Wegmans named easiest company for customers to work with, Wawa also top performer

Last week the Temkin Group published the 2018 Temkin Effort Ratings, which the company calls the industry's most comprehensive benchmark of customer effort. This measurement shows the degree to which customers view companies as either easy or hard to work with.

The winner? Wegmans Food Markets.

Temlin has proclaimed Wegmans as the "easiest company for customers to work with," with an overall score of 90 percent. Other top performers noted in the study were Subway, Citizens Bank, Ace Hardware, and Wawa Food Markets, all with 89 percent scores. USAA and Publix were close behind at 88 percent.

The worst ratings belong to Spirit Airlines, Medicaid and CarMax.

According to the Temkin Group, supermarkets, fast food chains and retailers earned "excellent" ratings (above 80 percent), while health plans and TV/Internet service providers earned "poor" scores (below 60 percent).

Supermarkets lead customer experience survey; Wegmans tops all companies

The Temkin Group, a research and consulting firm, said earlier this month that its 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings survey of 10,000 U.S. shoppers revealed that supermarkets were tops in customer experience ratings among 20 industries evaluated.

Supermarkets posted a rating of 78.5%, up from 78.1% in 2017. The industries near the top of the list include retail (74.4%), banks (73.1%), and parcel delivery (71.9%). A score of 80% or above is considered "excellent," 70% or higher is "good," and below 60% is deemed "poor."

Ratings are determined by customer responses in three main categories - success (can you do what you want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?).

Overall, Wegmans turned in the top rating of all 318 companies included in the survey. The Rochester, NY-based food retailer had an overall customer experience rating of 86%. Among supermarkets, H-E-B, the top company in 2017, and Publix tied for second with a score of 83%.

Rounding out the top 10 scores among supermarkets for overall customer experience were Aldi and Wawa (82%), Trader Joe's and ShopRite (81%), Save-A-Lot and Food Lion (80%), Meijer, Kroger, Hy-Vee and Winn-Dixie (79%), Albertsons (78%), Safeway and Piggly Wiggly (77%), Stop and Shop (76%) and Vons (75%).

Upper Darby shopping center owner to propose $120 million renovation

Drexeline Shopping Center, an Upper Darby, PA retail center built in the 1950's, will undergo a $120 million renovation, according to property owner MCB Real Estate.

The new center will feature a redesign for current tenants like ShopRite, Crozer-Keystone Medical Center, PNC and Wells Fargo, and the addition of a Wawa Superstore, new office building, improved parking, pedestrian walkways, and a six-story self storage facility that looks like an office building.

According to MCB, Drexeline Shopping Center's annual economic impact is about $37 million, and it supports about 350 jobs. Upper Darby Township Mayor Thomas Micozzie believes that once the property is redeveloped, that annual impact will surpass $100 million, and will support 600 direct jobs.

"They will have to apply for a zoning variance," said Jeff Gentile, the township's director of licenses and inspections. "They would have to show compliance with a flood plain and go before the county's planning commission before it comes back to Upper Darby for final review. Then it will be brought to council for land development approval and building code review."

Thomas Judge, Jr., Upper Darby's Chief Administrative Officer, said earlier this month that no plans or applications have been filed with the township to date.

Real estate experts question Lidl's planned store locations

Real estate experts that spoke with Supermarket News last month expressed skepticism over Lidl's real estate choices. Douglas Munson and John Tippetts, former Kroger real estate staffers and co-founders of MTN Retail Advisors, said that about 70% of what they identified as the first 75 stores that Lidl intends to open lack the ingress and egress of a typical "Class A" supermarket location.

In addition, Munson and Tippetts believe that the sites appear to have been selected with a lack of insight into the volume of the competitors in the immediate trade areas.

Site Specialist Matthew P. Casey expressed similar concerns.

"I don't think they evaluated competition beyond doing things like looking at the number of cars in the parking lot," Casey said.

Lidl says that it plans to address quality and price in a manner that existing U.S. markets are not.

Munson predicted that Lidl will attract "the wrong people" and end up being more like a Weis Market or Food Lion rather than a Harris Teeter.

"You have to realize that the average Food Lion is doing $175,000 a week and the average Harris Teeter is doing $450,000. If you assume you're hitting Harris Teeter and you wind up hitting Food Lion, you're taking a much, much smaller piece of the pie."

On the other hand, Mark Thompson, managing director at Crossman & Co., said Lidl's site choices don't surprise him.

"Look what Wawa did in Florida," he said. "They went off hard corners to midblock and where they are at a hard corner it's a 'B' corner, yet all the pumps are full. Their model blew the market away. If Lidl's model blows the market away then people will shop."

ShopRite, Wawa coming to Northeast Philadelphia

A ShopRite-anchored center that will also include Wawa will receive a total of $12.5 million in tax credits to fund its construction, which is expected to start in a couple months. The center will be located in the Wissinoming section of Philadelphia (lower Northeast) and will be about 110,000 square feet.

Wawa wants to sell beer in Chadds Ford store

Philly.com reported today that Wawa wants to sell beer at its store on Naamans Creek Road in Chadds Ford.

According to a Wawa spokesperson, the company views this as a "single-store expansion." The spokesperson also said they may look to expand their offerings in the future.

The Philly.com article points out that the nearby Acme and Whole Foods already sell beer, and the Wegmans opening this fall will sell beer as well.

Under Concord Township rules, a public hearing must be held since the store is proposing to change its product line. The store would also have to obtain a liquor license.

Foodservice leads convenience store sales to record highs

Last week the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) reported that U.S. convenience stores had record in-store sales in 2013, with sales reaching $204 billion. The total represents a 2.4% increase over 2012.

According to the NACS report, sales in 2013 were led by continued growth in foodservice, driven by prepared foods and commissary, as consumers look for more food and beverages on the go. Fuel sales also hit new highs as far as gallons purchased, but total fuel sales actually declined, the result of a 2.9% decrease in fuel prices.

The report also indicated the following:

• Foodservice accounted for 29.1% of gross profit dollars at c-stores. Tobacco accounted for more in-store sales than any other category (foodservice was a distance second).
• C-store operating costs increased at a faster rate than sales, leading to a decrease in industry pretax profits. Wages and payroll taxes represented the biggest cost increases, the result of a significant increase in employees needed to staff the booming foodservice departments.
• 83.7% of c-stores sell fuel.
• C-stores account for 34.3% of all retail outlets in the U.S., according to Nielsen, which is significantly higher than other retail channels including drug stores, supermarkets and dollar stores.

"Gotta have a Wawa."

Giant's 100th gas station opens in Sourderton

Giant Food Stores opened its 100th fuel station last week, which is located in front of a Giant store in Souderton, PA and directly across from a Super Wawa.

Giant opened its first fuel station in 1998, and has recently been adding stations in the Philadelphia market. There are a number of developers looking for sites in hopes of landing Giant's next fuel station.

Wawa opens sixth Florida store

Wawa opened its sixth Florida store late last month. The company began opening stores in Florida in July, and has plans for 25 more in 2013, with a total of 100 new stores in five years. The six operating stores are in Orlando and Kissimmee. Expansion to the Tampa area will begin next year.

Wawa has nearly 600 convenience stores - 300 of which offer gas - in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.

Wawa opens first Florida store

The first Wawa in the state of Florida opened last week in Orlando, and as many as 100 may open in the state over the next five years. For now, residents of Orlando can expect a new Wawa every week for the next five weeks.

A store in Tampa is slated to open next year, and Wawa expects 20 new Florida stores in 2013, then 25 stores each in 2014 and 2015.

For more on Wawa's expansion to Florida, see New prototype Wawa under development for Florida.

New prototype Wawa under development for Florida

Wawa CEO Howard Stoeckel said recently that the company's stores scheduled to open this year in Florida will resemble a restaurant that sells gas, rather than a convenience store, as we are accustomed to in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The new store prototype will be built around fast-casual food and convenience, and will feature an array of proprietary foods and a "barista-style" coffee department.

According to reports, the first Florida store will open in Orlando in July, and five more locations will follow in the Orlando market in the following months. Stores in Tampa are scheduled to open in early 2013. Overall, the company expects to operate about 100 stores in central Florida over the course of the next five years.

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

Wawa signs leases, plans to enter Florida market

According to the Orlando Business Journal, Wawa has signed "more than 10" leases in the Orlando, Florida market, and the retailer has indicated it will open as many as 100 stores in the state.

According to a Wawa regional real estate manager, site work on the first set of stores will begin in the next month or two, with openings taking place next summer.

Currently Wawa has 588 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Fuel is offered at 298 of these locations (that's more than half for those keeping score).

I have previously written about Walmart's entry into the convenience store/gas arena and their roll-out of up to 350 stores per year, but I doubt the Greater Philadelphia area is high on their list because of Wawa's domination here. It'll be interesting to see, however, if the Big Ws battle it out in the Sunshine state!

Is Giant planning to compete with Wawa?

Giant Food Stores plans to open its second Giant To Go convenience store in the Lancaster area. The store will be 4,000 square feet and will have three main areas: Meals to Go, Groceries to Go, and Snacks to Go. According to Supermarket News, the store will offer rotisserie and fried chicken, a salad bar, submarine sandwiches (customizable via a toppings bar), coffee, espresso and cappuccino, as well as sushi, breakfast items and soup.

Since Giant sells gasoline at many supermarket locations, I wonder if that's the logical next step for Giant To Go locations.

Study: Third of Shoppers Shun C-Store Food

A "third of shoppers" haven't been to Wawa. I bet if this study was limited to the Philadelphia region, the results would be much different. Wawa isn't your average convenience store. How many times have you driven past a deli or supermarket to get a sandwich at Wawa? I do it all the time. As for their products, they produce their own milk (and have for over 100 years), the coffee is great (or so I'm told), and you can get fresh bread (even on Christmas Eve, as I once found out). And the touch screen ordering system is second to none.

Gottahava Wawa!

Study: Third of Shoppers Shun C-Store Food