Competitors eat SuperValue Market Share

Supervalu plots to keep Cub Foods on top of Twin Cities grocery scene

Excerpt:

The biggest grocery chain in the Twin Cities — Cub Foods — has half the market share it did 20 years ago, with competition coming from new big-box store chains, boxes arriving on front porches, and a parent company that makes most of its money as a wholesaler rather than a retailer.

In the 1990s, Cub dominated the Twin Cities grocery scene with a 40 percent market share. It rose from a revolutionary start. Originally, it was a no-frills outlet, similar to a co-op or warehouse store, that was called Consumers United for Buying. Customers had to write down the price on each item using a pencil.

Comment: I'm not the grocery shopper but I relate my wife's view:

• She hates CUB. She did drop in yesterday for: 1 quart maple syrup, and 2 other items
• Lunds in Plymouth is her goto store - I estimate we spend $ 6,000 per year
• Hy-Vee: She thinks the store (in New Hope) is too big
• As for Supervalue - SVU - one of my bone-head stock purchases about 10 years ago. Lost $$ and bailed out
• WMT: We hold. TGT = should get out of the grocery business. COST: James Cramer loves it

Take a look around new Hy-Vee in Cottage Grove. https://t.co/ie96dpyUC3 pic.twitter.com/DjL4ZsjbAN

— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) August 8, 2017

Investing in the Grocery Stores

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Frankly there are only 2 I would invest in: WMT and TGT. Wal-Mart is the proverbial 800 lb gorilla that has mastered the distribution system. It's not an exciting store to visit but they beat everybody with prices. I was stung earlier by Super Value and bailed out taking a loss. Wal-Mart and Target are not pure grocery and are able to have loss-leaders in grocery and make up for it in higher margin departments.