BALTIMORE, MD - According to an annual market study of the top ten Baltimore retailers, conducted by Food World, Giant Foods is a leader in the region in supermarket sales. Based on the latest April-to-March fiscal year, the report shows Giant Foods generating $1.4 billion from 42 area stores; or about one-third of the total sales for the area.
Though they are in a top spot in the region, Giant’s market share in the area has been slipping over the past five years, according to the Baltimore Sun, with nontraditional food sellers such as convenience stores, drugstores, warehouse clubs, and mass merchants encroaching on traditional grocery sales.
"The market is still overstored," said Jeff Metzger, Food World's publisher, in the report. "There are a lot of different options in terms of the actual retailers themselves and the style of retailing. […] Baltimore is a very competitive, overstored, diverse marketplace, and it's been that way for about a decade now. It has created a lot of diversity, which is wonderful for consumers and not so wonderful for the actual retailers," he said.
While family-owned chains like Mars are selling stores, other competitive retailers on the list include Safeway which the report said maintained the number two slot, with $658 million in sales, and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy which was noted in third with $513 million in sales. Click here for the full list.
The study noted that nontraditional food retailers, such as CVS, Costco, and Target, continue to carve out a significant share while conventional retailers that have been expanding in the Mid-Atlantic, such as Harris Teeter, Wegmans, and international food retailers, are growing and having an impact on the perennial market leaders.
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