Walmart, Harris Teeter remain Raleigh's most popular grocery store
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Walmart is the most popular grocery chain in the Raleigh metro area, with 22% of the market share as of last year, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick and Erin Davis report.
- That's up from its 21% market share last year, according to new data from Chain Store Guide, which tracks the retail and food service industries.
The big picture: While national grocery behemoths such as Walmart are typically among the most popular grocers — if not the most popular — in any given city, local and regional favorites can give the big box stores a run for their money.
- "At a time when politics divides opinion nationally on many big brands, grocery brands have been able to maintain loyalty and trust across demographics by maintaining a steady presence in their communities," Axios' Sara Fischer and Emily Peck write.
- Harris Teeter and Food Lion are both North Carolina brands, while Wegmans and Publix — beloved by many of the region's New York and Florida transplants respectively — has seen their market shares plateau at 5% and 4% of the market, the same as they were last year.
State of play: Harris Teeter and Food Lion are the second- and third-most-popular grocers, with 19.7% and 13.9% of the local market share, respectively.
- Harris Teeter's market share fell 0.6 percentage points from last year — but the Charlotte grocer's market share has held up as new entrants like Publix and Wegmans established themselves in the region.
By the numbers: The amount Americans spend on groceries is getting crushed by the amount we spend dining out in the post-pandemic era.
- "People spent 20.7% more at restaurants than they spent on groceries in 2022 — and that figure rose to 29.5% in the first two months of the year, according to Commerce Department data compiled by JLL," Axios' Nathan Bomey writes.
What's next: Amazon — which acquired Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.4 billion — is looking to dramatically expand the grocery wing of its commerce empire, Axios' Richard Collings and Kimberly Chin write.
- "We need a broader physical store footprint given that most of the grocery shopping still happens in physical venues," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently wrote in a letter to shareholders.