Marvins IGA Keeps Losing Ground To Walmart

Sink or swim. Kill or be killed. Win or lose. Zero-sum game. Whatever cliché you pick, it probably applies to Marvin’s IGA, the Van Buren-based grocery store chain that keeps losing ground to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The most recent retreat came in Farmington, where a Walmart Neighborhood Market opened in August. About two months later, Marvin’s closed its doors, and before the year even ended, had sold its building for $975,000.

In January, Marvin’s listed its location in Gravette for $1.2 million. The store closed in the wake of the 2011 opening of a Walmart Express. Marvin’s also closed in Gentry not long after a Walmart Express opened there.

While it’s easy to say Walmart ran Marvin’s out of business, it can also be argued that Marvin’s just wasn’t serving its customers and that they were ready for something better. When they finally got the store they wanted, or needed, they spent their dollars there.

But Marvin’s is not totally out of the game. In addition to 14 stores in Kansas and Oklahoma, it still has outlets in Lowell and Pea Ridge, and a company spokesman said Marvin’s plans to remain in the Northwest Arkansas market.

But peering into the future, Whispers only sees more trouble for Marvin’s. A new Walmart Neighborhood Market is planned for south Fayetteville on Martin Luther King Boulevard. The location is less than a mile from the School Avenue Marvin’s, and less than two miles from the College Avenue Marvin’s.

Add to that mix Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, Ozark Natural Foods, and Harps, and it’s hard to believe Marvin’s will survive in Fayetteville.