Attitudes: Retailers

Boulder, Colo. -- Trader Joe’s is North America’s favorite grocery store based on customer satisfaction, according to a new study of 6,600 consumers conducted by Market Force Information. Publix Super Markets and Whole Foods Market rounded out the top three. All three received high marks for courteous staff, inviting atmosphere and high-quality produce. Hy-Vee also scored well on those measures.

Given the choice of shopping at only one retailer for the rest of their lives, millennial parents chose Walmart over several other popular retailers.
The study of the millenials, those age 25 to 34, was conducted by Vision Critical, and not surprisingly showed the demographic group changed purchasing habits and behaviors after starting a family.

Chicago -- Home meal replacements or prepared foods from supermarkets, drug stores and other retail outlets will continue to capture share of the meal/snacks market by stealing visits from restaurants, according to a recent study by The NPD Group.

Its recent foodservice forecast through 2022 indicated that instances of prepared food purchased at retailers for at-home consumption will increase by 10% over the next decade compared to a 4% increase forecast for commercial foodservice traffic.

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Consumers will spend the same or more on back-to-school shopping this year as they did last year and many will also finish back-to-school shopping early.

A survey Meijer conducted of its customers reveals 90% of shoppers plan to spend the same or more than they did last year and 40% will have completed their back-to-school shopping before the school year begins. Median spend will range between $101-$150 per student and $201-$250 in total.

San Francisco – Gap Inc. substantially improved upon its June 2012 same-store sales performance and beat analyst expectation with a 7% increase in same-store sales last month. In comparison, the retailer’s same-store sales were flat in June of last year and were only expected to rise 4.7% in June of this year, according to estimates from Retail Metrics.

Sales at Gap’s Old Navy helped drive the overall increase. Same-store sales at Old Navy rose 13% in June as a result of seasonal summer promotions.

National Retail Federation SVP for government relations David French spoke to Fox News' Stuart Varney about D.C.’s decision to pass a living wage bill requiring non-union, big box retailers to pay their employees $12.60 per hour. As a result of the bill's passing, Walmart has scrapped plans to open three stores in the District. While defenders of the bill point out that the living wage is a fair one given cost of living and the still challeneging economic climate, Varney says the District, via its council members, is turning down 2,000 jobs and French agrees.

Chicago -- Parents will shop and spend more during the back-to-school season this year than they did last year, according to ShopperTrak. The company projects that national retail sales will rise 4.3% in August, and retail foot traffic will increase 0.6%, when compared to the year-ago period.

Chicago – A growing demand for on campus food service exists among US college and university students, according to new data from Technomic. The latest Technomic College & University Trend Report shows that 69% of college students purchase food and beverage from on-campus foodservice facilities once a week or more. This is close to the 71% of college students who did so in 2009 and is a substantial gain from the 62% who paid visits to campus foodservice facilities once a week or more in 2011.