Food Retailing by Discount Houses

Excerpts from the report: A new development in food retailing seems to be under way: Food is being sold by discount houses. The number of these houses is increasing rapidly with the volume of food sold through their food departments growing at an even more rapid pace. Although few trading areas have been penetrated and relatively few discount houses have food departments, trade estimates place food sales by discount houses at an annual rate of $2 billion (about 4 percent of total retail food sales), a figure that some believe may quadruple in the next 4 years. Food retailers and wholesalers devoted a major part of their convention programs in 1961, to discussions of discount operations--their own or their competitors. This article is based on a preliminary study of the impact of retail food operations by discount houses, which included a review of literature in the field of discounting; interviews with wholesalers, supermarket operators, retailers, discount house operators; and observations in representative types of discount house retail food operations.