I remember hearing stories from my parents about how they would walk to the corner grocery store when they were growing up. Not only were these grocery stores embedded in the community, the produce was always fresh. It truly was the neighborhood grocery store.
Consumers are now desiring a simpler, easier, and quicker way of getting groceries to their home. These stores may not be located right around the corner these days, but consumers desire the same experience. Grocery shopping simplified. Amazon has been experimenting with how to take on grocery stores via its own drive-in and pick-up locations, but in the meantime, the company is still working to expand its online grocery shopping service, AmazonFresh. Following the recent price drop to $14.99/month for Prime members—a more palatable charge than the earlier $299/year—AmazonFresh has today set up shop in Dallas and the surrounding metro areas. These delivery services allow shoppers to order groceries online, including fresh and frozen items, then request either same-day or next-day delivery, depending on when they place the order. The service also allows shoppers to select attended or unattended delivery—the latter meaning that groceries are left on the doorstep.
In recent months, we have experience a slowdown of larger mega grocery store expansions, like Walmart Supercenter. People are not desiring to walk through so many aisles to pick up weekly groceries. Now we are seeing more of the smaller footprint grocery stores like ALDI continue to expand. Also, concepts like Trader Joe’s and Sprouts are expanding within communities across North Texas. These concepts are smaller in footprint and focus more on knowing exactly what their customers are looking for. In low to moderate income areas, stores like Dollar General and Family Dollar are now providing groceries.
It’s tough to really know what the future grocery store experience will be, but I am sure it will fit better within the lifestyle of millennials, which means simpler, easier, and quicker.
Terrence Maiden is executive vice president at Corinth Properties.
