PITTSBURGH -- Supermarket retailer Giant Eagle Inc. made official last week its plansreported in CSP Daily News in August 2006to open its first Giant Eagle Express store, according to The Pittsburgh Business Times.
A 13,000-sq.-ft. prototype, in suburban Pittsburgh combines a small market with gasoline pumps and a drive-through pharmacy. The new storewhich will be larger than Giant Eagle's GetGo convenience stores and roughly comparable to a major chain drugstorewill include a full range of perishables, including baked goods, produce, meats, milk and [image-nocss] cheeses, the newspaper said.
"This is a smaller format but still serving the needs of a weekly shopping trip," Rob Borella, vice president of marketing for Giant Eagle, told the paper.
"It's certainly a format that we have a great amount of enthusiasm and anticipation about, and if all goes according to plan we're going to build more," Borella added. The store is expected to open next summer, said the report.
Giant Eagle has also met with the Urban Redevelopment Authority in Harmar Township, Pa., about establishing a Giant Eagle Express location on the north side, Tony Ross, owner of the site, told the paper.
Ed Shriver, managing partner with Pittsburgh-based Strada Architecture LLC, said his company took on the design role for the Harmar prototype in part because of the major urban potential of such smaller stores. "This has huge urban implications," Shriver told the paper.
Borella said there is a trend of market-leading retailers exploring smaller footprint stores in order to serve their customers. Craig Cozza, who has developed drugstores throughout the region, said Giant Eagle is the leading pharmacy retailer in the Pittsburgh area. He said the company is protecting its position against drug chains such as Walgreens and Rite-Aid, which offer grocery items, and getting closer to its customers.
"This is an opportunity for them to directly compete with the drugstores," Cozza told the paper. "If they go on a hot corner, that keeps a drug store out."
Michael Beyard, a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute, said he believes Giant Eagle's foray into an express format store is another example of traditional grocery stores seeking new ways to protect their customer base. "It's very difficult for the traditional grocers to compete when their market is being eaten at both ends," he told the Business Times.
He noted how Wal-Mart caters to lower-income shoppers while Whole Foods and others woo the upscale. "These middle-market groceries are struggling to find ways that they can continue to occupy the great middle. Frankly, it's very, very difficult, he said.
Borella said Giant Eagle has studied the strategy of Tesco, the largest grocery chain in Great Britain (see related story in this issue of CSP Daily News). "The intention is to serve both weekly shopping needs and fill-in trips," he said. "This is going to be a convenient, amply stocked express format for us."
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.