Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
When Americans aren't eating out, they are likely to source their food from one of the big grocery gi-
ants. No segment of the industry has more influence over the American diet than Walmart and the other
three large grocery chains: Kroger, Costco, and Target. In 2011 Target replaced Safeway as the fourth-
largest grocery chain, because it has rapidly expanded its grocery selections. Together, these four compan-
ies make about 50 percent of all grocery sales in the United States. In the one hundred largest markets in
the nation, they dominate more than 70 percent of sales—leaving consumers with few choices.
Changes in the grocery industry began in the 1990s, when large grocery-store chains merged or bought
out other regional retailers and large warehouse clubs, and Walmart expanded into grocery products.
Grocery-store chains have focused on consolidation, mergers, and takeovers over the past decade, in an
effort to compete with the giant food warehouses. The increased efficiency hyped by the industry has not
meant lower costs for consumers, but it has meant higher profits for the merged chains. Expenditures on
food have risen 12 percent over the past decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
No single company has more impact on what and how food is manufactured than Walmart. Although
it opened its first supercenter only in 1988—in which food is sold alongside other retail products—within
just twelve years the chain became the largest food retailer in the United States. 14 Today over half of Wal-
mart's business comes from grocery sales. 15 And one out of every three dollars spent on groceries in this
country goes to Walmart. 16
Top 4 U.S. Food Retailers
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