Understanding how West Oakland consumers shop has led us to better understand that the appropriate size for a grocery store in an urban area is smaller than what is common to supermarkets in suburban areas.

Our experience in West Oakland has taught us that many people spend smaller amounts per purchase than average purchase sizes in suburban supermarkets. This smaller purchase size is because of three primary reasons: 1) people have a more limited amount of cash on hand 2) are looking for basic food ingredients for their household and 3) often carry their purchases because they are traveling by foot or by bus.

One result of smaller purchase sizes is that people tend to go to stores much more frequently, sometimes as high as 3 - 4 times a week. This is partly how they manage limited dollars from week to week. Frequent visits also offer a social experience, which I will address in a separate post.

People’s Grocery Market will cater to frequent shopping by being smaller in size and focusing on a basic basket of products that a household uses regularly: produce, grocery and bulk. We’ll offer some deli and personal care products as amenities, but we won’t carry items that are purchased on a very infrequent basis and take up lots of shelf space. A simple and focused offer will enable shoppers to get familiar with what we carry. It will also enable our staff to have more time to serve our shoppers, build relationships with them and provide education about healthy and fresh food selections.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under People's Grocery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.