Neighborhood grocery stores make a comeback

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With gasoline prices up and money tight, more Americans are trying to shop closer to home, making this a great moment to have a food store just around the corner.While the past decade has left grocery-sized holes in neighborhoods all over the country, the industry has an answer.Wal-Mart is launching a venture into the small community grocery-store arena with openings in the Phoenix, Ariz., market. Last year, United Kingdom-based Tesco introduced a small grocery format, Fresh & Easy, to the U.S. West Coast. And Giant Eagle heated up the ovens at its first Express prototype in Harmarville, Pa., last year as well.And there are more. Grocers such as Safeway and Jewel-Osco also are experimenting with stores that offer more than the typical convenience store but much less than the 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot super grocer, not to mention a 175,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter."It's kind of the re-emergence of the small market stores," said Jennifer Halterman, senior consultant with TNS Retail Forward in Columbus, Ohio. Such concepts are attractive to shoppers, she said. They like the idea of a manageable store conveniently located that carries necessities and things that might work for dinner.Jim Pashek of Pashek Associates in Pittsburgh, has seen firsthand the craving people have for traditional grocery stores in their neighborhoods, where they might run into friends while picking up something to make for dinner.Not long ago, he was involved in a business development survey for the community of Scottdale in Westmoreland County. "The first thing the community said is, 'We want our grocery store back.'"Old-fashioned smaller groceries provided a service. People could shop near home and, in some cases, never have to get into a car. Often such places also served as a de facto community center where youths might do fund-raisers, parents might talk about the football game, and everybody knew where to find the peanut butter."That's what I think people are kind of wishing for," Pashek said.Companies see small stores as a way to fill in the gap between convenience stores and the large supermarkets where consumers might go to take care of stocking up the pantry, Halterman said.Instead, the Express store offers produce, a deli, a drive-thru pharmacy, a free Wi-Fi cafe, a DVD rental machine, a prepared foods area with heat-and-serve meals and a small bakery.Wal-Mart's online pitch for its new Marketside stores describes places that carry 300 varieties of produce, some organic, as well as a butcher and bakery area. There will be an emphasis on prepared foods -- "faster than a grocery store, more affordable than a restaurant." The stores are estimated to be 10,000 to 15,000 square feet.Halterman said smaller formats can offer a foothold in certain areas that wouldn't support a big grocery.Tesco officials claimed in a recent newsletter they've put the stores in places such as South Los Angeles that may have been underserved by modern groceries.E-mail Teresa F. Lindeman at tlindeman(at)post-gazette.com.