Rise of the Discounters

Above: Both Bottom Dollar (top) and Just $ave Foods (bottom) have corny taglines throughout their stores reminding patrons of how far their dollar will go.

With names like 'Bottom Dollar,' 'Save-A-Lot,' and 'Just $ave Foods,' discount grocers with limited assortments and no-frills shopping experiences are rapidly expanding. With the popularity of ALDI, other stores have taken off on this concept here in North Carolina:

St. Louis-based Save A Lot (a division of SuperValu) opened a distribution center in Davidson County, and has also committed to opening a store in East Greensboro's food desert. Photos of the north Greensboro location:

Walmart opened some of their first "Express" stores in North Carolina, stores that are approximately the size of a CVS or Walgreens. These express stores work in communities that are too small to support a full scale Walmart. Photos of the Richfield, NC store:

Just $ave Foods is Lowes Foods' discounter, as former some Lowes Foods stores are being converted into this format. Photos from the Graham, NC store (former Winn Dixie)

And Bottom Dollar is Food Lion's discount counterpart. Recently a large expansion was announced for this concept. Photos from the Asheboro Store (formerly Food Lion)

They even sell Hannaford Drinking Water - to differentiate between Food Lion's own brand.

Grocerying News Updates

Danville's Harris Teeter Closing in March

Last summer, Grocerying had the chance to visit Danville, Virginia and a Harris Teeter that we dubbed "the store that time forgot." As the news of its closing comes as little surprise, it is a blow to the already economically depressed Danville. Danville's grocerying scene now consists of Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, Aldi, Wal-Mart Supercenter and a few small independents. In recent years Danville has also lost a Kroger, although Kroger still has a presence in nearby Martinsville. The closest Harris Teeter stores will now be in Greensboro, where some employees are transferring to and some customers say they will make the drive. It is worth noting that when we wrote the piece last year we predicted that the Danville store would not last much longer. Read more from the Danville Register & Bee

Wal-Mart now leads the Charlotte market

Wal-Mart has dethroned Harris Teeter as grocery market leader, according to an article published in today's Charlotte Observer. This comes as no surprise either as the Charlotte area's grocerying scene has changed immensely. We've seen stores leave (Winn-Dixie), new stores arrive (Lowes Foods) and a rise in specialty chains (Trader Joe's, Aldi, Compare Foods, Earth Fare) and of course supercenters (Wal-Mart, Target). Aside from Wal-Mart, in terms of number of stores Harris Teeter still dominates the northern and southern end of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, while Food Lion dominates the eastern and western portions. Get the full story from The Charlotte Observer and check out their graphic.

Bi-Lo's Woes & New Strategies

On the heels of Bi-Lo's Chapter 11 Bankruptcy reorganization and almost buyout by Food Lion, the South Carolina based grocery chain is trying a new strategy. The company has struggled to make a niche for itself as a mid-market grocer, so now they are banking on customer loyalty. Bi-Lo has partnered with area BP gas stations to promote usage of Bi-Lo's BonusCard for a program called Fuelperks. Read more about Fuelperks from The Charlotte Business Journal.

In other Bi-Lo news, two Charlotte area stores are slated for closing. Bi-Lo's store on Little Rock Road, which was a former Winn-Dixie, will close in March as will their store in Indian Trail off Independence Boulevard. WCCB-TV Fox Charlotte did a story on how anchor tenant Bi-Lo's closing causes a ripple effect throughout the shopping center hurting the smaller businesses.

Innovative way to compare prices at the grocery store

Grocerying has found a terrific new tool to use while trying to save money at the grocery store! WRAL-TV, Channel 5 in Raleigh, has compiled data and put it on their website. The items compared consist of everyday items that many people would purchase on an average trip to the grocery store. The list is comprised of apples, bacon, bananas, bread, butter, cheddar cheese, chicken breast, cola, eggs, ground beef, lettuce, milk, steak and sugar. WRAL-TV takes these items and compares them not only at five Raleigh grocery stores (Wal-Mart SuperCenter, Lowes Foods, Kroger, Harris Teeter and Food Lion); but they additionally compare it to the prices provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Not surprisingly, Wal-Mart has the lowest overall price on these items ringing in at $27.74, well below the next cheapest (which may surprise some of you) which is Harris Teeter coming in at $32.32. Right behind Harris Teeter is Kroger, at only pennies more with a total of $32.38. Then we have Food Lion at $34.54 followed by Lowes Foods’ comparable $34.76 and finally the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics with a grand total of $35.77. Their methodology provides that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is based on the south region. In addition, you can click “Show Trends” and see a line graph of all the stores prices over the past year - which shows a trend of falling prices between September 2008 and September 2009. A very neat tool to use indeed.

Link to Grocery Cart Tracker: http://www.wral.com/news/local/flash/2603702/

Grocerying at a different kind of Wal-Mart in High Point, NC

The newly renovated Wal-Mart store on North Main Street at Hartley Drive in High Point: It's not quite a supercenter, nor is it quite a regular Wal-Mart, but a colorful hybrid of sorts. I have never seen a Wal-Mart store like this, and the new design is definitely intriguing. This Wal-Mart store was remodeled last year and re-opened recently. While High Point got a new supercenter on South Main Street in the location of a former Winn-Dixie Shopping Center, Wal-Mart closed its original High Point Store on North Main Street and remodeled it: It originally looked like this. Now, its exterior looks just like the new supercenter on the south end of High Point, except not as large. But the interior is anything but typical. Here are some camera-phone photos of the interior of store. Hope to get more photos of both stores!

Before & After: The Transformation of a Raleigh Wal-Mart

Raleigh's Wal-Mart Supercenter off of New Hope Church Road started out originally as just a regular Wal-Mart. According to the Wake County tax website, the store originally opened in 1993 and then in 2004 was renovated and expanded. The Wake County Tax site is one of the most comprehensive tax websites in the state, storing photos of buildings from the mid-90s to present day. Because of this, we can chronicle the time line of the Wal-Mart's transformation.

See more photos here

Belmont, NC Birds eye

CLICK to see a former Harris Teeter, a current Roses and Eckerd (Rite Aid) store + behind it the new Super Wal-mart in Belmont, NC


Windows Live Local's "Birds' Eye" imagery has come to the Charlotte region, check out the images above provided by this service in Belmont, North Carolina. Belmont, a small town west of Charlotte in Gaston County, once had a Harris Teeter store in the Roses shopping center that closed sometime in the late 90s.

Grocerying in Burlington and Winston-Salem

It's time for some Triad Grocerying! These photos are from Winston-Salem, Burlington and Gibsonville (NC).

Lowes Foods - Winston-Salem
This store is located at Robinhood and Peace Haven Roads in the Mount Tabor area of Winston-Salem. Winston-Salem is Lowes Foods' home turf and so many of the stores there have the older prototype look to them.

Harris Teeter - Winston-Salem
This HT store is just across the street from the Lowes Foods mentioned above. It has a newer look with the domes on top which are pretty rare to see.

Wal-Mart Supercenter, Burlington
This is the primary Wal-Mart store serving the Burlington and Elon areas.

Super Kmart Center - Burlington
Despite being a dying breed, this K-mart seems to be alive and kicking as a supercenter. Even as competition is increasing in the area. (Greensboro also has Super K-mart).

This Harris Teeter store opened last year after it relocated from its old location across the street. The store it is currently in used to be a Winn-Dixie, and Harris Teeter's old store is now a Gold's Gym.

One of the older styles of Lowes Foods, this was once a Byrd's Grocery Store before Lowes Foods took over them in the 90s.

Wal-Mart - Callabridge Landing

Some people think they're pure evil. Others love the discounter. However, one thing is fact, they are certainly growing fast and as the nation's world's largest retailer it's inevitable for them not to have a presence in the region. In fact with that presence comes growth in their market share, which is taking on longtime market leaders Harris Teeter and Food Lion. [See related article]. The Wal-Mart pictured above is in Charlotte's northwest region in the Mountain Island Lake area.

Related article:
Wal-Mart gains on standard groceries