“Fresh & Easy”? More like Costly & Failing. The British owner of the California-based, no-frills grocery store chain says it may be time to pack it in. At a time when ALDI is taking the U.S. by storm, Fresh & Easy represented another foreign-owned small-format grocer when it arrived on U.S. shores five years ago. It expanded to about 200[Read More…]
On this day before Thanksgiving, we offer you what you usually don’t get until the day after Thanksgiving: leftovers! Here are some Thanksgiving tidbits to enjoy before the big day: Target’s Turkey is Tops “We aren’t in the business of high-low pricing or gimmicks,” a Walmart executive sniffed, in reaction to competitors’ deals on Thanksgiving staples. Too bad, because Target[Read More…]
The results are in, and “more Americans than ever are choosing natural and/or organic foods,” says Whole Foods. Which is good, because that’s what Whole Foods sells. The grocery chain has released the results of its fifth annual “Whole Foods Market Food Shopping Trend Tracker Survey.” It found that two-thirds of respondents call themselves value seekers: “someone very aware of[Read More…]
Sure, you like your local grocery store, but have you “liked” them? A roundup of the most and least popular grocery retailers on social media sites (see the full list below) can yield some interesting insights, though it also shows that “likes” aren’t necessarily everything. Florida-based Publix was recently criticized (in “Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer” magazine) for being “technology-challenged”: “Yes,[Read More…]
Increasingly, supermarkets caught in the middle between the likes of Walmart and dollar stores on one end, and Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s on the other, are facing a choice: go upscale, go downmarket – or go bust. Winn-Dixie nearly went the “go bust” route. But now it’s trying something different. This week, the Florida-based grocer opened its newest “transformational[Read More…]
The “Walmart Challenge” ads that target grocery stores across the country have not yet targeted Whole Foods. But they just might. Because now Walmart says you can save even more at its stores if you like to shop, and eat, healthy. Today, Walmart announced a new partnership with health care insurer Humana, offering a discount for purchasing healthy items in[Read More…]
As more supermarkets expand their selection to include more wine, beer and specialty foods along with the usual staple grocery items, Harris Teeter is taking a different tack. The southeastern grocery chain is planning a brand new store concept that ditches many of the usual staple grocery items altogether, in favor of high-end items that you might need to entertain[Read More…]
You don’t get the “paper or plastic?” question at Whole Foods Market very often. The green grocery chain did away with plastic bags several years ago, and now it’s sending plastic gift cards to the scrap heap – er, recycling bin – too. Whole Foods has announced that it will introduce two new types of gift cards – one made[Read More…]
It’s not just Walmart that’s taking out full-page newspaper ads to compare its receipts with its competitors’. The same kind of ad war is also happening in a mid-sized Southern city that’s suddenly becoming a whole lot more competitive. Kroger and the new-in-town Publix are battling it out in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a series of newspaper ads that illustrate the[Read More…]
The president’s in town. Yawn. So is his opponent’s newly-minted running mate. Snooze. But there’s a giant new supermarket opening today in Urbandale, Iowa! Make way for the crowds! The grand opening of a new $20 million, 95,000+ square foot Hy-Vee is all the buzz in this suburban Des Moines community. Customers who just couldn’t wait to see it began[Read More…]
