Hypermarkets rival clubs in store productivity - membership warehouse club stores - Discount Industry Annual Report: Part 2: Merchandising & Productivity

Discount Store News, July 17, 1989

Hypermarkets Rival Clubs in Store Productivity

Membership warehouse clubs, hypermarkets and consumer electronics chains were the top performing retailers last year in terms of sales productivity, according to calculations based on DSN's Top 150 list of leading discounters.

The 10 leading membership warehouse chains are represented among the top 30 discounters ranked on a sales per store basis. Price Club led the group with average sales per store of $98.9 million.

Three hypermarkets rank among the top 10 discounters in sales per store. Hypermart USA racked up an average of $91.7 million per store. Since two of its three stores were not open for the full year, that figure should be even higher next year.

Carrefour, despite struggling for acceptance in the competitive Philadelphia market, achieved $60 million in sales from its sole unit. And Biggs, with three units, averaged $50 million per store last year, as hypermarkets make an impact on U.S. retailing.

Tops Appliances, with two CE and appliance stores in New Jersey, had the highest sales per store average last year, but that figure is a bit deceiving as Tops does a large portion of its business with contractors and builders.

The two leading full-line discounters in per store sales were Meijer ($57.7 million) and Fedco ($57.1 million).

The nation's top 150 discount retailers, which admittedly includes an extremely wide variety of formats, averaged $5.9 million in sales per store.

On a sales per square foot basis, the CE chains were stellar performers. Among the leaders were Tops ($3,200 per square foot), Trader Horn (over $1,000 per square foot), and The Wiz (over $750 per square foot).

Despite their huge size, two warehouse clubs put their large selling floors to very good use. Price Club averaged $988.54 per square foot and Price Savers rang up an average of $461.54 per square foot.

Among full-liners, Meijer, Smitty's and Fedco were the standouts, with average sales per square foot figures ranging over $315. [Tabular Omitted]