Trader Joes

  1. Owned Brands (Private Label)

Walmart Launches “Comprehensive Redesign” Of Great Value Private Label

Walmart yesterday announced “a comprehensive redesign of its flagship private brand, Great Value, reinforcing its commitment to delivering high-quality products customers need, want and love – at an affordable price … The redesign will span almost 10,000 food and consumables items, making it the most extensive private brand update in Walmart’s history. To ensure a […]
4 min read
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  1. Department: Food

Your Views:   Backlashes

We had a story the other day about how Target plans to adjust its approach to grocery by focusing more on specialized products, and moving away from the something-for-everyone strategy. I was, to say the least, dubious. In wrote, ion part: The thing is, it isn’t easier to be an effective specialty food retailer.  It’s […]
13 min read
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  1. Stores & Formats

Plans For NYC-Owned Grocery Stores Take Shape

The New York Times reports that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is beginning to lay out his plans for city-owned grocery stores, looking to fulfill a core campaign promise he made during last year’s election. According to the story, Mamdani said the plan is to open all the stores before the end of his […]
5 min read
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  1. Channel: Mass

Target Adjusts Its Grocery Strategy

The Street reports that Target “plans to make a major shift in its grocery section” – it wants to be a specialty grocer. “Target’s Chief Merchandise Officer Cara Sylvester explained the chain’s grocery strategy during its fourth-quarter earnings call,” the story says. “‘We’re focused on what’s next, strengthening Target’s unique identity when it comes to […]
2 min read
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  1. Technology & Innovation

Walmart In Critical Crosshairs Over Tech, Pricing Strategies

CNBC  has a story about how “Walmart is currently rolling out digital price tags to replace the old paper ones — the plan is to roll them out in all stores across the U.S. by the end of the year.” Walmart, of course, isn’t alone.  CNBC notes that “Kroger has also begun experimenting with the […]
3 min read
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  1. Department & Category

How the Grocerant Niche Is Reshaping the $1.5 Trillion U.S. Foodservice Industry

Portability, Fresh Prepared Foods, and the Power of the 5 P’s Fresh prepared foods, Ready-2-Eat meals, and Heat-N-Eat solutions have quietly become one of the most disruptive forces in the modern food industry. What once lived inside the supermarket deli department has evolved into a cross-channel foodservice ecosystem that spans grocery stores, warehouse clubs, convenience […]
6 min read
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  1. Shopper & Customer

Braggability Bites Back: Why Restaurants That Give Customers Something to Talk About Are Winning the Food Wars

For decades the restaurant industry operated under a simple formula: standardize the menu, control costs, replicate the model, and scale the brand. It worked beautifully for nearly half a century. But today the restaurant business is no longer competing only against restaurants. Restaurants now compete with grocery stores, convenience stores, meal kit companies, ghost kitchens, […]
6 min read
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  1. Department & Category

Where Is the Food, Value, Service, Equilibrium Today?

  Are the food industry’s traditional measuring metrics still adequate? In today’s dynamic food ecosystem, Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials are simultaneously resetting the equilibrium between price, value, and service across the entire retail foodservice landscape. A quote often attributed to Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard captures the moment perfectly: “Life can only be understood backwards; […]
5 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

The Grocery Barbell Effect: The Middle Is Shrinking — and the Food Dollars Are Moving

  The latest JLL report confirms a structural reality: the American grocery marketplace is no longer linear — it’s polarized. Traditional supermarkets are being compressed between aggressive discounters and premium fresh specialists. Foot traffic data from Placer.ai shows traditional grocers such as Kroger and Safeway captured 73.2% of grocery visits in Q1 of last year […]
5 min read
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  1. Channel: Grocery

Your Views:  Chickening Out

Responding to yesterday’s piece about how Dorothy Lane Market is being specific in informing customers are why its chickens are superior – and therefore a greater value – MNB reader Jeff Gartner wrote: Dorothy Lane’s chicken is indeed the best, not only because it’s water-chilled but they also come from local Ohio farms. They’re just […]
3 min read
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  1. Channel: Delivery

As Winter Storm Raged On, Food Delivery Remained Essential

As the northeastern US got hammered by a blizzard yesterday, the New York Times reports that food delivery workers were among those considered to be “essential.” From the Times coverage: “During the heaviest snowfall in New York City since 2016, which closed the city’s schools, shuttered Broadway and caused the city’s airports to cancel thousands […]
2 min read
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  1. Department: Nonfood

The Share-of-Stomach Reset: Who Wins When Food Consumers Rewrite the Rules?

  The North American food marketplace is in the middle of a structural demand reallocation. Call it consumer discontinuity, call it channel fragmentation, call it the democratization of meal access. Whatever the label, the outcome is the same: legacy assumptions about where, when, and why people buy meals no longer hold. Operators who continue to […]
4 min read
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  1. Channel: Grocery

Has Wegmans Lost A Step?

In Rochester, New York, WHEC-TV News has a story suggesting that “Wegmans shoppers may be seeing a drop in satisfaction, according to an annual report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. “The index measures customer satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 100. Wegmans got a score of 78 — a 6% drop from the […]
3 min read
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  1. Channel: Ecommerce & Digital

Your Views:  The Eric Mangini Effect

Got a number of reactions to our story about Amazon closing down its Go and Fresh stores. MNB reader Steve Ritchey wrote: Like you, I’m not surprised at Amazon closing it’s brick & mortar stores.  I’ve never been in one as they never put one in my area, but I have some ideas of what […]
3 min read
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  1. Technology & Innovation

Facial Recognition Continues To Be Focus Of Controversy

CT Insider reports that “as Connecticut lawmakers look to ban facial recognition technology in retail establishments, one popular grocery chain is already using the tech at stores across the state.” That chain is ShopRite, and it is in the news in the wake of media scrutiny of the practice.  Wegmans has said it is using the […]
2 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

Mark Zuckerberg’s Enduring Lesson for Foodservice Executives in 2026

  Why Consumer Evolution Is Outpacing Restaurants, C-Stores, and Grocery Retailers When Time profiled Mark Zuckerberg in December 2010, Lev Grossman highlighted a deceptively simple but powerful leadership message. Zuckerberg left the old Sun Microsystems sign standing outside Facebook’s headquarters—turned around, but still visible—as a constant reminder of what happens when once-dominant companies lose relevance. […]
5 min read
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  1. Channel: Dollar/Value

New dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index Highlights Regional Chains

dunnhumby is out with its ninth annual Retailer Preference Index (RPI) for U.S. Grocery, concluding that H-E-B, Market Basket and Woodman’s are the top three U.S. grocery retailers.  It is the first time, dunnhumby says, that the leading three retailers in the United States are all regional chains. Rounding out the top 10:  Costco (4), […]
2 min read
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  1. Channel: Grocery

Aldi’s Invitation to Customers — What Today’s Food Retail Data Shows

  Cultivating a brand is a full-time commitment. Dynamic brands evolve with consumers—and consumers are dynamic, not static. Aldi is dynamic, not static. With customers, quality, and price top of mind, Aldi is expanding locations rapidly, broadening its product offering strategically, enhancing its weekly temporary promotions, and leveraging unique product discovery to drive trial. If […]
4 min read
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  1. Shopper & Customer

Kroger’s Bulk Blind Spot: Why Overpricing and Outdated Thinking Are Driving Shoppers Away

  Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® has plenty of opinions, this article is one of them!  When 62% of U.S. households are one or two people, selling 10 pounds of pork chops is a business model built for yesterday. Fast food and modern grocers are eating Kroger’s lunch—literally. For decades, […]
5 min read
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  1. Technology & Innovation

Your Views:  The Difference Between Artificial & Human Intelligence

We had a terrific piece this week by industry veteran Dick Spezzano assessing Amazon Fresh, and MNB reader Steven Ritchey responded: People like Dick Spezzano are invaluable as someone giving a “boots on the ground” perspective, as well as a seasoned, veteran of food retailing, cherish those people.  You can learn a lot from them, […]
5 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

Blended Dining 2025: How “Eating-In While Eating-Out” Became America’s New Comfort Zone

  For over a decade, regular readers of this blog have followed our research showing that consumers love to Eat-Out while Eating-In. Back in 2010, Steven Johnson the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based  Foodservice Solutions®, identified, quantified and named this emerging behavior — Eating-In while Eating-Out — and declared it the “new normal” in […]
4 min read
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  1. Shopper & Customer

Why Restaurants Must Migrate to a Grocerant Template—Before It’s Too Late

  Consumers Aren’t Dining Out Less—They’re Dining Differently Relentlessly high menu prices and macroeconomic pressures have created a turning point for restaurants. Inflation isn’t just raising food costs—it’s redefining how, where, and why Americans eat. A new YouGov report (October 2025) paints a stark picture: ·       37% of Americans are eating out less frequently than […]
5 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

Why Grocerants Are Winning: How Retail Food is Redefining the Battle for America’s Stomach

  The Grocerant Revolution is here. See how Walmart, Costco, and Wawa are stealing food dollars from restaurants with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh foods — and why traditional brands like Campbell’s and Heinz are struggling to keep up according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. The line between restaurants and […]
4 min read
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  1. Channel: Convenience

Private Label Food: From Generic to Genuine Brand Power

  For decades, “private label” food products—also known as store brands—were considered the affordable, no-frills alternative to big national names like Heinz, Campbell’s Soup, Folgers, or Jif. They were the economic choice, not the emotional one. But in 2025, the tables have turned. What was once “generic” has become genuinely powerful: private label foods are […]
6 min read
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  1. Channel: Grocery

Is Albertsons Like A&P

  Albertsons and Safeway were once iconic industry leaders—much like A&P (The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company) in its heyday. Each dominated their markets for decades but eventually became brands stuck in the middle—caught between discount grocers on one end and experiential, fresh-food-driven competitors on the other. According to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven […]
4 min read
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Editor’s Choice

  1. Trends & External Forces
  2. Shopper & Customer
  3. Technology & Innovation
  4. Trends & External Forces
  5. Associates & Employees
  6. Merchandising
  7. Stores & Formats

Walmart to Expand Digital Shelf Labels Chainwide

Walmart will deploy digital shelf labels (DSLs) chainwide this year, doubling the approximately 2,300 U.S. locations currently using the technology (Walmart U.S. operates more than 4,600 stores). With more than 120,000 items in a typical Walmart store, managing price changes manually requires significant associate hours. Additionally, these DSLs are equipped with LED lights that make […]
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