Ahold's small format Bfresh stores coming to Philly

It was reported last week that leases were signed for Ahold Delhaize's small-format Bfresh store at 2300 Bainbridge Street and 3401 Chestnut Street, both in Philadelphia.  The Bainbridge store will be on the ground floor of a new condominium complex, and the Chestnut Street location is where Eastern Mountain Sports recently closed. A store planned for Second and South Streets was announced last year.

There are currently three operating Bfresh stores in Boston, MA. Fresh Formats, a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize, has operated the Everything Fresh grocery store on Walnut Street in Philadelphia since 2014. The store serves as a testing ground for the company's small-format concepts.

Whole Foods embracing technology via Instacart and Apple partnerships

Whole Foods announced earlier this month it would partner with Instacart to offer customers one-hour delivery service, as well as an option to place orders through Instacart for in-store pick-up.

The delivery service will start in the 15 cities Instacart currently operates in, including Philadelphia. The in-store pick-up service will start in select Austin, TX and Boston, MA stores before expanding to all cities serviced by Instacart in the coming months.

For the delivery service, customers at Instacart.com or via the company's app select their zip code, add items to their virtual cart, choose a delivery window and check out. "Personal Shoppers" working on commission and tips shop for the items and make the deliveries.

Customers' first orders are free, and thereafter will cost $3.99 for two-hour delivery or $5.99 for one-hour delivery. With a $99 annual membership, all orders over $35 are free.

In unrelated Whole Foods news, the company announced earlier this month it would be among the first retailers to let customers make purchases using Apple Pay, a new mobile payment system for the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch.

Whole Foods to consider a larger range of store sizes

Whole Foods Co-CEO John Mackey said this week that the company may consider opening stores of "mixed sizes" in the future. Mackey said larger stores opened between 2007 and 2009 "are still competing strongly as they get older... and have higher long-term potential than smaller stores because they offer more parking, less spoilage and greater efficiencies."

These 4-6 year-old stores are mostly in the 40,000 - 45,000 square foot range, compared to the smaller (30,000 - 35,000 SF) stores the company has focused on in the last few years as it entered smaller markets.

According to Executive VP of Operations David Lannon, the company is now shifting back to a 35,000 - 45,000 square foot range. In addition, Whole Foods may look to acquire smaller stores like the 16,000 square foot former Johnnies Foodmaster store it recently acquired and opened in Boston.

Mackey said he expects a "sea of change" in the industry as smaller independents look to sell, providing opportunity for chains like Whole Foods.

Net income at Whole Foods rose to $142 million in the quarter that ended April 14, a 20.3% increase as compared to the same period a year ago. Sales increased 13.3% to $3 billion, and identical-store sales rose 6.6%. Average sales per gross square foot totaled $991 for the quarter.

SRO for "Wegmans... The Musical" in Boston suburb

About six months after Wegmans opened in Northborough, MA, which is about 40 miles east of Boston,  the town played host to "Wegmans... The Musical!"

The show, written and performed by students at Algonquin Regional High School, opened last Thursday to a standing-room-only crowd of 900. It also closed, as it was a one-night-only production.

Wegmans employees, who provided clothes and props for the show, as well as food for the after-party, had no advanced-look at the script but were on hand with their senses of humor in tact. According to a newspaper report, the plot featured a sibling rivalry between two brothers working at competing supermarkets - Wegmans and "fictional rival grocery store Acme."

I'm guessing Wegmans came out on top, or at least had the better songs.

Wegmans MA store (70,000 SF) to be smallest in a decade

Last Monday, Wegmans announced that its upcoming store in Newton, MA (a densely-populated suburb that borders Boston), planned for 70,000 SF, will be its smallest in a decade. By comparison, the nearby Northborough, MA location is 138,000 SF, and the store recently announced for Montgomeryville, PA will be 120,000 SF.

A Wegmans spokesperson said the 70,000 SF footprint represents a new design and concept for the company. The store will anchor Chestnut Hill Square, a complex with 160,000 SF of shops, offices and luxury residences.

The Northborough store, which opened in October, had more than 25,000 local shoppers sign up for a Wegmans discount card before the supermarket even opened. According to the publisher of The Griffin Report of Food Marketing, Wegmans plans to open six or seven stores in a short period of time across New England.

At 70,000 SF, this "small" Wegmans will still be larger than most Stop & Shop markets, which are typically about 60,000 SF. Stop & Shop New England (a division of Ahold USA; same parent company as Giant) has more than 200 locations throughout MA, NH, CT and RI.

Boston neighborhood doesn't want Whole Foods

Whenever my friends and neighbors talk to me about vacant supermarkets, they inevitably ask if there's a chance for a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. So, a story from the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plains caught my eye. Although I don't know the details, it's clear that there is strong opposition to Whole Foods.

Whole Foods is not a good fit