Grocery store market shares, I still miss Ukrops

I read with interest the Times-Dispatch’s reporting of market share for grocery stores in Richmond. Within easy driving distance to our home are six grocery stores. When I think about those stores and their offerings, I say to myself—I still miss Ukrops.

Amazing to me that Ukrops for many years was the leading grocer in Richmond. While not perfect, I always felt like the heart and soul of their company was customer service. I wonder which grocery store in Richmond would claim the best customer service market share now?

As much as I am curious about the Food World report and its findings, I find fault with it.

I think there should be separate categories for drugstores, convenience stores, big box stores, and membership clubs. Because I have the privilege of living near six grocery stores, I don’t go into CVS, Walgreens, 7-11, or Wawa to grocery shop.

How different would the top twenty list of grocery stores look without pharmacies, convenience and big box stores taking up space? Might Tom Leonard, Libbie Market, Elwood Thompson, and the Market At 25th have a presence with this realignment?

Every Friday our church collects groceries for three food pantries in local Methodist churches. I know Food World looks strictly at retailers, but how much market share might these food pantries and Feed More have in our Richmond neighborhoods? These outlets distribute hundreds of pounds of food each week to families who are unable to shop at a grocery store.

Feed More and neighborhood food pantries also receive from grocery stores a wide variety of donated food. These donations consist of fresh fruit, meats, and vegetables. I’d be interested to learn which grocery retailer in Richmond would be the market share leader in food donations.

Another interesting point in reporter, Eric Kolenich’s, story is his reference to the fast growth in Richmond’s Manchester district. But, despite this growth “no major grocery chain has opened there.”

Why is that?

What do planners for grocery store chains not see in Manchester that keeps them from investing? Kolenich’s states grocery store analysts consider Richmond to be “overstored.” That might hold true for certain zip codes in Richmond, but many neighborhoods remain as “food deserts” with no grocery store present.

Speaking of “food deserts” how is the Market at 25th doing? This bold community investment resulted in the store opening in April of 2019 in Church Hill. Has this “food desert” been transformed by the opening of the store? Its been five years since its opening, how is the store doing financially? If the store is in good financial shape, why hasn’t this model been applied to other Richmond neighborhoods?

While their strength might be strictly seasonal, where are our local farmers markets in the Food World reporting? Additionally, how many customers at farmers markets are using SNAP/EBT cards to improve their diets by purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables?

In terms of accessing food, a key point for the consumer is— do they have reliable transportation?

Since transportation can be an issue for obtaining groceries, how might communities work together to form food co-ops to open as pop up grocery stores in ‘food desert” neighborhoods? Could there be tax incentives for property owners in Richmond who own storefronts that could be transformed into small neighborhood grocery stores? Might major grocery store chains be interested in partnering with a community grocery co-op?

Despite selling their stores in 2010, Ukrops still touches grocery stores. Their prepared foods are sold to some of their former competitors. In 2020, Ukrops opened Market Hall by renovating a church building. This retail space offers Ukrops prepared foods and baked goods. Could this conversion of space be a template to follow in our “food deserts”?

To me, these examples are an indication that Ukrops hasn’t lost its touch. It remains capable of producing quality products and consistent customer service. But on a broader scale, it also says to me— might Ukrops be the perfect partner to make significant improvements in decreasing the number of “food deserts” in Richmond.

No doubt, the Times-Dispatch will report Food World’s annual findings about market share for our grocery stores. Those findings will continue to be very predictable with the bigger grocery chains slugging each other for percentage points.

A better outcome for Richmond would be to use the Food World findings as the pivot point to significantly reduce our “food deserts.”

In The Boys In The Boat, author Daniel James Brown, makes this observation about the collegiate rowers who would compete in the 1936 Olympics: “They looked at impediments and saw opportunity.”

Richmond’s “food deserts” are an impediment to our community.

We need to look at them as an opportunity to solve a problem.