Cincinnati grocery-store chain Kroger is trying out a new concept called Turkey Hill Market with three new stores now operating in the Columbus, Ohio market. At 7,500 square feet, the new concept is smaller than the average Kroger store (67,000 square feet), but it includes items more typically found in full-size grocery stores, such as meats, fresh produce, dairy, and eggs, as well as prepared, packaged, and frozen foods. Turkey Hill Markets, which are about 70 percent bigger than the chain’s convenience-store-sized Turkey Hill Minit Markets (4,000 square feet), also carries typical convenience-store foods such as grilled hot dogs, pizza by the slice, and candy bars.
Shoppers’ needs are driving retailers to open several store formats, said Willard Rosenblum, a consumer-packaged foods and retailer consultant in Barrington, Illinois. “Shoppers want speed, they want fresh, they want convenience, and they want value,” he said.
Although supercenters dominate Wal-Marts’ 4,000-plus stores nationwide, the Arkansas company is also building more small grocery stores, called Neighborhood Markets and Walmart Express convenience stores because they are growing faster than its supercenters. Shoppers’ needs also are driving many different retailers, from dollar stores to home-improvement warehouses, to begin stocking food. “Competition is heating up as convenience stores are pitted against other channels, particularly dollar and drug channels, for share of spending,” according to a June report by Information Resources, the Chicago-based consumer-packaged-goods and retailer consultant.
