How Triangle grocery stores rank in 2016 battle for market share 

Jun 17, 2016, 3:10pm EDT Updated Jun 17, 2016, 3:58pm EDT

Amanda HoyleStaff WriterTriangle Business Journal

The latest market share survey data from Chain Store Guide shows that Wal-Mart and Food Lion are still battling it out for the No. 1 position for market share in the Triangle, but the new numbers also show there’s some new competitors gaining on their lead.

Costco Wholesale, for example, bumped its market share in the Raleigh-Cary metro area to 5.5 percent in 2016 from a 3 percent market share in 2015, primarily due to the opening of a second store in Wake County in March.

While the shift may seem small and subtle, it translates into shopping patterns that are shifting.

During the same time that Costco saw its sales grow, the 18 Wal-Mart Supercenters in the Raleigh-Cary market saw their market share drop to 20.5 percent in the 2016 survey from 21.9 percent the year prior. The three Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets also saw a market share drop to 1.3 percent in 2016 from 1.6 percent the year prior.

Food Lion and Lowes Foods have in the past year completed major remodels of many of their Triangle stores in an effort to stave off some of the shifts in shopping patterns. For Food Lion, the strategy seems to be working as it stabilized its market share in Raleigh and grew its market share in Durham. Lowes Foods stabilized its market share in Durham, but still saw its market share drop in Raleigh.

The Triangle is also on the cusp of several big changes coming to the grocery store landscape in the region. Publix has been adding new stores. Lidl plans to open several of its first U.S. locations in the Triangle by 2018. Sprout’s Farmers Market wants to open its first location in the region by 2018, as well, andWegmans, the popular New York-based specialty grocer, has confirmed plans to also expand into the Triangle region with a store planned in Cary.