It’$ not easy being green
Big-box stores hose specialty grocers
Speciality grocers are getting squeezed like a bunch of lemons.
The chains, which once were the only place to get high quality and organic products, are now fighting more and more a losing battle against larger chains — like Costco, the largest seller of organic food — that sell it for less.
New York-based Mrs. Green’s Natural Market is one chain getting caught in the squeeze.
It has closed nine of 20 stores over two years — and recently exited Chicago.
For the past several weeks, its New York-area stores, including one in the West Village, sported signs apologizing for their bare shelves.
“We are experiencing significant product delivery challenges,” the signs state, referring to its distributor’s deci- sion to withhold product because of late payments, according to sources.
The company itself declined to comment on why some shelves are empty.
The chain also is shifting its focus to smaller stores, ones of about 12,000 square feet. Its stores had been 25,000 square feet.
“Mrs. Green’s used to be that cool, small organic retailer where you could get stuff that others don’t offer, but that’s not the case anymore as Whole Foods and even Target offer the same things,” said Dan Glickberg, a partner in food consultancy Rodeo CPG. Mrs. Green’s is not alone. Garden of Eden, once a six-store speciality chain, closed three underperforming stores in the past few years — and then filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in September.
Even larger regional chains, like The Fresh Market of Greensboro, NC, are retrenching, focusing on less-expensive goods and exiting certain markets.
Last week, the 177-store chain — known for its healthy and locally sourced products — said it was lowering the prices on hundreds of items and adding new categories, including “everyday grocery classics.”
Earlier this year, it left Texas, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.
Meanwhile, some grocers are getting squeezed by skittish distributors who don’t want to get burned by another massive bankruptcy filing like A&P’s.
“The distributors’ banks are getting tighter on them and it becomes a domino effect,” said John Catsimatidis, owner of the Gristedes and Red Apple chains in New York.