Grocery shoppers willing to try smaller formats, survey says
Grocery stores might be worried that giant Wal-Mart Supercenters will lure away customers, but results from a recent retail research survey showed consumers are willing to shop a new breed of small food concepts.
The results of the TNS Retail Forward ShopperScape survey showed that two-thirds of shoppers would definitely or probably visit a small food concept that places emphasis on convenience and fresh, prepared foods.
Britain’s Tesco has been rolling out its small-store Fresh & Easy format on the West Coast and even large U.S. retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are planning smaller concepts to take advantage of the demand for convenience and to round out their store portfolios. In the St. Louis area, Schnuck Markets Inc. is planning to open an upscale, smaller format store downtown later this year.
In addition to emphasizing ready-t0-eat and ready-to-heat meals, this new breed of stores carries gourmet, ethnic and organic products, has a basic assortment of grocery staples, is easy to shop with plenty of parking and quick checkout.
Gail writes about business, health and wine for the Post-Dispatch. She joined the P-D in 2005 after moving from NYC where she covered federal courts and wrote about food and wine. In her free time, Gail lifts weights, and of course, wine glasses. 
Smaller stores like these are often found in dense urban neighborhoods and thus don’t always have “plenty of parking” because many customers walk.