Have you noticed how many chain supermarkets have closed up, or are having major troubles, during recent times?
In the New York metropolitan area, long-time names Pathmark and Waldbaum's are no more, and now we hear that Fairway is having some major problems.
Why is this happening right now?
Some say it is cyclical, happening every 30 or 40 years or so.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, chains like Bohack and Food Fair and Hills went out of business, and I think many of those stores were replaced by, well, Pathmarks.
Waldbaum's had been around forever until the latest closure. An A&P brand, Waldbaum's, at one time, was extremely important to the Jewish community, as it was the only major supermarket chain where you could get, for instance, Kosher for Passover items.
Once other chains caught wind of the money that could be made on these items--and not just from observant Jews--all of them started to carry these products, and the uniqueness was over.
Some say that what is happening is a result of the availability of so many other avenues to obtain groceries.
You can get them online, and you can also buy groceries in major big-box stores like Walmart and Target.
And if you live in New York City--long the last place where major supermarkets did not dare venture into for a variety of reasons--you can get your groceries at the neighborhood market, the bodega, or any of the still standing supermarket chains that finally came into the Big Apple beginning in the 1980s.
Whatever the case, it appears that the stronger are eating up the weaker, with Best Market, Stop & Shop and Shoprite making inroads into this market, buying up most of the now empty stores and adding them to their bulging store portfolios.
In the New York metropolitan area, we don't have any Kroeger's, we don't have any Giants, we don't have Publix, we don't have Piggly Wiggly, and we don't have any of the other major supermarkets that exist around the country.
This is a tough nut to crack, and those chains have stayed the heck out of here forever, and it does not look like they are coming in any time soon.
What has happened is that the loss of the Waldbaum's and Pathmarks have narrowed our choices.
After a while, every supermarket looks like every other, and it seems that one day, the "Engulf and Devour" strategy will create just one supermarket chain that we all have to shop at.
It is too bad, because supermarkets not only bring food to the community they serve, they also bring a sense of pride, a reflection of that neighborhood.
Seemingly, this type of thing is a fast-vanishing monument of the past. Supermarkets have turned into boxes with food in them. They have little character, and the sense of community is vanishing too.
What can be done about it? Pretty much nothing.
Like everything else, the strong will survive, the weak will be eaten by the strong.
So enjoy your local supermarket now, it might not be there next year or for the next generation to enjoy.
There will always be supermarkets, but it is simply not the same anymore.
My A & P became North Shore Farms awhile back, and my Waldbaum's became a Best Market. Both very interesting stores. I hope my Pathmark becomes a Whole Foods, we need one of those in my area. I think Fairway is more likely to go with reorganization than liquidation, so I think we'll be OK. But if all else fails, there's always Trader Joe's.
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