Cocky. Ruthless. Vicious. Mean. Those are some of the ways Jerry Davis, CEO of Affiliated Foods Southwest, describes the supermarket juggernaut that is Wal-Mart. He could have added hyperefficient, low cost and customer focused. The megachain's rapidly expanding grocery business--which now accounts for a fifth of U.S. food sales--has left a trail of shuttered supermarkets in its wake. This year in particular, the damage is piling up. Winn-Dixie, once a Southern power, suspended its dividend indefinitely, causing its stock to drop 28% in January, and is expected to close more than a hundred stores. This comes on the heels of Fleming...
Supermarket Smackdown
It took Wal-Mart to expose their problems. But old-school grocers are revamping their formats to stave off extinction
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