How Many Stores is Too Many
By George Anderson
Bankrupt Eagle Food Centers is having trouble selling off two its former stores in Dubuque, IA, according to a Telegraph Herald report, and it may be because potential
buyers think the market has become saturated with grocery stores.
Mark Hamstra, editor, Supermarket News is among those holding this opinion. “There’s too much building for the amount of food dollars available to be spent, and a lot of that
is attributable to Wal-Mart opening so many supercenters, ” he said.
Eagle Foods plans to close any stores it is unable to sell.
Moderator’s Comment: Are there too many food stores chasing too few consumer food dollars?
It depends on the market, but to get away from all supermarket industry ills being attributable to Wal-Mart, it should be mentioned that there are numerous
over-stored areas, which do not have any supercenters in them. [George
Anderson – Moderator]