Market Intelligence: Grocery shopping in Kern County
| Thursday, Oct 29 2009 03:37 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Oct 29 2009 04:04 PM
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Kern County households spend an estimated $1.2 billion in grocery stores annually, or 11 percent of their household income.
Chain and local supermarkets earn 79 percent of that money, while 300-plus small neighborhood markets compete for the reminding 21 percent.
According to estimates for 2009, Kern County households spend an average of $96 in groceries on a weekly basis. Likewise, data from Scarborough Research show that 67 percent of Kern County adults say their household spent $100 or more in the past seven days.
Amount household spent on groceries in the past 7 days Percentage of adults
Less than $30 ... 2
$30 to $49 ... 5
$50 to $74 ... 12
$75 to $99 ... 14
$100 or more ... 67
There are some noticeable changes in grocery consumption locally. For instance, more Kern County adults are using organic products and less are using frozen meals. The latest data from Scarborough Research released in early 2009 show that 20 percent of Kern adults say their household used organic food in the past 30 days; a year ago, it was 17 percent. The table below lists some of the food products Kern County households used in the past 30 days.
Food products household used in the past 30 days Percentage of adults
Baby food ... 9
Decaffeinated coffee ... 14
Energy bars/nutrition bars ... 17
Frozen dinners/meals ... 36
Ice cream, frozen juice bars, frozen yogurt ... 62
Nuts ... 38
Packaged meat (ham, sausage, bacon, hot dogs, lunch meat) ... 75
Pretzels, chips, popcorn ... 54
Ready-to-eat cereal ... 61
Regular coffee ... 59
Salsa ... 47
Tea (bags or loose) ... 39
Tortillas ... 68
Yogurt (not frozen) ... 46
Any organic food ... 20
In Kern County, there are 64 major supermarkets and 314 small neighborhood markets. Albertsons, with 12 stores locally, is the leader in attracting the most shoppers. 42 percent of Kern adults say they shopped at Albertsons in the past seven days. Likewise, WinCo and Trader Joe's attract quite a few shoppers, especially considering they each have a single store in Kern. The table below lists some of the grocery stores with the percentage of adults who shopped there.
Grocery stores shopped in the past 7 days Locations Percentage of adults
Albertsons ...12 ... 42
Costco ... 2 ... 31
Food Maxx ... 5 ... 26
Vons ... 8 ... 19
Ranch Market ... 4 ... 18
Foods Co ... 3 ... 17
Vallarta Supermarkets ... 3 ... 17
WinCo ... 1 ... 13
Wal-Mart ... 4 ... 13
Trader Joe's ... 1 ... 11
Save Mart ... 4 ... 10
Smart & Final ... 4 ...10
Sam's Club ... 1 ... 6
Green Frog Market ... 2 ... 5
Fresh & Easy ... 3 ... 4
Young's Market ... 1... 2
Sources: Scarborough Research (2009 R1), Applied Geographic Solutions/SRC (2009), and The Bakersfield Californian Market Research.
