Retailers will continue to walk a tightrope between driving sales and maintaining profit margins in 2009, according to one analyst interviewed by SN. There's a delicate balance that needs to be struck now between maintaining sales momentum and...
By focusing on strong value propositions and innovation, supermarket executives surveyed by SN said they see plenty of opportunity for growth in 2009 although their optimism is certainly guarded. There is no doubt the aftershocks of a global...
Times have changed when it comes to independents obtaining loans. While credit is available, borrowing money will be more costly and the terms tougher, said Mike Novak, vice president of commercial lending at National Consumer Cooperative Bank...
Neither a struggling economy, an activity-use state tax on sales, new competition, nor Hurricane Ike can keep Howard's Management Group here from posting year-end sales increases. Although he declined to reveal revenues, Bill Price, president of...
The Northeastern region of the United States is still considered highly fragmented and ripe for more consolidation, although potential dealmakers there might have to wait until the economy recovers before any more major mergers take place. Some of...
Kurt Jaeger is an independent operator who has benefited from the economic downturn with the sale of 37 Minyard Food Stores stores earlier this year to Grocers Supply Co., Houston. The softening economy was partly to blame for the shedding of...
The biggest challenge for independent grocers in 2009 will be their ability to control rising costs while maintaining profits, according to a recent poll of National Grocers Association members. The poll, which was conducted in November by NGA for...
Services were scheduled to be held last week for Donald G. Scott, the founder of the Scott's Food Stores chain, who died Sunday of congestive heart failure at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. He was 91. Scott founded the chain in 1954, after...
What looks like the worst of times for the independent grocery sector unemployment at a 15-year high, commercial credit markets locked, rising operational costs and shoppers trading down and not filling their pantries could turn out to be the best...
ARLINGTON, Va. The National Grocers Association has taken steps to ensure it has a strong voice in the future of the food industry, said Thomas K. Zaucha, who said he is looking at 2010 as a possible retirement year, although no official decision...
