Aldi & Save-a-Lot: Fewer Choices, more private lables.....More savings

The average American supermarket now measures over 46,000 square feet—up from an average of around 35,000 square feet in the mid-90s

Contrast with Aldi and Save-a-Lot: both have <20,000 square feet

Both have ~1200 stores in the US

How they save money:

"They stock mostly private-label packaged foods, with a sprinkling of national brands thrown in when the price is right. Meat and produce sections are smaller than supermarkets’, but sufficient for many shoppers. Stores of 20,000 feet or less and a bag-it-yourself policy help trim overhead.

A typical Save-A-Lot stocks just 1,800 items, 5% of a supermarket’s total. Roughly 80% are private-label products, and they are displayed on shelves in the cardboard boxes they arrived in to save labor costs.

Aldi stores carry 1,400 items, 95% of them private label

And the generic stuff costs 30% or 50% less than what the typical consumer had been committed to buying for years prior to the recession. "

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/01/25/fewer-choices-more-savings-the-new-way-to-buy-groceries/#ixzz1V3bKIUQq

Hottest retailer Ascena

No. 1: Ascena (dressbarn) (58.9% sales growth)

No. 2. Amazon (46.2 %)

No. 3: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market (37.8% )

No. 4: hhgregg (36.3%)

No. 5: Tops Friendly Markets (33.1%)

No. 6: Bodega Latina (32.5%)

No. 7: Apple Stores/iTunes (32.3%)

No. 8: Netflix (29.5%)

No. 9: H&M (29.3%)

No. 10: Overstock.com (23.8%)
Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/08/02/youll-never-guess-the-hottest-retailer-in-the-u-s/#ixzz1V3TuuklX

Economic downturn helps outlet malls boom

*17% increase in business in 2011 over 2010 in apparel at outlet malls

* In typical malls, 1 in 11 stores are empty

"It’s estimated that 85% of the items sold at outlet malls were never sold in full-price stores. The vast majority of what you’ll find at outlet malls isn’t leftover items or goods damaged or returned at first-run, full-price stores at the traditional mall, but goods that are produced specifically for sale at outlet malls—and typically, they’re produced on the cheap."

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/08/12/as-regular-malls-struggle-outlet-malls-are-booming/#ixzz1V3SsQZrD