Giant Food parent behind new Philly store

A November 6 article on Philly.com revealed that Ahold USA (Giant, Stop & Shop) is behind the Everything Fresh store planned in the redeveloped Stapler Building on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. According to the report, the store is part of Ahold's plans to investigate new formats and test ideas.

The "opening soon" sign on the property says the store, which will occupy 3,700 square feet of selling space plus another 1,500 square feet of basement prep space, will offer organics and prepared foods.

An Ahold spokeperson cautions that the location "may not be representative of a new format."

Grocery dominates Top 100 Retailers list

The National Retail Federation released its Top 100 U.S. Retailers list, with Walmart on top with $334 billion in sales, about three-and-a-half times the sales of runner-up Kroger.

As a merchandise segment, grocery continues to prove that it's a driving force. According to the study, eight of the nation's 10 largest retailers drive a significant portion of store traffic with groceries. In total, 37 of the Top 100 retailers include groceries in their merchandise mix, and more than 20 can be classified as supermarkets.

Here are the top 10:

Walmart - $334 billion
Kroger - $94 billion
Costco - $75 billion
Target - $71 billion
The Home Depot - $70 billion
Walgreens - $68 billion
CVS Caremark - $66 billion
Lowe's - $52 billion
Amazon.com - $44 billion
Safeway - $38 billion

Other food retailers on the list include the following:

13: Publix - $29 billion
17: Ahold USA - $26 billion
21: Albertsons - $19 billion
23: Delhaize America - $19 billion
25: Dollar General - $17.5 billion
28: Wakefern/ShopRite - $14 billion
29: BJ's Wholesale - $13 billion
32: Whole Foods Market - $12.5 billion
37: Supervalu - $11 billion
38: Aldi - $11 billion
40: Family Dollar - $10 billion
50: Trader Joe's - $8 billion
62: Wegmans - $7 billion

Ahold USA reports sales increase

As compared to the same time period a year ago, U.S. sales at European-based Ahold improved 4.3% in the fourth quarter to $6.1 billion, and identical-store sales improved by 1.4%. Ahold USA includes Giant, Stop & Shop, Martin's Food Markets and Peapod.

For the fiscal year, U.S. sales increased 3.1% to $25.8 billion. Worldwide, Ahold sales totaled $42.9 billion.

The company said it would keep its "eyes and ears open" about potential acquisitions but didn't say anything about Harris Teeter Supermarkets, which has been rumored to be on the sales block. Ahold and Publix are both rumored to be interested in Harris Teeter.