22 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2021
SUPERMARKETS VIE FOR SUBURBAN SHOPPING DOLLARS
That decision, first reported in Newsday,
which cited building department documents,
was then reported by Progressive
Grocer, although Amazon has declined
to comment.
“It’s a competitive marketplace. King Kullen
is a player along with Stop & Shop and
you have ShopRites out here,” Marcum
National Food and Beverage Practice
Leader Louis Biscotti said. “Those are
all significant players. I think it will get
even more competitive.”
Walmart as well as specialty players
such as Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace
vie for a share of the Long Island market
and the territory of your breakfast,
lunch, and dinner table.
“It’s nice and clean and the people are
friendly,” Mark Marajh said as he exited
a fairly new, massive ShopRite near
a Lidl.
Another shopper minutes later exited a
Lidl, where a ShopRite had been until it
moved to a larger location. “I love it,” the
shopper said as he left Lidl. “The pricing
is good. Lidl brands are great.”
On the most basic level, demographics
are driving a grocery gold rush on Long
Island as loyalties are tested, toyed with,
and changed.
“There’s a place for everyone. Look at
Costco and the Kirkland brand,” Biscotti
said of Costco’s private label. “It depends
on the consumer and what they’re looking
for.”
Suffolk County in 2019 had about 1.5
million residents, including 489,000
households, while Nassau had 1.4 million
people and 448,000 households. A lot
of players want a piece of this massive
shopping cart, which only seemed to
grow during the pandemic.
Lidl, which operates around 11,200 stores
in 32 countries, has grown to 125 stores
in the United States, since entering the
market in 2017. Lidl said it’s offering
$200 to employees to get vaccinated,
as supermarkets seek to stay safe and
attract consumers in-store.
“Lidl has made it a priority to adapt our
policies to work better for our people
during this pandemic,” former Lidl US
CEO Johannes Fieber said of the chain
that operates more than 10 stores on
Long Island.
Lidl on May 19 converted a Best Market
it acquired in Westhampton Beach to
A customer shops at the UK's first Amazon Fresh supermarket, in London, Britain March 4, 2021. (REUTERS/Henry Nicholls)
its Lidl brand. “Best Markets was a big
acquisition for them,” Biscotti said. “That
was a good inroad in the Long Island
marketplace.”
Aldi has grown to more than 2,000 stores
in the United States. Since opening in
Bay Shore in 2011, Aldi has more than
half a dozen on Long Island and roughly
15 in New York City and Long Island
combined.
“Long Island is an important market for
us,” an Aldi U.S. executive told Supermarket
News in August 2020.
Longtime local presence ShopRite, a cooperative
including individual owners
operating under the ShopRite banner,
has been growing. New Jersey-based
Wakefern Food Corp., the cooperative’s
merchandising and distribution arm,
reported $18.3 billion in retail sales for
the 53-week fiscal year ending Oct. 3,
2020, up 9.75 percent from the prior year.
“Our customers turned to us for reassurance
and for the things they wanted
and needed for their families during this
challenging time,” Wakefern President
and COO Joe Sheridan said.
The Greenfield family, led by father and
son Jon and Seth Greenfield, own and
operate the 68,000-square-foot ShopRite
of Country Pointe in the new Country
Pointe center in Plainview and four
other ShopRites on Long Island.
Meanwhile, Amazon Fresh, which operates
stores smaller than the typical supermarket,
reportedly will take 33,000
square feet of the 55,000-square-foot
former Fairway, relying on big data and
smaller stores.
“There’s a big debate on that,” Biscotti
said of store size, as some retailers seek
to target tastes with big data, while others
seek to go big.
Amazon in 2017 bought Whole Foods
Market for $13.7 billion and opened a
chain of Amazon Go convenience stores
with high-tech check out. “When they
bought Whole Foods, Amazon had a vision,”
Biscotti continued. “They’re trying
to ramp it up.”
Amazon opened its first Amazon Fresh
store in August 2020, in Woodland Hills,
Calif., and operates roughly a dozen and
reportedly plans to open nearly 30 more
with automated checkout technology.
“Supermarkets must have up-to-date
technology. You go into a store and
promotions can be downloaded directly
to your phone,” Biscotti said of tech
becoming more common. “It will direct
you to the shelf.” He said retailers need to
tailor selection to neighborhoods, using
data and artificial intelligence to better
serve shoppers. Supermarkets also are
“adding ancillary service and things that
attract the consumer,” Biscotti said.
In addition to beefing up delivery, supermarkets
sometimes offer pharmacies,
financial centers, sitting areas to eat,
restaurants and, now and then, live
music.
Amazon could shake up the supermarket
industry, but the company doesn’t have a
monopoly on the Midas touch. Amazon
in 2016 launched the 365 by Whole Foods
Market chain, but by 2019 converted the
stores to Whole Foods stores.
PRESS BUSINESS
continued from page 21
“It will get even more competitive,” said Louis Biscotti.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
