How do independent supermarkets (IGA for example) survive...

[AX10]

against the competition from the big corporate chains?
What kind of money do they make?

[Burma Jones]

1. A lot of them serve underserved areas where big chains don't want to invest

[Selatius]

2. Market differentiation in the face of cost leaders.

If you can't compete with, for example, Wal-Mart on prices and product offerings, perhaps you can compete by offering more in the form of customer service and products that are either superior or somehow different from what Wal-Mart is offering. It's really a good way to deal with such large competitors. If you can't win on costs, you differentiate yourself from Wal-Mart. You make yourself stick out by doing something else that Wal-Mart isn't doing.

[htuttle]

3. Around here, I'd say it's either due to location or selection

We have a couple of small independent markets around my neighborhood. One is family owned, the other is a food (consumer) coop. Both are within walking distance of the entire neighborhood, while the big chain stores are all on the outskirts. Both also have a much better selection of certain things, like organic veggies, or better cuts of meat, better bakery, etc...

I guess both of those things lead to customer loyalty, and that's why they're still in business.

:shrug:

[BonnieJW]

4. We just started getting Wegman's in Virginia.

It's still a family-owned grocery headquartered in Buffalo, NY. Any time you go there after 6 AM, the place is jammed. They have EVERYTHING. If you want an ingredient for an exotic dish, they have it. Prepared food that's fab, service that's terrific. The people are paid wonderful wages with great benefits and they won the Food Network Award for best supermarket. They have the best, they pay the best, they are the best. I don't shop anywhere else.

[soothsayer]

7. i love wegman's! Zweigle's white hots---yum! (Wegman's white hots are good too)

[rox63]

5. We have a local chain in New England that seems to do ok

Market Basket/Demoulas is all over my part of eastern New England. They are owned by the Demoulas family, and probably have somewhere between 30-50 stores total. There are at least 3 of them within 15 minutes of my home.

[HeeBGBz]

6. They don't

The store my mom worked at until she retired finally closed last year. It was in my small hometown in Missouri and was in business over 30 years in the community. One of the big chains moved in across the street and they tried to hang in there about a year or so before closing their doors. It was a sad day. So many people I knew from years back worked there.

[charlie]

8. I dunno, I've often wondered

Around here, there's an independent chain that draws them in with weekly loss leaders -- ginormous bags of beef ribs for 59 cents a pound, chicken at 39 cents, gallon milk for 2 bucks, that sort of thing. Walmart doesn't do sales that come close to those prices. I don't know if they're holding the bottom line, but they've been doing it for a while and keep at it regularly, so I always wait for their flyers before budgetting groceries.

[madrchsod]

9. they run specials each week that undercuts walmart

and other big box stores.better all around customer service will always top any big box. i buy all my meat from the store down the street,i know the owner, or the local meat locker... never buy meat from walmart. walmart could never cheaper if they did`t sell other stuff to cover the cost

[sinkingfeeling]

10. The only big, corporate chain around here is Wal-Mart. My local IGA and a small

chain called Harp's survive by having better service, higher quality of meat and vegetables, and matching Wally World's sale prices. I never go to Wal-Mart and while I may pay a few cents higher at IGA for somethings, I often find them under-cutting WM on others.

[JitterbugPerfume]

11. The IGA that is about a mile up the road

smells of rotton meat and decayed vegetation.

I would much rather go 35 mi to get to Krogers

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

12. I work organic produce

in a small, locally owned chain here in Portland, OR. We compete primarily with conventional grocers (Wild Oats moved into the area around the time our chain began, and have basically dug their own graves by sourcing all their product from far away). Whole Foods also has just moved into the area, but they're gunning for the Wild Oats business (they'll come after us a few years down the line, no doubt).

We survive by emphasizing local, sustainable, and wherever possible, organic. We also like to provide as much information as we can to customers so they can make their own decisions about food choices.