Retail sales fell for Grand Rapids, Michigan-based grocery retailer SpartanNash in the fourth quarter of 2017, but total sales were up.
The chain reported $450 million in retail sales for the quarter, down from $479 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. The company attributed the decline to store closings and a 3.2 decline crop in comparable store sales. SpartanNash closed one store and sold another to one of its distributor customers.
SpartanNash ended the quarter with 145 stores, down from 157 at the end of the same quarter in 2016.
Despite the retail losses, SpartanNash saw overall sales rise 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter, from $1.83 billion to $1.92 billion. Sales growth in the company’s food distribution and military commissary segments drove the gains, according to the company.
“Our fourth quarter capped a year of continued progress against our key strategic initiatives. We continue to pilot and test numerous innovative concepts and incorporate these learnings into our retail operations and distribution customer offerings,” says David Staples, SpartanNash’s president and CEO. “We are confident that these strategies and investments will serve to strengthen our competitive positioning in 2018."