TORONTO – For years grocery customers have been spending less time and money in the centre aisles of the supermarket — the ones that carry packaged goods such as canned corn and crackers. So-called “centre-store erosion” is happening for multiple reasons, and all of the big industry players have been noticing it.
“There are categories where the consumers are changing behaviour, not because the promotional environment has changed, but we believe because their shopping habits are changing,” Loblaw executive chairman Galen Weston told a conference call with shareholders in May.
“A number of those sort of the big traditional categories in the centre of the store, customers are shifting away from, and where are they going? They’re going to fresh, and we don’t see that shifting back in any meaningful way at this point.”
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