Did you know that the closest WM Supercenter to the White House is 48 miles away--in Fredericksburg, VA? That helps explain why in the DC Metro area, WM is not in the top 5 of grocery sales, and in fact is almost completely absent:
At stake for the supermarkets is the $8.2 billion a year that area shoppers spend on groceries. For shoppers it will mean more choice and, the newer chains say, more competition on price and service. For workers, it poses a challenge to organized labor because only Giant, Safeway and Shoppers Food Warehouse are unionized.The article doesn't even mention Wal-Mart, even though Wal-Mart has been the number 1 grocer in the US since 2002.Giant Food LLC, with 130 stores, controls 42 percent of the local supermarket business. Safeway Inc., with 107 stores, has 26 percent of the market. Shoppers Food Warehouse Corp. is a distant third with 39 stores and 13 percent of the market. The market figures were compiled by Food World, a Columbia-based trade publication.
Posted by Kevin on January, 3 2005 at 09:40 AM
