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KIOSKS FOR THE PEOPLE

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kiosks have been slow to gain acceptance in the supermarket industry, but Lunds Food Holdings here has gone all out with the interactive computer screens in its new "Store of the Future" in Plymouth, Minn.g Wise natural foods area, and meat, seafood and produce. The retailer's stated goal, as with all technologies in the store, is to enhance customer service."In the kiosk area, we are

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kiosks have been slow to gain acceptance in the supermarket industry, but Lunds Food Holdings here has gone all out with the interactive computer screens in its new "Store of the Future" in Plymouth, Minn.

g Wise natural foods area, and meat, seafood and produce. The retailer's stated goal, as with all technologies in the store, is to enhance customer service.

"In the kiosk area, we are providing additional product information, such as recipes and Food Notes, and it is a really nice extension of the services we already offer," said John Pazahanick, vice president, store development and real estate, Lunds Food Holdings.

"We find a lot of the people who shop in our stores are really foodies, they like to eat, they like to cook. And as they find these capabilities that we have in the kiosks, I think they will end up using them more, just for additional product information -- it is a great way to get recipes, instead of going through 50 different cookbooks. It's very user-friendly," he said.

Kiosks are especially valuable in areas like wine and cheese, where customers need advice on what products go best with the other foods they are preparing. A future plan is to link the two kiosks so that a customer can order their wine or cheese at the one kiosk and have it waiting for them in the other area of the store, Pazahanick said.

As in the other technologies it is trying in the new store, Lunds regards Plymouth as a prototype for kiosks. Some kiosks are being tested in other stores, but not as elaborately as in Plymouth, he added. "I could see us doing more of the kiosks in more of our stores." But there is no timetable. "As we do remodels and new stores, we'll be rolling out the kiosks," he said.