All Brennan’s Market stores will shut their doors Sept. 30
In hyper-competitive grocery market, locally owned business never rebounded from sagging Great Recession-era sales
The all-out competitive war that is southeastern Wisconsin’s grocery market claimed a new casualty Wednesday with the announcement that all five Brennan’s Markets will close in September.
The locally owned, 75year-old company’s decision to close its doors is a microcosm of what is taking place across the United States, as new players and changing consumer habits remake the retail food business.
Brennan’s stores are located in Brookfield, Oconomowoc, Monroe and Madison. The company also operates a cheese warehouse and packaging facility in New Glarus.
The stores are known for their fresh produce, cheese and craft beer offerings.
“The growth of competition and new options for consumers has made Brennan’s Market business model unsustainable,” the company said in a statement announcing the closings.
The Great Recession staggered the Brennan’s stores. The hyper-competitive marketplace that emerged as the economy recovered was the knockout blow.
“Brennan’s Market saw a significant decline in sales during the recession beginning in 2008,” the company said in the statement.
“However, even as the economy rebounded, Brennan’s Market sales remained flat.”
Despite the increased consumer interest in fresh produce, the Brennan’s stores could not find a foothold, company spokesman Wayne Glowac said.
The small chain of stores faced fierce competition.
In Brookfield, for instance, the Brennan’s store at 19000 W. Blue Mound Road is located within about 4 miles of a Metro Market (part of the Roundy’s division of Kroger), an Aldi grocery store, a Trader Joe’s Market and a new Sendik’s Food Market store that is part of The Corners development.
“This is just a really tough market,” Glowac said.
The grocery business is tough across the U.S., said Rick Shea, president of Shea Food Consultants, a suburban MinneapolisSt. Paul grocery and food marketing consultancy.
“Basically, there is a race to the bottom on pricing for the grocery industry,” Shea said. “What’s going to happen is the smaller independents are not going to be able to compete on price.
The marketplace is changing by the day.
“It’s no secret that we’ve been over-stored for a long time and you get new entrants all the time,” said Jim Hertel, senior vice president of Willard Bishop, a suburban Chicago food retail and production consultancy that is part of Inmar Analytics. “The phenomenon
of hypercompetition is real. Consolidation and store closings are real.”
Toss in things such as prepared foods and meal kit delivery services — not to mention Amazon’s entry into the marketplace by virtue of it purchasing Whole Foods Market — and you have the ingredients for a total upheaval of the industry.
“I think we’re just going to continue to see this continuing evolution of people trying to pick off different niches in the marketplace,” Hertel said. “Some of those will find traction, some of those won’t.
“The people who are not keeping pace with where the consumer is headed and where consumer behavior is changing are going to be challenged in this environment,” Hertel added.
The market saturation is reflected in what is happening to the Brennan’s locations. Brennan’s owns each of its stores. All five were marketed for sale to other grocery businesses, but there were no takers, Glowac said.
As a result, the Brookfield Brennan’s store is to be converted into offices, according to plans filed with the Town of Brookfield.
The town Architectural Control Committee at its Wednesday night meeting was to review plans to redevelop the building. They include more windows, a loading dock converted into a
screened employee break room and a small covered parking structure.
The plans, submitted by Stephen Perry Smith Architects Inc., feature a layout that appears to provide two tenant spaces, said Gary Lake, town building inspector.
The proposal doesn’t name any prospective tenants, Lake said.
The fates of the other locations remains unclear. The five stores will remain open and fully stocked until Sept. 30, Glowac said.
The chain traces its roots back 75 years to when founder Frank Brennan opened a roadside fruit stand in Monroe. The business was sold to Tim Culhane of Milwaukee a few years ago, Glowac said.
“Although we’re all saddened by the decision to close our doors later this year, we are sincerely grateful for the generations of loyal customers and our incredible partners,” Culhane said in the statement.
Brennan’s has about 150 full- and part-time employees.
“Without our outstanding staff we never would have achieved our high level of customer service and we will be assisting them with job placement support this fall,” the statement said.