Counter Culture

Winn-Dixie is becoming a boxer that refuses to get knocked out.

After news last week that competitor Publix is buying 49 stores from Albertsons, Winn-Dixie chairman Peter Lynch released a statement saying that the move won’t impact his chain, as a majority of its stores are close enough.
Continue reading ‘Winn-Dixie Is Tough.’

British grocer Tesco has made a lot of waves in the industry with the roll out and expansion of its Fresh & Easy chain on the West Coast. But now the retailer plans to slow down its growth.

According to a blog by the chain’s marketing director Simon Uwins, the company is now “pausing for breath” before it continues to open stores. After opening its first 59 Fresh & Easy units in Arizona, California and Nevada, management will wait three months before a further roll out, with the exception of a few Phoenix stores.

Why?
Continue reading ‘Tesco Slows US Expansion’

We have written a lot lately about store closings, reduced expansion plans
and lagging sales. But one sector that seems to have done well as of late is the grocery business. In a Q&A interview we did last week, Claes Fornell, a University of Michigan professor who specializes in consumer behavior, said that US supermarkets tend to do better in that area than other retail sectors.

Financially, they aren’t doing that poorly, either. Safeway recently reported positive quarterly same-store sales and is launching a new concept. Kroger, though it has not released Q4 results yet, had a strong third quarter and keeps expanding. And though many of them are private, specialty and regional chains across the country, like Wegmans, keep expanding and creating a huge buzz.
Continue reading ‘Will Grocers Weather the Storm?’