HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Months before
Wal-Mart opened a Neighborhood Market in Decatur, Lucky’s Supermarket manager Jimmy Sharp worried the country’s largest retailer would run his Sixth Avenue grocery store out of business.
It’s been a year and a half since Wal-Mart launched the concept store across from McDonald’s and Walgreens, but Lucky’s is still going strong. Sharp said Lucky’s biggest competitor isn’t Wal-Mart – it’s the smaller, local stores like Holoway’s and Hometown Market that pose the biggest threat.
Sharp has four words of advice for small business owners worried about big-box competition from Wal-Mart: “Just hang in there.”
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“We had some loss of business, but not as bad of an impact as we thought it would be,” he told AL.com Friday. “With it being Wal-Mart, we figured they would take the majority of our business. We were concerned about that, but we were able to hold our own.”
Wal-Mart is rapidly expanding its Neighborhood Market concept across north Alabama. In addition to already-established locations in Decatur and Florence, the company has six small-format stores under construction in Huntsville, Madison, New Hope, Gurley, Grant and Snead.
The retail giant, which is building a Supercenter in Hazel Green, is in the process ofrebranding its Wal-Mart Express stores to Neighborhood Markets. The stores range from 12,000 to 45,000 square feet and carry a full line of groceries, produce, meat, dairy, pharmacy and general merchandise items.
‘Maybe it won’t hurt’
Wal-Mart revealed plans this week to open a 12,000-square-foot market on U.S. 431 in New Hope across from Piggly Wiggly. Eric Tuck, assistant manager of Piggly Wiggly, said he was told it will be similar to Wal-Mart’s Express concept, which is one of Dollar General’s big competitors.
“We have loyal customers and we have really good employees who take care of the customers,” he said. “It’s popping up across the road, but we’re just going to go along doing what we’ve been doing.”
Foodland manager Ronnie Perkins is admittedly worried about how his 35-year-old grocery store in Grant will fare when Wal-Mart opens an 11,900-square-foot market in mid-November across from Hardee’s.
“Maybe it won’t hurt our business, but realistically it’s probably going to hurt a little bit,” he said. “As a business owner, of course we don’t want a Wal-Mart coming in, especially in a small community. We base our business on service and cleanliness so we’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing forever.”
Competition
International Supermarket owner Chung-Hui Nash also feels uncertain about her store’s future as Wal-Mart builds a 42,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market on the southwest corner of Wall Triana Highway and Pine Grove outside of Madison. The 10-year-old small business on Old Madison Pike has suffered in recent years as larger grocers have expanded their Asian food lines.
Competition is nothing new for Star Market, which manager Jeff Blankenship said has become the neighborhood’s grocery store during its seven-decade history in Five Points. The local business also has locations on Bailey Cove Road and in Madison and Meridianville.
“We know a lot of our customers by name,” he said. “We can provide unique services that a chain or a large retailer can’t provide, and people seem to respect that.”
Date: September 19, 2014