The Rochester Market
Rochester, a town of 182,000 people, was an hour’s drive from Boston,
Massachusetts which had 600,000 people. Six million people lived within an hour
of Rochester. Its population was growing at a rate of four percent per year while
Boston’s population was declining due to out-migration.
Rochester was divided culturally. The east side had a large German and Dutch
population which valued their traditional, conservative city atmosphere and
patronized retailers providing traditional products at good prices. The west side
had a more cosmopolitan population, the result of the university and the financial
industry located there. The disposable income on the east side of Rochester was
ten percent lower and its residents spent 17 percent less on food prepared outside
the home. All customers in Rochester shared similar interests with other US food
shoppers when choosing their supermarket.