Are Grocery Stores Regional?
It is not hard to notice that the grocery stores you see in your region are not spread in the other areas.
This is especially prevalent if you travel around too much. So you might wonder – are grocery stores regional? Yes Grocery stores are Regional
I did some research and realized that competition, appropriate infrastructure, and complicated multi-state legalities quickly limit growth relating to grocery stores.
I have established that the most successful grocery stores have similar themes.
These are businesses offering great value, best products and are keen on offering essential services to their communities.
However, it is not easy to find a store that has all three. It is common for grocery store chains to get into acquisition deals every so often.
You will hear of one chain that has bought the other and so on.
Consequently, one parent company might have multiple acquisitions.
After the acquisitions, the mother companies will invest in such acquisitions over the long and short term.
For instance, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market. After this acquisition, Amazon invested in Whole Foods.
On many occasions, the local stores will retain the original store names, regarded as the brand name.
This is done to retain the customers who are familiar and trust the brand to avoid killing the golden goose.
Is There A Great Difference Between A Supermarket And A Grocery Store?
Yes. By default, a grocery store is generally smaller, offering specialized services.
For instance, in a grocery store, you will be able to buy chorizo, but you can’t find a pharmacy there.
Grocery stores scarcely sell more general retail items, including towels and bedsheets.
Grocery stores sell groceries only and might have a meat department as well. It is not rare to find a produce department, a bakery, or a deli.
Grocery stores will have few employees, as well as fewer departments, compared to supermarkets.
Additionally, you cannot equate a grocery store to a typical chain store.
But even when they might have a chain, it will be a small chain with just a handful of stores but not a nationwide chain.
While both a supermarket and a grocery store can be called a grocery store, only one can be called a supermarket.
A supermarket is part of a chain that is large, offering many brands and choices.
Compare this with a grocer that might offer only one or two brands of some items like toilet paper and beans.
There is a significant difference between the two categories where larger chain stores might sell cheaper items than small grocery stores when pricing.
However, there is one common denominator among supermarkets and grocery stores; Both make their money by selling higher inventory volumes.
Unfortunately, since grocery stores do not enjoy the high traffic enjoyed by their counterparts, they have to sell their items at a significantly higher price.
With a higher profit mark-up, they are bound to attract even lesser traffic. Consequently, grocery stores make lesser sales and lesser profit overall.
Indeed, grocery stores must often have sales to dispose of excess inventory and out-of-season items.
Does HEB Have Outlets In Other Cities Apart From Texas and Mexico?
No. H-E-B runs its chains exclusively in Texas and Mexico.
Started as a small family-owned store, H-E-B started and has been in operation for over 100 years now.
It is hard to believe that this company has grown from such a humble beginning, owns more than 340 stores, and employs more than 100,000 workers.
H-E-B is among the largest food chains we have in the US. Even so, their operations are confined to Texas and Mexico.
H-E-B is a favorite shopping destination for HEB shoppers. Interestingly, you will find so many people who have taken maternity photos at the store.
Other people have had their engagement photos taken at the store.
HEB is known for its charity engagements supporting Texas charities, including Special Olympics and local food banks.
Additionally, their support comes in handy in promoting Texas-made products in their stores.
Over the years that HEB has witnessed growth, it’s ownership has not changed from a family setup. Indeed, it is still a family-owned business.
While HEB quickly has enough resources and infrastructure to go nationwide, they have chosen to operate within Texas for less work.
HEB loves Texas, where also Texas loves HEB as a reciprocate gesture.
Do Some Grocery Chains Have Outlets In All 50 States?
No. While there are over 40,000 grocery stores in the US, most of them are regional, and others operate in a single state, including HEB that operates in Texas.
However, there are a few that have nationwide operations.
As of today, Walmart is arguably the largest grocery chain. You might want to oppose my view by saying that Walmart is also known for selling food.
However, with Walmart’s vast growth, it is still not operational in Hawaii, technically operating in 49 of the 50 states.
Walmart is followed by the Kroger grocery chain. Operating other brands like Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, and Ralphs, Kroger Company made me wonder why it isn’t in most cities.
For instance, when I traveled around Dallas, Kroger was all over the place but did not have a single store in Austin, a mere 200 miles away.
Other stores like Target and Walmart are considered supermarkets as opposed to grocery stores.
You will agree that the terms are confused when they are used interchangeably since supermarkets are larger than grocery stores, the latter offering more specialized services.
On the other hand, supermarkets sell a wider selection of items, selling from more departments than grocery stores.
You will find an in-house butcher, pharmacy, or a floral department.
Still, grocery stores are considered more personal; unlike supermarkets, Whole Foods is a typical supermarket example.
But it has a grocery store feel, mainly selling natural and organic foods in an enviable environment.
To read more about the differences between grocery stores and supermarkets, just read this recent article.
Is Kroger Larger That Walmart?
No. Indeed, Kroger comes as the second-largest retailer store, behind Walmart.
With over 3,500 stores nationwide, the company is headquartered in Cincinnati, with predominant stores in the Southern and Midwestern United States.
With this number of stores, you might expect them to be in every state.
However, you will be amazed that they are only in 35 states, with the majority of their stores based in California.
To find out if there is a Kroger in your state, you only need to visit the Kroger Company Website.
Is Safeway In California?
Yes. Founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in American Falls, Safeway was purchased by Albertsons in 2015.
Well, it is interesting to note that Safeway started acquiring small regional stores in the 1920s.
This type of acquisition included Daniel Reeves, Piggly Wiggly, and Thriftway Stores.
With time, Safeway expanded internationally and opened stores in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, among other places.
Safeway shifted its headquarters to Oakland, California, in 1929. This was to remain until 1996 before moving them to Pleasanton, California, the same year.
Worth noting is the fact that Safeway started selling off stores in 1980.
Around 1989, their presence had been reduced to a few western states and Northern California, in addition to the Washington, DC area.
In 2015, Albertsons bought Safeway, where several stores in Denver, Florida, and Seattle were rebranded as Safeway.
When you combine all grocery chain names, Albertson’s has a presence in 34 states plus Washington DC.
Therefore, although several Safeway stores operate outside California, most of the stores are in California.
Are There Many Publix Stores In The US?
Yes. There are over 1200 Publix stores in the US. Indeed, Publix is among the largest grocery chains in the United States.
Publix is a force to contend with in the grocery industry as they produce dairy deli, produce, bakery, and other products in their manufacturing facilities.
Publix is an employee-owned company and the largest in the US, whose headquarters are in Lakeland, Florida.
Publix operations are throughout the Southeastern United States.
Publix is at the ranks of Whole Foods Market and has a large fan following.
Indeed, the company has appeared on Fortune magazine as among the best 100 companies to work in for multiple occasions.
Publix makes it to the list of the only eight companies featured on the list since its inception two decades ago.
From its inception, Publix operated within Florida. But the first Publix outside Florida was opened in Savannah, Georgia, in the middle of 1991.
To date, Publix has made significant expansions to Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Can Grocery Stores Use Any Loss Prevention Strategies?
Yes. There are several loss prevention strategies that I have seen many grocery stores using.
With over $50 billion in inventory shrinkage that has hit the U.S. retail industry from 2019, all business categories have been fighting against theft.
Indeed, this is a problem that seems to be getting worse with time. Unfortunately, this problem is more pronounced in the grocery stores’ industry.
This is where the problem is hard to solve, leading to inventory spoilage associated with shoplifting, internal theft, and fraud.
With technology, grocery stores are at the forefront of trying to tackle the problems.
First, grocery stores have been trying to capture their retail loss baseline.
This is an effective strategy where grocery stores are trying to explore such problems .
With their staff inventory software, finance professionals, store managers, and distribution centers.
This has proven to be of immense help in bringing a handle on how your business is doing.
It is also a good way to measure improvements made over time and, at the same time, focus on your prevention strategies.
The other thing you need to do is to tap into your workforce.
Indeed, there is a study that was conducted by ECR that found that shrinkage could be reduced to a minimum if you tapped into your workforce.
Essentially, this would see a cash reduction loss of up to about 9.5 percent.
When you consider that we are talking about the grocery store industry, you know what this means.
As insinuated earlier, grocery stores have small profit margins, and any small loss could be disastrous.
While investing in technology might bring a lot of change to your grocery store.
it is essential to understand that that employees and managers have a vital role in fostering a culture of inclusivity and ownership.
If you do this, your employees will be empowered to protect you and your business from losses.
Additionally, it will be easy to mitigate risks and bolster awareness and accountability among co-workers.
Another strategy is increasing surveillance technology.
Although CCTV is not new in the provision of protection and surveillance in business establishments.
There has been a great rise in its usage in the grocery stores industry, coupled with digital video features.
Indeed, from 2018, there has been an increase in the use of CCTVs and digital video recorders by between 7.9 percent and 9.5 percent.
About 62 percent of grocery stores have embraced CCTV, while 84 percent use video recorders.
Conclusion
While there are over 40,000 grocery chains in the United States, there are only a couple of them who are nationwide.
Indeed, large grocery stores, including HEB in Texas, are admonished by their fans and do not want them to leave but hand around for a while.
However, supermarkets, being impersonal, including Target and Walmart, boast of stores in just about every state, save a few.
Many grocery stores will choose to remain regional due to their customers and ensure that they operate within areas.
Where they have already established a good support and customer base infrastructure.
While Safeway was nationwide several decades ago, it is currently mostly based on the West Coast.
On the other hand, Publix happened to be regional to the southeast.
