GROCERY OUTLET GATHERS MOMENTUM
Progressive Grocer|June 2021
A unique approach to ownership, entrepreneurship and retail operations has the retailer on track to surpass 400 locations during its 75th anniversary year.
Mike Troy
GROCERY OUTLET GATHERS MOMENTUM

Retailers are a creative lot, and there are many unique approaches to serving shoppers evident throughout the industry. However, there aren’t many companies as unique as Emeryville, Calif.-based Grocery Outlet, or that have as bold a vision for growth.

As the name implies, Grocery Outlet is an off-price retailer of food and consumables focused on delivering value to shoppers. It operates small-format stores where shoppers can find a limited assortment of predominantly branded merchandise, about half of which has been purchased opportunistically, offered at prices that the company refers to as “shocking values.” Elements of the company’s strategy are evident in the operations of retailers such as Big Lots, 99 Cents Only, Save-A-Lot, Trader Joe’s and Costco. But no one does it quite the way that Grocery Outlet does, as evidenced by the company’s approach to ownership, entrepreneurship, operations and accountability, which in turn drives the company’s financial performance and supports the long-term view that the United States could support nearly 5,000 Grocery Outlet stores. The likelihood of that happening revolves around the fact that the company doesn’t have store managers; instead, it has independent owner-operators.

“The best way for anyone to understand what we do is just walk into a store and ask for the operator and talk to them,” says Eric Lindberg, CEO of Grocery Outlet. “It is the difference between managing a store and owning a business. We think we are providing the American dream in the form of running a business, with the best of two models coming together.”

This story is from the June 2021 edition of Progressive Grocer.

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This story is from the June 2021 edition of Progressive Grocer.

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