Giant to close Upper Gwynedd, PA store

Giant Food announced earlier this week that it would close the Upper Gwynedd, PA location it purchased from Safeway (Genuardi's) in 2012. The associated pharmacy, located less than a mile away in North Wales, will close as well. Both closings are planned for January 24.

Giant purchased 16 area stores from Safeway in 2012. At 33,000 square feet, the Upper Gwynedd store is one of the smallest in the Giant chain. According to the company, all employees will be offered positions at nearby stores.

Whole Foods to relocate from North Wales to Lower Gwynedd

Whole Foods announced today that it would close its North Wales, PA store and open a new, larger store in Lower Gwynedd, PA. The target date for the new store, to be located in Stoltz Real Estate Partners' Springhouse Village Shopping Center, is late 2015.

Whole Foods currently operates 379 stores but expects to reach 500 sometime in 2017. The company recently said it believes it could have as many as 1,200 stores before their growth is complete. Sales in 2013 were $13 billion.

Although many high-income suburban locations like Plymouth Meeting and Lower Gwynedd still warrant 45,000+ square foot stores, Whole Foods has been in the news recently for its inner-city and smaller format stores.

Historically the company selected locations with a large number of college students, but now they are fine with population density of any kind, regardless of the income levels. New stores in Detroit and New Orleans are supporting that theory, and Newark and inner-city Chicago are next.

Whole Foods is betting on a presence in less populated markets as well, but like their inner-city locations, they are often choosing to open smaller stores. In fact, they have reduced the average store size in recent years without slowing sales growth. According to Northcoast Research Analyst Chuck Cerankosky, sales per square foot at Whole Foods have increased as the store size has decreased.

"They made a very smart change in strategy," Cerankosky said. "The stores are a more productive size, and it brings their strongly branded, fresh-food focus to more markets."

As Scott Davis wrote in Forbes.com last week, Co-CEO Walter Robb wants the company to deliver on its "promise of becoming accessible to the masses, helping America get healthier and hopefully  integrating its purpose into the lives of those who never knew that Whole Foods was a brand for them."

Delhaize America to cut 500 jobs

Delhaize America, the parent company of Food Lion, Bottom Dollar and others, announced yesterday that it will eliminate 500 jobs as part of a corporate reorganization. The jobs lost will be "above the store manager level" and will include 350 current employees as well as 150 open positions.

Yesterday's announcement follows last month's news that 33 Sweetbay stores, eight Food Lions and three Bottom Dollar locations would close. The Bottom Dollar stores are all in Pennsylvania (North Wales, Chalfont and Reading).

1/18/2013 story: Three Bottom Dollar stores to close in PA

Three Bottom Dollar stores to close in PA

Delhaize America announced yesterday it would close Bottom Dollar food stores in North Wales, Chalfont and Reading, PA. The company is also closing 33 Sweetbay stores in Florida and eight Food Lion locations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. All the stores are expected to close by mid-February.

Bottom Dollar entered the Philadelphia market in October 2010 and quickly expanded. According to the company's website, there are now 37 stores operating in southeastern PA and southern NJ. Last year Bottom Dollar expanded to western PA and eastern Ohio, where it now has 16 stores.

Sweetbay, whose first store opened in Florida in 2004 and which currently has 105 stores throughout the state, will layoff approximately 2,000 employees. According to Delhaize Group CFO Pierre Bouchut, the elimination of the 33 money-losing stores should provide a $40 million benefit to underlying profits annually. He added that he expects Sweetbay to be profitable in 2013.