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Wal-Mart gaining grocery shoppers

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By MICHAEL SASSO

msasso@tampatrib.com

Published: July 15, 2009

TAMPA - Wal-Mart's supercenters continue to add food customers in Florida while other grocery chains are losing them, new data show.

According to July's issue of the Shelby Report, a supermarket trade journal, Wal-Mart supercenters have 24.7 percent of Florida's grocery market. That is behind Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets, which enjoys a commanding 41.4 percent share of the state's market. Winn-Dixie was third in Florida with a 13.3 percent market share.

Wal-Mart's emphasis on low prices may be paying off in the recession: Wal-Mart supercenters' market share rose by 0.7 percent in July from the previous survey in March. In the same period, Publix's market share fell by about a half-percent statewide and Winn-Dixie's share fell 0.2 percent.

The two leading grocers' situation is reversed in the Tampa Bay area, though, where Publix gained market share and Wal-Mart fell slightly.

According to the data, Publix had 43.4 percent of the Bay area's market share in July, up 0.37 percent. Wal-Mart's Bay area share was 20.75 percent, down 0.13 percent.

The Shelby Report receives its supermarket statistics from market research firm Trade Dimensions, a unit of Nielsen Co.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

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