ShopRite, Giant tops again in Greater Philly sales

I received the highly anticipated Market Study issue of the Food Trade News last week.  As usual, there was an incredible amount of information about the supermarket industry in the PA, NJ and DE markets.

The headline was that ShopRite remains a strong leader (based on total sales) in the 55-county market area that stretches from Northern New Jersey to Central Pennsylvania to New Castle County, Delaware. Giant is a strong second, and Walmart has jumped into third. The new "big three" account for more than one third of the $49.5 billion retail food market.

In the eight-county Philadelphia market (Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester), ShopRite is slightly ahead of Giant, followed by three brands headed in the wrong direction: Acme, Super Fresh/Pathmark/A&P, and Genuardi's. The rest of the top 10 consists of Wegmans, Save-A-Lot, Whole Foods, Redner's Markets and Thriftway/Shop 'n Bag.

For more information than you can grasp in one sitting, check out the Market Study issue here: Food Trade News.

ShopRite, with $1.7 billion in sales, leads Philly market in 2011

Last Friday the Philadelphia Business Journal published the list of top companies in Philadelphia's eight-county area selling groceries, health- and beauty-care products, general merchandise and tobacco products, as compiled by the Food Trade News. Here's the list:

1. ShopRite - 43 stores with sales of $1.7 billion
2. Acme - 69; $1.57 billion
3. Giant - 47; $1.53 billion
4. Wawa - 280; $1.44 billion
5. Rite Aid - 252; $884.1 million
6. A&P (Super Fresh, Pathmark) - 40; $850.8 million
7. Wal-Mart - 37; $831.1
8. CVS - 187; $817 million
9. Genuardi's - 28; $733.7 million
10. Target - 29; $534.3 million
11. Walgreens - 90; $480.9 million
12. BJ's Wholesale Club - 12; $413.9 million
13. Wegmans - 6; $371 million
14. Save-A-Lot - 34; $258 million
15. Sam's Club - 7; $238.2 million
16. Thriftway / Shop n Bag - 21; $230.5 million
17. Redner's Warehouse Markets - 10; $222.7 million
18. KMart - 29; $210.9 million
19. 7-Eleven - 179; $201.3 million
20. Whole Foods - 8; $191.6 million

It's interesting to note that the three major drug stores had 529 stores in 2011. The 10 supermarkets totaled 276 stores (from Wegmans with 6 to Acme with 69).

Here's a link to the original compiler: Food Trade News

Wegmans tops per store sales in Philly market, ShopRite and Giant also strong

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)

ShopRite tops Acme for grocery sales leader in Philly market

I am anxiously awaiting the June issue of the Food Trade News and it's annual market study. Although I haven't received it yet, Maria Panaritis of the Philadelphia Inquirer obviously has.

According to Maria's story yesterday about the study, "ShopRite, ringing up $1.7 billion in sales across the eight-county Philadelphia region, grabbed the top spot from Acme, which has struggled to cut costs by shutting down underperforming stores and recently laid off 900 part-time employees."

Here are more market study results (thanks, Maria):

• Acme's sales dropped to $1.6 billion (from $1.8 billion in the previous 12-month period) for the period from April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011.

Third - tenth place:

• Giant ($1.5 billion)
• A&P - Super Fresh / Pathmark ($851 million)
• Genuardi's ($734 million)
• Wegmans ($372 million)
• Save-A-Lot
• Thriftway / Shop 'n Bag
• Redner's
• Whole Foods ($192 million)

According to the study, ShopRite's ascent, along with the growth of Giant, Wegmans and Whole Foods, came at the expense of hundreds of millions of dollars that used to be spent at Acme. (Genuardi's, Super Fresh and Pathmark have closed stores and lost sales as well.)

Food Trade News - Market Study 2011

ShopRite Edges Acme in Philadelphia-area grocery sales, by Maria Panaritis