Chester and Shrewsbury.

The company also said it would continue to invest in its Beer & Wine Eateries, of which Giant currently has 59. Overall, the grocery retailer has 171 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

Amazon introduces home delivery from Whole Foods

On Thursday Amazon introduced free two-hour delivery of certain Whole Foods Market items between the hours of 8am and 10pm in select zip codes in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach. Orders can be made via primenow.com or the Prime Now app.

Amazon expects to expand the service across the U.S. later this year.

According to Amazon, Prime customers can shop for thousands of Whole Foods items, including produce, bakery, dairy, meat, seafood, floral and everyday groceries. Select alcohol is also available for delivery. Prime members receive two-hour delivery for free, and "ultra-fast" delivery within one hour for $7.99 on orders of $35 or more.

Many traditional supermarkets already offer home delivery services. Ahold (Giant, Stop & Shop) was one of the originators with Peapod, ShopRite offers delivery provided by individual stores, and Acme partnered with Instacart earlier this year to delivery orders "in as little as two hours."

Ahold suspends Bfresh small format concept

Published reports last month stated that Ahold Delhaize, the parent company for Giant, Food Lion and Stop & Shop, is suspending its small-format Bfresh brand and will not open Bfresh stores in Philadelphia, as previously announced. The company still plans to make use of the spaces it has leased, though.

In addition, Ahold's 3,700 SF Everything Fresh grocery store on Walnut Street in Center City has closed.

Last year the company announced that it would open Bfresh stores at Second and South Streets, Bainbridge Street and University City.

Kroger - Ahold merger rumors have started

Last week the Cincinnati Business Courier reported that an analyst report out of Europe speculated that Kroger was pursuing a merger with Ahold Delhaize (Giant, Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Peapod, among others). On Wednesday of last week, Supermarket News reported that it was not able to verify the substance of the claim.

Analysts have talked about such a merger before, suggesting that the two powerful food retailers could gain additional scale and more effectively fight competitors like Walmart, Aldi and Amazon-Whole Foods. A merger would also provide Kroger with access to Peapod and its e-commerce platform.

As reported in Supermarket News, Ahold and Kroger have similar operating strategies in the U.S., both have invested in lower prices and have developed distinct private brands. Although the two companies compete in the Southeast, Ahold's Northeast store base would compliment Kroger's existing footprint.

Aldi to add Instacart online shopping in select markets

Aldi announced Monday that it would begin offering online ordering and delivery later this month via Instacart in Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles, with "potential for future expansion."

Instacart currently serves nearly 40 markets in 25 states, and provides online ordering and delivery for companies like Whole Foods, Wegmans, Giant, and others.

Wegmans tops Consumer Reports list again

Wegmans grabbed the top spot in a survey of grocery chains conducted by Consumer Reports, which received feedback from nearly 58,000 subscribers. Wegmans has held the top spot in the annual survey since 2006.

For 2017, the company received excellent ratings in categories such as cleanliness, fresh store-prepared foods, staff courtesy, checkout speed, produce quality and variety, meat/poultry quality, healthy options and local produce quantity.

Market Basket finished second, followed by Trader Joe's, Publix and Fairway Stores. Costco and Aldi received good marks, while Whole Foods, Kroger, BJ's, ShopRite, Giant and Weis were further down the list. Acme received poor marks, and Walmart finished last.

Instacart partners with Giant, Wegmans

Instacart announced that it has joined forces with Giant and Wegmans to bring online shopping and delivery to customers in select areas for the two food retailers. Giant's partnership will benefit Philadelphia-area customers, and the service for Wegmans will be available in Northern Virginia and Maryland.

With Instacart, customers in the service areas can order groceries online from Giant or Wegmans for a small fee, and have them delivered within the same day,  often within one hour.

Giant already offers Peapod, a similar service to Instacart, but Peapod only guarantees delivery for the next day.

Instacart has served Philadelphia customers since 2014, when it signed on with Whole Foods and Reading Terminal Market.

For Wegmans, the Instacart deal represents the first online ordering and delivery offering from the company. It is expected that additional markets will be added in the near future.

Giant to close to Lancaster County stores

Giant Food Stores announced it would close two stores in Lancaster County, PA on May 18. The stores are located on Reservoir Street in Lancaster and Fruitville Pike in Manheim.

According to a story in Pennlive.com, the Lancaster store is 37 years old, and the Manheim location was acquired 10 years ago.

Five Giant stores in Southeastern PA among winning bidders for expired liquor licenses

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) announced winning bidders yesterday for 37 "zombie" liquor licenses, and Giant Food Stores won 11 of them. Interested parties had to submit sealed bids for the licenses, which had expired.

The Giant stores in Southeastern Pennsylvania with winning bids include Bristol Township (Bucks County), Coatesville and East Caln (Chester), and Narberth and Skippack (Montgomery). The Narberth and Skippack licenses sold for $491,300 and $526,000, respectively. According to Philly.com, the selling price for a license in Montgomery County last year was about $250,000.

Convenience store chain Sheetz bought 15 of the licenses.

The PLCB said that about 1,200 licenses have expired since 2000 and will be sold through auctions in the months and years ahead.