CORRIDOR OF CONCEPTS

ROBERT VOSBURGH

CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- A&P's new Super Fresh unit here leads shoppers by their senses through expanded perishables departments, and introduces them to several new elements that further incorporate the chain's Master Choice premium store brand into the fresh-aisle mix.

The label -- steadily introduced into Super Fresh and other divisions of Montvale, N.J.-based A&P over the past two years -- gets a high profile in the meat department, the deli, grocery and now, the bakery, through an agreement with a popular West Coast bakery. Indeed, this Super Fresh is the first store in all of A&P to sell the products, a line of artisan breads.

The from-the-ground-up, 72,000-square-foot unit places established and new concepts in a loosely arranged corridor that runs along the perimeter of one-half the store. Shoppers can follow the wood flooring like a path that starts at the Eight O'Clock Cafe near the entrance and runs all the way back to the bakery.

New design components, coupled with an emphasis on freshness and variety, represent the retailer's growing commitment to make the Super Fresh division a player in the greater Philadelphia area, where independents like Genuardi's Family Markets, Norristown, Pa., and Clemens Markets, Kulpsville, Pa., are putting forth major efforts of their own.

"This Super Fresh store represents a concept change for us, from a standard box store to more gourmet," said Steve Faramelli, store director. "We want to be a trend-setter in this market."

Throughout the fresh departments, updated thinking and attitudes abound. Associate/customer interaction is emphasized through expanded service counters in the deli, seafood, meat and bakery. Self-service venues have also been increased to maximize customer choice.

This service/self-service balance is most apparent just inside the front door, where a set of five interconnected cases holds unique items, such as sushi, gourmet olives/antipasto, roasted vegetables, wings and grain salads. All but the sushi are $4.99 a pound.

The sushi counter is operated by ACE Inc., San Diego. Products are made fresh by an ACE associate behind a refrigerated merchandiser in a small work area created by the connected cases. Currently, the company operates similar bars in approximately 300 supermarkets, according to ACE manager, Kim Chan.

All combined, the colors and variety create an appealing combination. In the roasted vegetable case, for instance, there were eight choices on the day of SN's visit, including green peppers, roasted red peppers and purple eggplant.

Wing choices included Hot & Spicy, Garlic, XX Hot and Tenders (actually boneless breast strips). The grain salad bar showcased Black Bean Salsa, Wheatberry Salad, Wheatberry Orzo and Cranberry Grain. There were 14 olive and antipasto choices, including a few with French feta.

The store's traditional salad bar, an 18-foot walkaround, included loose greens, cut vegetables and fruit, as well as prepared salads brought over from the deli, like tuna and seafood. A pair of soup warmers are situated at the end of the island, one of three places in the fresh aisle where soups are merchandised.

Both setups serve as a visual break between food service and the produce department. Here, produce has been moved back to make room for the prepared foods, as well as the Eight O'Clock Cafe, which is located to one side of the store entrance.

"We pushed produce back a little, because we wanted customers to walk into a shopping 'experience,' to see the variety," said Faramelli. "Now, customers are immediately faced with the colorful roasted vegetables and connected cases that show off prepared fare."

The cafe, first introduced by A&P corporate several years ago in a store under their Food Emporium banner in Fort Lee, N.J., includes full specialty coffee service, using their famous signature Eight O'Clock Coffee brand.

On the morning of SN's visit, a small case was filled with morning goods like bagels, doughnuts and muffins from the bakery, while a small reach-in refrigerated case offered premade signature sandwiches and wraps.

"Wraps have become the dominant force in grab-and-go today," said Faramelli. The signature sandwich program uses both A&P's Master Choice cold cuts and a new line of artisan breads created by La Brea Bakery, Los Angeles. The breads, branded under the Master Choice label, are baked off in the bakery and sent over to the deli. Each sandwich is $4.99.

Five varieties of the signature sandwiches, which are merchandised in baskets, are offered daily, Faramelli said. On the day SN visited the store, the offerings included smoked turkey, ham and cheese, herbed tuna and grilled chicken. Small containers of pickled eggs and deviled eggs, at 99 cents each, were merchandised in the same case. So was a select group of high-end bottled sodas, such as "champagne cola" on a bed of ice.

According to Sal Zinzi, corporate procurement manager for A&P, five more signature sandwiches are currently being introduced.

Adjacent to the sandwiches, a 4-foot tiered case held hoagies and hy-rollers. A large roast beef hoagie was $4.29; a small, $2.69. A large Italian hoagie was $3.99; small, $2.49. Both roast beef and ham and cheese hy-rollers were $3.99.

Next to this, a brick-oven pizza station takes the spotlight. There, served hot, pizza was priced the same no matter what the variety. A slice was $1.99; a whole pie with one topping, whether spinach or sausage, was $9.99. Breakfast pizzas, topped with scrambled eggs and sausage, are on the menu.

Several varieties were offered as chilled, whole pies, in a tiered self-service case in front of the service pizza station. They ranged in price from $3.99 to $6.99, depending on the topping. Next to the pizzas in the chilled case were a full 4 feet of tomato pies, a regional favorite. They're 10-inch by 20-inch rectangles with a pizza-like crust and tomato-only topping, for $2.99 each.

"People buy those like crazy. I'd never heard of them before I came here," said a store-level source who had just moved to the area.

One of the new offerings at the Cherry Hill Super Fresh -- part of a six-store test -- is a hot breakfast buffet. For $3.99 a pound, patrons can choose hot items for takeout or for consumption in the Eight O'Clock Cafe seating area. Just before noontime, the buffet is switched over to lunch items, though, during the breakfast period, several pans contained chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and related items.

"Some customers who work nights do their shopping on their way home in the morning, and want supper food, even though it may be 9:30 a.m.," said Faramelli. "We want to make sure we give them what they want, whether it's breakfast or dinner."

The hot buffet bar formed a three-section front to a large open food-preparation area, where deck ovens, a grill, rotiserries and work tables were on full display. Directly in front was a manned grill, where customers could step up and order grilled chicken breast (traditional, teriyaki, barbecued or pollo asado), Italian sausage and peppers, Polish sausage or a sirloin burger. Each $3.99 item included two sides.

Two more soup merchandisers and a small display of single-serving La Brea breads completed the front of the grill station, under a sign that read, Soup Kettle.

"Typically, twice as many shoppers visit the deli than the bakery," said Zinzi of the placement of the La Brea breads in deli. "By placing the breads there, we get twice as many people to see it and try it. Then, we let them know there is a much larger selection available in the bakery."

The hot-food operation may attract a lot of attention with its live activity, but shoppers were also drawn to the 12-foot enclosed refrigerated case holding platters of prepared entrees. Here, international flavors were on full view with such entrees as Oriental beef and fettuccine, broccoli chicken, risotto balls and marinara, paella and chicken parmesan.

Ginger seafood salad and poached salmon with dill sauce were both $7.99 a pound. Oriental beef was $5.99 a pound. Thai chicken breasts are $2.99 each. The fare is all made in-store, with the exception of risotto balls and crab cakes, $2.99 each, which are sourced from outside, store-level sources said.

Across from this area were located the store's prepared foods, arranged in a multideck, 18-foot walkaround island. It was comprised of entrees and sides from national manufacturers, including Blue Ridge Farms, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Spring Glen Fresh Foods, Ephrata, Pa.; Winter Gardens, New Oxford, Pa.; and Perdue/Ed & Joan DeLuca, Salisbury, Md. A&P also uses the case to sell its own line of Deli Made Quiche, each made in-store.

Fresh-made, national-brand pastas and sauces, pierogies and stuffed breads were also available here.

Next to this, Super Fresh has built an impressive gourmet cheese display that literally spills out into the aisle, adjacent to the Corner Deli. Only the second Super Fresh Cheese Shop in the Philadelphia marketplace, the U-shaped area holds a total of about 200 different varieties of cheese from "Around the Nation and the World."

A total of 36 feet of low-profile, wood-front cases make up the cheese island. Six 6-foot sections of case are set at angles to form an island with a work area in the middle.

Whole and half-wheels of cheese are displayed with random-weight, wrapped portions. A giant half-wheel of Swiss cheese, for instance, anchored one display, sitting out in front on a small table of its own. In front of an adjacent case, bricks of Monterey jack were set so they appeared to cascade right over the lip of the case onto another table.

The tremendous display of cheese was punctuated with summer sausages, crackers, breadsticks, salsas and other party-tray regulars, and was capped with a multideck merchandiser offering international items like crema centro, stuffed hot peppers and other marinated delicacies.

"We want the customer to know that we're capable of giving them this much quality, freshness and variety," said Faramelli of the new addition. "They don't have to go to a specialty store any more."

The Corner Deli, situated between the Cheese Shop and the prepared-meals case, heavily promotes Master Choice cold cuts (see A&P Debuts Private-Label Cold-Cut Line With Hoopla, SN, Feb. 8, 1999) through fixed signage on the rear wall and with counter-top cards, as well as Dietz & Watson deli meats. A self-service, Express Deli case offers prepacked, ticketed meats and cheeses.

Local bakeries have a special place here. At this store, a merchandiser sells a variety of rolls manufactured fresh daily by Vieira's Bakery, Newark, N.J., a regional institution that is well-known for its Portuguese rolls, as well as a local favorite, Amoroso's of Philadelphia. Customers can buy multiple rolls or choose one to use in making a sandwich.

Meat and seafood are next in the line, as the wooden floorboards turn along the right side of the store. According to officials, there are several new elements in the seafood department, which was greatly expanded in this store.

Shrimp -- both service and self-service -- anchor the department on either side. Customers first encounter an open coffin case where bagged varieties of shrimp are available, including cooked, deveined and peeled, and raw.

"This is a new merchandising concept for us," said Andy Carrano, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for A&P. "The idea is to display the largest variety possible in a format that customers want."

On the opposite side, a portion of the service ice table is reserved for fresh and frozen shrimp, separated by Plexiglas ridges. The overall impression is one of abundance.

Also new is a frozen service case, which is in line with the rest of the service counter. Here, it is used to merchandise more expensive items, and is stacked with lobster tails, Dungeness crab, king crab legs and snow crab clusters. According to Craig Tomlinson, department manager, "the case allows the store to carry items we never had before."

The service area is built around modern, Euro-style ice tables that display seafood with a minimum of hardware. Tempered glass, sheet glass and walk-in wells for store associates enhance service by bringing both the seafood and the service closer to the customer.

The larger space also allows the department to assemble hot meals that use frozen seafood as the entree. A sign placed near the service counter announces that the to-go menu includes fried flounder, shrimp, sea scallops, crab cakes, stuffed shrimp or a "combo" platter, each with fries, cole slaw and tartar or cocktail sauce. According to Tomlinson, the best-seller is stuffed shrimp.

Soups are also part of the department's hot offerings. The store uses seafood-based creations from Bookbinder's, a Philadelphia restaurant that has become an institution. The soups, made in the restaurant and delivered directly to stores, included New England clam chowder, snapper soup and lobster bisque on the day of SN's visit.

The service meat department features a variety of sausages made fresh in-store, as well as value-added items like beef kabobs, beef Florentine and stuffed duck. A crown lamb roast was $7.99 a pound.

The 16-foot service case -- increased from 12-feet used in older stores -- promotes A&P's Master Choice brand with a variety of beef and pork products, including ground sirloin and seasoned pork roast. A 4-foot portion of the case was devoted to Bell & Evans-brand poultry, which is typical for all newer Super Fresh stores, according to officials.

The kabobs in particular were an eye-catcher -- skewers of meat and cut vegetables were topped by a single cherry tomato, and then placed upright in a tray. Behind these standing rows, others were laid flat to better show off their substance.

Prior to this, the kabobs were overwrapped and merchandised in the self-service case. They were moved to the service side in order to give them a higher profile, especially in preparation for the summer grilling season, said Bill Raiburn, service clerk.

"They're more of a seasonal seller, and putting them in the case this way puts them right in the customer's face," he said.

The self-service case is extensive. Here, certified Black Angus cuts of beef secure their own section in a multideck series of cases that stretch more than 40 feet. Ready-to-cook beef items, called Meals in Minutes, are a feature here, using beef cut in-store, and tumbled with spice combinations from Everson Spice Co., Long Beach, Calif.

The wood floor -- that path that leads shoppers from the front door -- ends in an expanded bakery section that is the first in the A&P chain to feature the new Master Choice artisan bread program. As mentioned, the loaves, manufactured by La Brea Bakery, will eventually be rolled out to every A&P division with special merchandisers and complete signage and promotional support.

"This further helps us define what Master Choice represents for us as a supermarket," said Zinzi, the corporate director of procurement. "We wanted a product that, once consumers tasted it, would become a destination item for them."

La Brea, founded in 1988, quickly gained a name for itself with its signature sourdough breads, which are part of the A&P program. The parbaked loaves arrive frozen and can be baked off as needed. Among the varieties in the Master Choice program using La Brea's sourdough base are baguettes, batards, rolls, demi baguettes and country white bread.

Specialty breads in the program include rosemary-olive oil, potato dill, olive, organic wheat and chocolate cherry. This round dark loaf is mixed with sour cherries and chunks of dark chocolate, and is extremely popular as a dessert bread, said Dawn Emmertz, the store's bakery manager.

The breads take center stage in the bakery department, with their own merchandiser and hanging signage. The wood-and-Plexiglas case holds a dozen varieties of La Brea breads at any one time, each of which is arranged in low wicker baskets. Attached endcaps hold bagged breads like rolls.

The loaves are not wrapped; rather, the labels with price, weight and ingredients are attached by wrap-around bands. Special, breathable bags are available at dispensers next to the merchandiser's doors.

Suspended from the ceiling are a series of large signs announcing the Master Choice/La Brea partnership, accompanied by images of bakers preparing the loaves. In one, La Brea's founder, Nancy Silverton, is pictured with several fresh-baked loaves on a table, under the words, "Passion for the baker's art."