LAFAYETTE — Like most businesses in the retail industry, supermarkets aren't immune to the downward trend that's been plaguing brick-and-mortar stores in recent years.
It's a trend that has had a harsh impact on Marsh Supermarkets, an Indiana-based grocery store chain. The 86-year-old company declared bankruptcy earlier this month and is hanging onto hope that a buyer or investor will be its saving grace and maintain at least some of its remaining 44 locations.
Marsh in recent years has struggled with increasing costs and, like other supermarkets, competition from bigger chains and super centers like Wal-Mart and Costco that offer the convenience of a one-stop shop.
Fewer than half of all shoppers said a traditional supermarket was their primary place to get grocery items in a 2016 Food Marketing Institute survey on U.S. grocery shopping trends. At the same time, the survey found that shoppers go to multiple places to get their groceries and don't necessarily have an allegiance to one store over another.
With all these challenges, supermarkets are constantly looking for new ways to build customer loyalty beyond just offering lower prices, whether it be through home-delivery services or enticing young shoppers with sushi and salad bars.
"It's not simply laying out pretty tomatoes," said Richard Feinberg, a retail management professor at Purdue University. "The more services you can have for consumers and make it easier for them, the more likely they’ll come."
The Pay Less in West Lafayette excels in regards to the variety of amenities it offers. The sizable store is equipped with a Starbucks, an Arni's Restaurant counter, a Murray's Cheese Shop and an organic produce section three times the size of Marsh's, which is located across the street.