RICHMOND, Va. — There is a new king in town when it comes to Richmond’s grocery store games.
Walmart now tops the region in terms of grocery sales. The retail giant commands 15-percent of the Richmond region’s grocery market, according to trade publication Food World.
It marks the first time, in Food World’s reporting, that Walmart has topped the list.
“Martin’s, which had been the market leader since it acquired Ukrop’s in 2010 (which was the market leader previously), finally hit the wall this year,” Food World reported. “After years of market share decreases, despite being number one, the FTC mandated sales of Ahold and Delhaize’s many overlapping stores in Richmond was perhaps the best “save face” result the retailer could have hoped for.”
While Martin’s has been closing stores, both Walmart and #2 grocery chain Kroger have been building new ones.
“Walmart’s gains came as a result of several new Neighborhood Markets and a new Walmart in the city of Richmond,” Food World noted. “Kroger continued to add or expand more combo Marketplace Foods to its roster and had the strongest ID sales of any merchant in the Old Dominion’s capital.”
Food World anticipated more changes in the Richmond market over the next few years as stores like Wegmans, Lidl and Publix move into the market.
