In down times, more shoppers use military exchanges

When the economy cools, the commissary gets hotter for shoppers.

That's what Food World found in its annual survey of grocery market share in Hampton Roads. The industry publication ranks stores in most major mid-Atlantic markets based on their annual sales between April 1 and March 31.

That's not to say the commissaries beat Food Lion and Farm Fresh, the big supermarket chains in the area. But, during this economic slowdown, sales are up at the military exchanges. They were among the few in Food World's top 20 that showed a substantial increase in sales and market share this year.

"It's just a reflection of the times," said Terri Maloney, editor of Food World and vice president and editorial director for its parent company, Best-Met Publishing Co. Inc. in Columbia, Md.

Military families either went to the commissaries for the first time or shifted more of their grocery shopping to the government exchanges while "not spending as much at the Farm Fresh or not going over to Costco any more," Maloney said.

Food Lion, including the chain's Bloom and Bottom Dollar stores, still tops the region's retailers with $1.028 billion in sales and a 22.84 percent share of the market. Food Lion has 85 locations in Hampton Roads. Farm Fresh held on to its second-place spot with $917.1 million in sales and a 20.37 percent share. Farm Fresh has 42 supermarkets.

The military commissaries ranked fourth after Wal-Mart. While most grocers' sales remained flat, the six local commissaries' sales climbed 5.4 percent to $321.76 million, and they took 7.15 percent of local shoppers' grocery spending, up from 6.98 percent in 2008. Even Wal-Mart's market share, after climbing in the rankings for years, slipped to 10.85 percent of local food sales from 11.06 percent in the 2008 survey.

Other grocery players in the region nibbled away at the top retailers' share. Trader Joe's, which opened its first store in the region in late 2005 in Newport News, entered the rankings for the first time in 2009. The California retailer added a second store in Williamsburg and boosted its sales to $27.2 million, almost double its total in 2008, landing at 18th place with a market share of 0.6 percent.

For stores open for only a portion of the 12-month period, Food World uses a weekly sales average to calculate what annual volume would be.

Harris Teeter's newest store in Suffolk didn't open in time for the 2009 survey, and the chain's sales and market share for its eight other local stores remained essentially the same as last year. The retailer acknowledged the influence of the recession on shoppers' choices.

"We realize they want to stretch their dollar further," said Jennifer Thompson, a company spokeswoman, "and we are doing our best to educate them on how they can stretch their dollar at Harris Teeter."

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com