Village Super Market upholds sales pace in Q3

Independent grocer Village Super Market Inc. kept up its fiscal 2023 sales growth momentum in the third quarter atop strong prior-year results.

For the quarter ended April 29, net sales climbed 5.4% to $529.3 million from nearly $502 million a year earlier, the Springfield, New Jersey-based ShopRite operator reported Tuesday. That bested increases of 5.2% and 4.9% in the first and second quarters, respectively, as well as a 4.3% uptick in the fiscal 2022 third quarter.

Comparable-store sales advanced 3.4% in Q3 2023, building on a 4.6% gain in the 2022 quarter for 8% growth on a two-year stack. First- and second-quarter comp sales had risen 4.3% and 3.2% year over year, respectively.

Village Super Market said e-commerce sales grew 4.8% in the third quarter, compared with flat digital sales a year ago. The growth marked a rebound from a 0.5% gain in Q2 and was in line with a 5.5% increase in Q1.

“Sales increased due to an increase in same-store sales of 3.4%, the opening of a Gourmet Garage in the West Village in Manhattan, New York, on April 29, 2022, and increased sales due to the remodel and conversion of the Pelham, New York, Fairway [Market] to the ShopRite banner on Aug. 15, 2022,” Village Super Market stated about Q3 results. “Same-store sales increased due primarily to retail price inflation.”

At the bottom line, net income totaled just over $11 million in the 2023 third quarter, compared with a $3.2 million net loss in the year-ago period. Earnings per diluted share increased to 75 cents for Class A common stock and to 54 cents for Class B stock from net losses of 22 cents per diluted share for Class A stock and 16 cents for Class B stock in the 2022 quarter. Adjusted net earnings were $10.2 million versus $5.3 million a year earlier.

Net sales for the 39-week period came in at $1.61 billion, up 5.2% from $1.53 billion a year earlier, according to Village Super Market, a public company. Same-store sales gained 3.6% and were up 7.3% over two years. Digital sales rose 3.3%, compared with flat results in the year-ago time span.

Year-to-date net earnings totaled $34.4 million, up from $14.2 million in the 2022 period. Net income per diluted share grew to $2.36 for Class A common stock and to $1.71 for Class B stock from 97 cents for Class A stock and 71 cents for Class B stock in the 2022 period. For the 39 weeks, the retailer posted adjusted net income of $33.6 million versus $22.7 million a year ago.

A member of the Wakefern Food Corp. grocery retail cooperative, Village Super Market operates 34 stores under the banners ShopRite (30 locations) and Fairway Market (four locations) in New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania, as well as four Gourmet Garage specialty markets in Manhattan. Twenty-seven of its supermarkets are ShopRite locations in New Jersey.