May 22, 2009

TGR Survey Takes Retail Pulse, Finds Specialty Alive and WellBy GourmetRetailer.com

The results of The Gourmet Retailer’s latest Economic Pulse Survey are in, and we’ve got the highlights right here. Our mission was to bring you a snapshot of the current state of business among specialty food retailers. We surveyed retailers during the first week of May and had a total of 148 retailer respondents. Of those respondents, the vast majority — 92 percent — operate one to two stores. Another 5 percent operate between three and eight stores, and 3 percent operate more than eight stores.

In terms of store types, 43 percent of respondents put their store(s) in the specialty food/delicatessen/cheese shop/confection shop/wine shop category. Thirty-four percent of respondents operate in the cookware shop/gift gourmet/cooking schools/gift basket category. Nearly 13 percent of respondents operate coffee and tea shops. Seven percent operate supermarket grocery and natural food markets. The remaining respondents described their businesses as department stores, mail order, mass-merchandisers and “other,” such as e-retailer.

When asked how company sales for the fourth quarter of 2008 (October, November, December) compared with sales for the same period in 2007, nearly half — 44 percent — of respondents said that sales were above or remained the same as the previous year. Twenty-three percent reported sales above the previous year, while 56 percent said that sales were below what they saw in 2007.

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