NEW YORK—Feb. 6, 2025—Scott Moses, Head of Grocery, Pharmacy & Restaurants at Solomon Partners, a leading financial advisory firm, announced the publication of his book, “A ‘Grocery’ Christmas Carol: The Ghost of Supermarkets Future.”
Inspired by Charles Dickens’ classic story, “A Christmas Carol,” Moses’ book explores the extraordinary transformation in America from Supermarkets Past – including the meteoric rise over the past 20 years of national/discount grocers Walmart, Target, Costco, Amazon, Aldi and Dollar General – to Supermarkets Present. It reviews the importance of scale, grocery M&A and regulatory attempts to curtail it, as well as the potential consequences of these dynamics in alternative versions of Supermarkets Future.
Dickens’ vibrant portrayal of London’s grocers in the 1840s serves as a nostalgic reminder of the joy that supermarket grocers have brought teammates, families and communities for over 100 years. However, the story also serves as a cautionary tale for the uncertain future of America’s supermarket grocers, due to intense competition and the transformation of consumer grocery shopping habits away from one-stop shopping.
“A ‘Grocery’ Christmas Carol: The Ghost of Supermarkets Future” aims to equip industry leaders, business students, sector observers and grocery customers with the facts they need to understand the challenges facing supermarket grocers today and, most important, the opportunities for these indispensable institutions to build a brighter future across America.
“Supermarket grocers have served as pillars of thousands of American communities for generations, feeding our families and providing great jobs,” Moses said. “During Covid-19, we all saw firsthand how essential our local supermarket grocers are to our lives; but they are under existential threat from national/discount grocers. I wrote this book to provide a dashboard of grocery facts, call attention to the changes our industry has experienced and highlight the risks of a regulatory environment that prevents supermarket grocers from building the scale they need to remain competitive in the long run and avoid the fate of department stores, which we all have witnessed as well.”
At Solomon Partners, Moses specializes in mergers, acquisitions, sales and divestitures of America’s grocers, many of which are family-owned. He joined Solomon in 2016 and is a member of the firm’s Operating Committee.
Over the past two decades, Moses has advised clients on some of the largest and most significant grocery M&A transactions, with a combined value of more than $50 billion. He was previously named to the “Top 50: Americas M&A Dealmakers” list by Global M&A Network (2013) and “40 Under 40” lists of promising finance professionals by IDD (2011) and The M&A Advisor (2015).
Moses’ numerous clients have included Kroger, Albertsons, Sprouts Farmers Market, Sunflower Farmers Market, New Seasons, Roche Bros., Cardenas Markets (KKR), El Rancho, Mi Pueblo, Pro’s Ranch Markets, FreshDirect, Mercatus, Boxed, Imperfect Foods, Price Chopper/Market 32, Fresh Encounter, Save Mart, Southeastern Grocers, Save A Lot, United Supermarkets, Fairway, Kings/Balducci’s, Lucky’s Market, Best Market, Martin’s, Haggen, Lund’s/Byerly’s, Supervalu (Shop & Save), Central Grocers, Rite Aid (Lenders), Jean Coutu (Brooks/Eckerd), Fred’s (Rx) and Weis Markets (SuperPetz), as well as many private equity firms.
Moses has been quoted numerous times as a sector thought leader in various business and grocery media outlets, including Bloomberg, CNN, Forbes, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Food Dive, Progressive Grocer, The Shelby Report, Supermarket News and Winsight Grocery.
Praised by many renowned grocery executives, “A ‘Grocery’ Christmas Carol: The Ghost of Supermarkets Future” is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. All profits from “A ‘Grocery’ Christmas Carol” will be donated to Feeding America and Nourishing Neighbors.
About Solomon Partners
Founded in 1989, Solomon Partners is a leading financial advisory firm with a legacy as one of the oldest independent investment banks. Our difference is unmatched industry knowledge in the sectors we cover, creating superior value with unrivaled wisdom for our clients. We advise clients on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, recapitalizations, capital markets solutions and activism defense across a range of verticals. These include Business Services, Consumer Retail, Distribution, Financial Institutions, Financial Sponsors, FinTech, Grocery, Healthcare, Industrials, Infrastructure, Media, Pharmacy & Restaurants, Power & Renewables and Technology. Solomon Partners is an independently operated affiliate of Natixis, part of Groupe BPCE.
