Late last week, I read an article in the Springfield News-Leader that described grocery store market shares in and around the Queen City.
Included was a statistical pie chart derived from survey data compiled by “Chain Store Guide” (a Florida-based retail and food service research firm) which depicted that the triumvirate of Walmart locations (including Sam’s Club, Neighborhood Market and regular Walmart stores) combined to capture just over a whopping 66-percent of the total grocery purchases in the Springfield metropolitan area (which for the survey’s purposes consisted of Greene, Christian, Webster, Dallas and Polk counties).
Competitors a long way behind included the combo of Bistro Market, Price Cutter and Summer Fresh Supermarket at 13.9-percent, Dollar General (4.5-percent), Hy-Vee (3.3), Aldi (2.6) and others. But while the article and its numerical information didn’t try to veil the fact the Wally World is the clear ruler of the Springfield grocery realm, there was light shined on other tidbits of information that would seem to indicate there’s some unrest building among the peasants.
One was that Lucky’s Market (of Boulder, Colo.) plans to open a Springfield store later this year. That’s a chain with locations in several states that focuses on “making natural and organic food more accessible.”
Obviously, Lucky’s believes there’s a market for that in southwest Missouri.
Of course, natural and organic foods are already easily accessible in Springfield at the four Mama Jean’s Natural Market locations. For those of you who aren’t aware, Mama Jean’s bills itself as “a locally owned, family operated natural food store that provides high-quality foods, excellent customer service and a pleasant shopping experience, all while being environmentally friendly and active within the community.”
If you haven’t been to one, I recommend checking it out.
Through comments from a long-time local grocer, the article also pointed out how all the area’s grocery stores are involved in a cultural shift, as consumers become more demanding of fresher, higher quality foods. It also called farmers markets a “big player” during warmer months.
From a non-player to a big player in a scant few years – now there’s some sort of sign.
During a conversation about life in Texas County, a friend from Los Angeles who visited my wife and I this month asked if we “have a Trader Joe’s in Houston.” She was a bit surprised when we explained that the nearest one was in St. Louis and about the only places to shop for food in Houston were Walmart, Town and Country Supermarket and Dollar General (kind of).
But regarding that subject, the News-Leader article mentioned something I was totally unaware of: There are two organized social media groups trying to get the attention of the California-based Trader Joe’s (a chain that largely sells products – mostly natural and organic – under its own brand names), with an impressive total of more than 7,000 followers. I’m not sure how or why two groups formed, but they’re known as “Trader Joes, please come to Springfield” and “Bring Trader Joe’s to Springfield.”
Unfortunately, the article said a Trader Joe’s representative stated that Springfield is not on the company’s “two-year plan of opening a location.”
Nevertheless, I, for one, think it’s pretty cool that there are signs in this region of wider acceptance of (and desire for) healthier food choices. Heck, before long there will even be a health food store opening in downtown Houston (which I hope does very well).
But not so fast.
The U.S. still has a far higher percentage of passengers on the obesity train than most other nations, and Americans are far from ready to give up their frozen waffles, 54-ounce sodas and deep-fried Oreos.
Case in point is that McDonald’s has rolled out the “Grand Mac” and “Mac Jr.” at select test locations around the country. While the Mac Jr. is a scaled-down version with one meat patty, the Grand Mac is a supersized behemoth, with 66-percent more meat than its original cousin and an extra slice of cheese
Make sure you order a Diet Coke as well, right (as if that was going to help)?
Being the realist I am, I submit that actually eating healthy isn’t as popular as simply claiming to is. I know several people (women and men) who talk the talk but apparently don’t eat the walk, so to speak, which is evident by their pants size. And that’s not a negative judgment, just an observation of fact; I understand and support the idea that people in this country are free to eat what they want, when they want.
But based on multiple signals on multiple fronts, perhaps what they want is changing – slowly but surely. And that – with certainty – can only be a good thing.
I don’t pretend to always eat what I “should,” but I will say that I’m a whole lot more familiar with that concept than I could be (thanks mostly to my wife). So I’m in favor of that sort of change; it’ll make me tag along and get even more familiar.
Grand Mac? No thanks. But please pass the kale and cabbage.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. His columns are posted online at www.houstonherald.com. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.