Grocery Owners May Struggle to Match Last Year’s Success

Owners of grocery stores were among the biggest real estate winners last year. Now, some property owners worry that the business looks poised to slip this year. Pandemic lockdowns forced restaurants to close and then limit service, but supermarkets and grocery stores were spared because they were deemed essential. Customers stocked up on food and other goods. Those dynamics helped boost U.S. grocery sales by 11% in 2020, more than triple the growth of the previous two years, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.