Walmart has retained its title as king of grocery sales in the Fredericksburg region for a second straight year. The discount behemoth, which has 10 area stores including a new one in Locust Grove, raked in $286.20 million locally in a recent 12-month period. That’s up from $257.50 million the previous 12 months, a more than 11 percent increase, according to Food World magazine’s latest annual market share survey for the Mid-Atlantic region.
Food Lion, which had reigned supreme, retained its No. 2 spot, and Giant Food of Landover, Md., remained in third place. Rounding out the top five were CVS and then Wawa. Wegmans, which has only one store in the area, posted the best single-store sales.
Food World, a Maryland-based industry publication, has been publishing a grocery market report for the Mid-Atlantic region for 36 years. It focuses solely on food and drug sales, and doesn’t include gas sales for either convenience or grocery stores.
The latest report covers sales from April 1, 2013, to March 31 of this year, a period publisher Jeff Metzger described as “challenging” in the Mid-Atlantic region, especially for traditional supermarket chains. The economy is still shaky, he said, and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits were reduced by 11 percent.
Traditional supermarket chains such as Food Lion and Giant Food also continue to face increasing competition from mass marketers, drug stores and convenience stores, which are expanding their food selections. (Dollar stores, which also sell groceries, were not included in the study.)
The 15 Wawa locations in the Fredericksburg area, for example, rang up $84.85 million in food sales. That’s up from $74.72 million in the last survey, a 13.5 percent increase. And the 17 CVS stores in the Fredericksburg area, rang up $85 million in food and drug sales locally this time compared to $80.50 last time, a nearly 6 percent gain.
Meanwhile, Food Lion, which has the most number of grocery stores in the area—21, saw its sales slip from $225.70 million to $220.60 million, a 2.25 percent decline. And Giant Food of Landover, Md., saw its sales drop 2.33 percent from $167.88 million to $163.96 million at its five area stores.
Meanwhile Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans, whose sole area store is in Fredericksburg, posted $61.90 million in sales, a modest 0.32 percent increase from its $61.70 million in sales in the previous survey.
That put it in seventh place again for local market share. Its sales were higher than the combined totals of two other large retailers with a single presence locally: Costco, at $29.10 million, and BJ’s Wholesale Club, at $24.2 million.
Food World said that while this “wasn’t an especially explosive year” for the chain, it can still have a bigger impact on a local market than any other grocery retailer in the Northeast and “continues to execute at the highest industry levels.”
Other retailers making the top 10 for the region are: Target, in sixth place with $76.40 million in sales; 7–Eleven, eighth place with $46.40 million; Rite Aid, ninth place with $38.40 million; and Giant Food’s Carlyle, Pa.-based sister company, which trades as Martin’s in Virginia. It ranked 10th with $33.51 million in sales at its sole area location, which is in Culpeper.
Ranking varies from locality to locality, however. The four Walmarts in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County, which Food World’s report combines, dominated with 21.3 percent of the market share there, or $131.80 million in sales.
Meanwhile, Food Lion continued to reign supreme in Caroline and Westmoreland counties, where it faces little competition. Its two Caroline stores accounted for nearly 80 percent of the market share in the county with $14.60 million in sales. Its only competition is one Rite Aid, which had $3.10 million.
Food Lion captured 54.44 percent of market share in Westmoreland, where its two stores rang up $22.70 million in sales. Its competitors there include two Rite Aids, a Great Valu and a 7–Eleven.
Food World also singled out King George and Orange counties for being among 11 counties/cities in its survey that drew a significant amount of shoppers from outside their borders. It credited the Walmart that opened in Locust Grove last year, along with the chain’s supercenter in Gordonsville, for helping attract shoppers from adjacent Madison, Greene, Louisa and Fluvanna counties.
