The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
At first glance, Schnuck Markets’ announcement this week that it will give shoppers a refund if they’re not happy with the quality of perishable goods it sells seems like just another take on a tactic that has guided retailers since Montgomery Ward popularized the phrase “satisfaction guaranteed or your money back” in the 19th century.
But Schnucks’ decision to roll out a guarantee explicitly focused on supermarket mainstays like produce, meat and seafood reflects a much broader concept that has defined the grocery industry since its inception: People intrinsically trust their local food store to provide them with reliably fresh food.
The challenge now facing Schnucks and virtually every other traditional food retailer is that retailers like Walmart have been steadily chipping away at their fresh business. According to data from Circana, conventional grocers accounted for less than half of fresh fruit and vegetable sales in the U.S. last year. In another stark trend, mass retailers have become just as likely as supermarkets to be people’s main grocery suppliers, industry data shows.
Traditional grocers are well aware that they have been losing market share in the all-important fresh category to mass merchants and discounters. With guarantees like the one Schnucks has introduced, they are pushing back with the message that the products they sell come with an insurance policy.
In case you missed it
Kroger resolves calorie labeling suit
The grocer has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it mislabeled calorie counts on five varieties of its Carbmaster bread products. The suit, which was prosecuted and investigated by the district attorneys of three Southern California counties, said Kroger continued to mislabel product packaging even after it found out the values were incorrect.
Kroger declined to comment on the suit.
Thrive Market hires first chief product officer
E-grocer Thrive Market has hired Prashant Hegde for the new C-suite role as it looks to continue challenging Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market in the specialty grocery lane, the company confirmed via LinkedIn. Hegde has more than 10 years of experience at Amazon, most recently serving as a director of private brands.
Thrive Market made a similar hire almost exactly one year ago, when it named former Amazon executive Scott Lescher as its first chief operating officer.
Meijer plans fifth supermarket
Supercenter retailer Meijer seems to like what it’s seeing so far from the supermarket format it debuted three years ago. The company plans to open its fifth Meijer Grocery location, and first in the Detroit area, in Clinton Township, Michigan, according to an announcement from that city. The retailer plans to demolish a Big Lots and build a 76,000-square-foot store in its place. Officials don’t yet have a timeline for opening, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.
After opening its first two Meijer Grocery stores in 2023, the company opened a third location in Indiana in 2024 and then another in Rochester Hills, Michigan, in May.
Impulse find
Sprouts finds another local coffee buddy
When you’re getting to know someone, it’s always a good idea to get coffee together.
Sprouts certainly seems to agree. It’s gotten to know a few local coffee shops in the markets where it operates. And it likes what it sees — so much so that it’s invited two local chains, Klatch Coffee in Southern California and Press Coffee in Arizona, into some of its stores.
Now Sprouts has a new coffee connection, Florida-based Buddy Brew Coffee. The specialty grocer announced plans to open 10 Buddy Brew locations inside selected stores in the Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida markets. The partnership will add some local buzz for Sprouts while doubling Buddy Brew’s cafe footprint and introducing it to a few new areas. The first in-store location will open inside a Tampa store on June 17.
Coffeehouse partnerships are nothing new in grocery — we’re looking at you, Starbucks — but the expansion of Sprouts’ initiative shows that linking up with a local establishment could provide retailers with the traffic jolt they’re looking for.
