Village Super Market's Q1 Net Income Rises While Gross Profit Drops
New Jersey-based Village Super Market Inc. has reported a first-quarter net income of $11.6 million, an increase of 5% compared with $11.1 million in the first quarter of the prior year.
For the first quarter ended Oct. 28, the food retailer said that its sales were $536.4 million, a 3.2% rise from last year. Sales increased due to a 2.0% uptick in same-store sales. Same-store sales rose because of retail price inflation. Same-store digital sales increased 13%.
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Q1 gross profit as a percentage of sales decreased to 28.52%, due primarily to higher promotional spending (0.22%), increased warehouse assessment charges from Wakefern (0.20%) and an unfavorable change in product mix (0.14%) partly offset by increased departmental gross-margin percentages (0.36%). Department gross margins rose due to improvements in commissary operations.
Operating and administrative expense as a percentage of sales increased to 24.29% because of rising facility repair and maintenance costs (0.10%), security costs (0.07%) and external fees associated with digital sales (0.05%) partly offset by lower labor costs and fringe benefits (0.10%).
In September, Village Super Market revealed that it was rolling out the Focal Systems Operating System (FocalOS) chainwide at its ShopRite and Fairway Market banner stores to optimize ordering, inventory management, merchandising and in-store labor.
The rollout involves deploying hundreds of tiny shelf cameras that digitize shelves hourly with accurate computer vision. FocalOS then uses that data to automate in-store processes and enable accurate, just-in-time ordering.
Village Super Market, a member of Wakefern Food Corp., operates a chain of 34 supermarkets in New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania under the ShopRite and Fairway banners, and three Gourmet Garage specialty markets in New York City.
Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern is the nation's largest retailer-owned cooperative. The company comprises more than 40 members that independently own and operate 360-plus supermarkets. Wakefern is No. 29 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 listing of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
