The business of agribusiness - Agribusiness Management - page 18

140,000 5,000

4,500
4,000

120,000

100,000

3,500

3,000

80,000

2,500

60,000

2,000

1,500

40,000

1,000

20,000

500

0 0

97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Year

Supermarkets Convenience stores Specialty Warehouse

Figure 1.7 Number of food stores, by category, 1997-2008
Source: County Business Patterns.

Table 1.3 Sales of the ten largest U.S. food retailers in 2009

Rank/Retailer Number of Food

Stores Owned

U.S. Food Store Sales
(billion dollars)

1. Wal-Mart Stores 4,624 262.0

2. Kroger Co. 3,634 76.0

3. Costco Wholesale Corp. 527 71.4

4. Supervalu 2,450 41.3

5. Safeway 1,730 40.8

6. Loblaw Cos. 1,036 29.9

7. Publix Super Markets 1,018 24.3

8. Ahold USA 707 22.3

9. Delhaize America 1,608 19.0

10. 7-Eleven 6,123 17.5

Source: Supermarket News 2010.

share for the top 20 fi rms climbed from 39 to 64 percent ( Table 1.4 ) . Concerns over increas-
ing concentration led to a series of fi ve hearings conducted by the Department of Justice and
Agriculture in 2010 about antitrust enforcement (U.S. Department of Justice).
Food retailing remains an extremely competitive industry with little margin for error.
Warehouse and supercenters compete in part because of their supply chain management
expertise. For example, Wal-Mart is a leader in the adoption of information technologies
such as radio frequency identifi cation (RFID) or centralized checkout stands. All types
of food retailers are increasingly looking to store or private label offerings. While some