Grocery stores are tailoring themselves to your neighborhood

by Jonathan M. Forester, Posted Nov 2nd 2006 @ 1:03PM

Growing up in the NYC suburbs, I always thought most grocery stores were the same. So many of the foods seemed to be generic items that were aimed at an ideal of America circa 1950. I assumed that if you wanted Kosher, Italian, Asian, and Latino foods you had to dig out that minor bottom shelf section in the back of the store. That is until I did several road trips across America, and lived all over during college and grad school. I came to realize that markets tailor their products to the region and even the city.
Now this regional specialization is being fine tuned to its maximum potential. Many markets, whether small and local, high end, or the big chains, are researching their customers to find out what they want and need. Attention is focused on ethnic and religious background, economic levels and education, and supplying products to fit their local neighborhood. The most progressive stores in custom tailoring tend to be privately owned independent markets that are in urban areas. The Philadelphia Inquirer has been investigating this trend among the smaller, urban markets in Philly. It seems that the "old-fashioned corner store" is back, and better than ever.

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Filed Under: Trends, Stores & Shopping, Did you know?
Tags: america, did you know, ethnic, grocer, market, Neighborhood, stores-and-shopping, supermarket

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-02-2006 @5:10PM Adriane said... I think not only is this just good marketing- it's good customer service. Many of the things stocked that are geoprahically-specific are the things that the people in that area want/need. Hopefully, though, stores would have a good enough buyer to expand peoples' "foodie" horizons while still staying within a consumers vision of what they want to eat.
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11-02-2006 @5:13PM ShortWoman said... Yes, and no.

Good grocery stores that want to have local customers tailor their selection to the local population. Some don't. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we do have plenty of ethnic food, and plenty of small grocers who cater to the needs of ethnic cooks. Within 10 miles, I have Hispanic tiendas, Russian delis, a local grocer that specializes in gourmet cuisine of all cultures, Filipino grocers, a Chinese mini-mart/deli, an Indian mini-mart/deli, and a Korean superstore. I'm probably missing some stuff, too. And most of the local grocery chains have decent selections of Asian and Hispanic food, with one exception. In the middle of a neighborhood that (you wouldn't know it except to look at census data) is about 10-15% Korean, this one store has an absolutely pathetic Asian section. on a good day they've got a bottle of soy sauce, a few bags of rice, a box of green tea and maybe if you are lucky some sriracha. I don't honestly know whether they've given up on serving the ethnic community, or whether they are clueless. If they weren't the absolute closest grocery store, I wouldn't go in there at all!

It's a big change from when I was a kid in a very white-bread suburb, and to get anything more exotic than a can of refried beans you had to go into a specific ethnic part of town. I remeber when I was a kid my parents making pilgrimages to Chinatown, or a Kosher butcher on the North Side, and even to specialty cheese shops (no Monty Python reference intended).
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11-02-2006 @5:22PM AuralArgument said... Yeah, I've noticed this in Ontario, I split my time between sububan windsor and DT toronto, Zher's has really been changing up their stores as soon as the Real Cdn Superstore went in, wondering how that's gonna affect the queensquay store when the store in Maple Leaf Garden's opens.
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11-02-2006 @6:33PM jess said... the funny thing about the linked inquirer article is that it heaps praises on fresh grocer. the quality per cost of that place is painful at least at the 40th and spruce location - and the selection is not as good as the many other stores in the neighborhood.

nearby is a good indian/pakistani market (which also has injera as well as several other ethiopian cooking supplies), a grocery that specializes in goods for people attending the mosque across the street (halal meat), and a large supermarket, the supreme, that has entire aisles devoted to jamaican, equadoran, mexican, etc groceries. down the street a little further is a fruit and veggies truck that sells produce very cheaply and often has things like bitter melon, fresh tamarind, persimmons, asian pears and so on.

so i find the linked article to be disingenuous at best. if it had not focused on fresh grocer, i would have agreed easily that there is a market to feed more adventurous palates as well the large immigrant populations in this and many other cities.
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