Giant Eagle launches Scan Pay & Go service

The Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle supermarket chain recently launched Scan Pay & Go, a service that enables customers to use their phones or a store-provided device to scan groceries as they shop. The service allows shoppers to keep track of how much they are spending and experience a faster checkout process.

Scan Pay & Go is currently available in two Market District and three Giant Eagle stores.

Giant Eagle operates over 400 food, fuel and pharmacy locations, including over 200 supermarkets, in PA, OH, WV, IN and MD.

Delhaize reports lower losses at Bottom Dollar

Delhaize Group announced first quarter earnings earlier this week and said the company's performance in the U.S. was boosted in part by "lower losses at Bottom Dollar Food." U.S. operating profit for Delhaize increased to $197 million for the quarter, a 14.1% increase compared to the same time period a year ago. Operating margins improved to 4.2% of sales as compared to 3.7% in the first quarter of last year.

The company is in "phase four" of its repositioning effort for Food Lion, and has begun a "fresh round of price investments" at Hannaford Bros.

As for Bottom Dollar, Delhaize has not opened a new store in the past nine months, but future openings are planned for the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets.

Good Cents discount grocer to debut in Pittsburgh

Discount grocery store "Good Cents Grocery + More" will open its first location this month in Pittsburgh. Owned and operated by Giant Eagle, the new banner will compete directly with Bottom Dollar.

Giant Eagle already operates seven Valu King discount grocery stores, but said the new concept is "an evolution" of the Valu King format.

Giant Eagle is a privately held company with nearly 400 retail locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland. The company is based in Pittsburgh.

Valu King to compete with Bottom Dollar in Pittsburgh

Giant Eagle, the Pittsburgh, PA-based supermarket, said on Monday its discount grocery brand Valu King will expand into the Pittsburgh market. According to the company's website, Valu King has four stores in Ohio and three in Pennsylvania. The PA stores are in Johnstown and Erie (2).

Bottom Dollar, a Delhaize brand that currently has 27 stores in Eastern PA and Southern NJ, entered the Western PA and Youngstown, OH markets earlier this year (see Delhaize to eliminate Bloom, open 7 Bottom Dollar stores this week). The discount grocer now has 14 stores open in that area, according to its website. Eleven of the 14 are in Western PA, with 3 in Youngstown.

Reportedly, Valu King's first store in Pittsburgh will be in a shopping center that already has plans to include a Bottom Dollar store. 

Weis posts strong earnings, Bottom Dollar exceeding expectations

Weis Markets said yesterday that improvements in store productivity and cost controls contributed to net earnings of $20 million for its fiscal first quarter, an increase of 7.7% compared to the same period last year. In addition, sales increased 0.3% to $661.6 million, and comparable store sales improved by almost 1%.

On the other hand, despite positive results from Bottom Dollar, U.S. sales for the Delhaize Group fell 1.2% to $4.6 billion in the first quarter as compared to a year ago. Profits were down 21.7% to $173 million and comparable store sales fell 0.6%. According to the company, price investments at Food Lion and Hannaford are positioning the stores for long-term success but are coming at a cost to short-term earnings.

In their quarterly filing, Delhaize reported that Bottom Dollar continues to see strong revenue growth, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh area stores are exceeding revenue expectations.

Bottom Dollar to open 8 more stores in New Jersey

About a month after Bottom Dollar opened 14 new stores in the Pittsburgh, PA and Youngstown, OH markets (see "related blog posts" below), the company announced yesterday that it would open eight new locations in New Jersey. The new stores will all be in the Central and Southern part of the state.

New stores opening Friday, March 2
Trenton
Cinnaminson

New store opening April 13
Bordentown

Future stores
Edgewater Park
Bellmawr
Woodbury
Mt. Holly
East Windsor

As of Friday's openings, Bottom Dollar will be operating seven stores in New Jersey, 35 in Pennsylvania and three in Ohio.

Back in December, Bottom Dollar's parent company, Delhaize Group (Food Lion, Hannaford Bros.), said it is looking to add 450 new discount grocery stores worldwide over the next five years, "hundreds" of which would be in the United States.

Related blog posts:
Delhaize to eliminate Bloom, open 7 Bottom Dollar stores this week (1/23)
Food Lion closing 126 stores, including 2 in PA (1/12)

Bottom Dollar confirms 14 stores for Pittsburgh

Rumors have swirled about Bottom Dollar's expansion to Pittsburgh (see my July 11 blog post: Bottom Dollar planning at least 9 stores in Pittsburgh), and now Delhaize America has confirmed it, according to a report in the Supermarket News. Bottom Dollar said 14 stores will open in the Pittsburgh and Youngstown, Ohio markets, and approximately 600 jobs will be created.

The store, founded in 2005 in North Carolina, now has 47 locations in five states. The Greater Philadelphia market (including the Lehigh Valley) currently has 16 stores, 14 of which are in Pennsylvania.

Bottom Dollar planning at least 9 stores in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Tribune published a story last week about Bottom Dollar's expansion to the Pittsburgh market. According to the story, nine stores are in the works (or thought to be, anyway) for the area. If the growth of stores in Philadelphia is any indication, the number could rise quickly.

At this time last year we had just begun to talk about Bottom Dollar's entry to the Philadelphia market. Now we have 16 stores operating in the Greater Philly region, with more planned. I hear they aren't performing up to expectations, but they're obviously doing well enough to spur continued expansion - here and to our west.

The Tribune story also made some interesting points, including the following:

• Sales in the limited-assortment grocery segment (which include growing retailers Bottom Dollar, Aldi and Save-A-Lot) increased 14.4% to $27.1 billion in 2010, according to a report by Willard Bishop, a food retailing consultancy.
• "At one time, grocers had most of your wallet for grocery purchases," said a Willard Bishop managing partner. "Today, they only have about a third."

I think Bottom Dollar will be around for a while, although I expect parent company Food Lion will eventually have to close some of the under-performing stores in the Philadelphia area. It'll be interesting to see how they are received in Pittsburgh.

Related blog posts:

The subtle differences between Aldi, Bottom Dollar and Save-A-Lot

I stopped in the North Wales Bottom Dollar Food Store...

Bottom Dollar may be expanding to Pittsburgh

The Supermarket News article below states that Bottom Dollar may be expanding to Pittsburgh with as many as 11 stores. They are an established brand in the Philadelphia market now after opening 18 stores in the last year, although many people have commented on the lack of cars in some of their parking lots during peak shopping times. There are exceptions, of course, like the Coatesville, PA store, which another Bottom Dollar store manager called "the cream of the crop."

Bottom Dollar Eyes Pittsburgh: Reports