GU FRESH MARKET FORMAT SHOWS CHAIN'S NEW ATTITUDE

ROSEANNE HARPER

DANBURY, Conn. -- Grand Union has taken a fresh direction with the opening of a smaller, new-format store here that signals big plans for the future.

It's the first step in an effort to boost the chain's image as well as its bottom line, officials said. No price posters cover this store's windows. Instead, customers have a clear view, from the parking lot, of action in the bakery. Ovens have been pulled smack up against the window. Aromas of fresh-baked bread waft into the vestibule.

Inside, a lighted pastry case brimming with tartlets and petit fours beckons. Beyond, vertical produce displays create a wall of color. "We want to stop people in their tracks. We want them to realize right away that this is something different," said Gary Philbin, president and chief merchandising officer of the Wayne, N.J.-based, 217-unit chain. SN interviewed Philbin at the new store here.

Customers are pausing, as Philbin had hoped, and they're also opening their pocketbooks. In its first month, the 35,000-square-foot "GU Fresh Market" store has seen sales rise 15% above projections, Philbin said.

From-scratch artisan breads, a category that can bring customers in every day, are already becoming destination items and single-serve pastries, at $2.99 each, are selling at a good clip, he said. So are braised veal shanks at $9.99 a pound and lumpmeat crab cakes at $19.99 a pound, the creations of Chef John Vlamis, the store's executive chef.

Philbin, who took over the reins at the financially troubled chain two years ago, has restructured the company and developed the blueprint for its future which he said includes new formats to give the company needed flexibility, polishing up departments that already are Grand Union strengths, making a new commitment to training associates, and expanding fresh-meals programs.

The Fresh Market concept particularly targets consumers looking to put dinner on the table tonight and also those who enjoy cooking a special meal, Philbin said. An attractively merchandised chef's showcase of prepared entrees, an adjacent case with six varieties of store-roasted meats, a manned sushi bar, a full-service meat and seafood department and a resident chef set this store apart.

"We want people to know they can come here for quality and variety and unique items they can't find anywhere else in the area," Philbin said.

Some of this store's concepts could be transferred to the company's traditional format stores, Philbin said. Indeed, some of those here got a trial run at a traditional unit that opened last spring in Point Pleasant, N.J.

Plans call for three more GU Fresh Markets to open in the next four months including a 9,000-square-foot unit in Garden City, N.Y., that opened on Nov. 18. Philbin explained that the smaller GU Fresh Markets enable the company to take advantage of even very small sites as they become available. Spruced up conventional formats are in the works, too. So is a new super-discount format which will be launched early next year.

As the first of the GU Fresh Markets, the Danbury store will serve as a test ground for new concepts and new products that could be rolled out to any of the company's stores. Made-from-scratch artisan breads are a case in point.

"We have artisan breads at other locations, but we don't make them from scratch. This is new for us," said Kenneth Marcucilli, director of fresh format merchandising for the chain.

The day SN visited, customers were buying single-serve pastries to go with their coffee. Five tables with chairs are provided in the bakery-cafe area and coffee is served at the bakery counter.

"Bakery is a real signature category for us in this store," said Philbin.

Next in line after the bakery is the produce department where massed displays and nearly 30 varieties of colorful peppers and a huge variety of mushrooms send their own messages to the consumer, Marcucilli said.

"We're making the statement that we're the food experts, that this is the place to come for the variety you want, and to get your food questions answered," he added.

Between the produce department and the beginning of the chef's prepared food case in the back left corner of the store is a service cheese counter. Next in line is a hot food case which features one hot entree -- beef stroganoff on the day of SN's visit -- and six side dishes.The entree, two sides and a roll are $3.99.

Limiting the hot food offering to one entree is the result of a learning process, Marcucilli explained.

"At one time, we had a Grand Union store that had almost 30 feet of hot food, but this is the way to do it. We can control the quality better this way," he said.

Both the service case of chilled, prepared foods and a self-service case across the aisle display comfort foods right beside items that have a gourmet twist. For example, in the service case alongside braised veal shanks for $9.99 a pound, there is New England beef stew for $3.99 a pound. In the self-service case, meat loaf meals were $4.99 each.

"Notice that we have a lot of comfort foods there. We figure that after we've won their trust with meat loaf, they'll try seafood Creole and other items Chef John creates," Marcucilli said.

The chilled service display, totalling at least 20 feet, shows off entrees and sides in various sizes and shapes of white crockery platters and bowls set on wood-slat risers. There, Chef John, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y., and who has a restaurant background, talks to customers as he refills platters in the case. He explains, for example, that he uses real lump crab meat for the crab cakes. Philbin, too, emphasized the use of prime ingredients.

"It was our decision to use real crab meat, not surimi, because we believe people want that. For top quality food, they'll pay the price," Philbin said.

An adjacent, separate case against the back wall has an unusually large variety of store-roasted meats. Roast turkey, roast pork, two types of roast beef are offered. Even rare-roasted prime rib, at $12.99 a pound, is there.

An attractive, 6-foot antipasto bar is positioned directly across the aisle from the roasted meat display. There, roasted peppers, feta cheese, fresh mozzarella balls and seven varieties of olives are offered for $4.99 a pound.

Next, along the back wall of the store, is the service seafood department where value-added items dominate the display. Then, comes the service meat department which features aged, USDA prime beef and store-made sausage. The aged beef is a first for the chain and is proving to be a real magnet, officials said.

"I have a couple that comes all the way from the Bronx to buy steaks. They've been here several times since the store opened," said Peter Cavalli, meat manager at the store.

In this store, the dairy case, running nearly the length of the store, starts across from produce, which puts one end of it near the store's entrance.

"We want customers to be able to grab juice or milk and get out quickly if they want to. That's different from the old layouts where dairy's all the way in the back," Philbin said. It's obvious the consumer gets attention here. The day SN visited, associates in every fresh department were interacting with customers. They offered samples.They explained how particular items are cooked, and what cheese to serve with apples.

The deliberately friendly ambiance is a from-the-top-down effort, Philbin said. "We've put new emphasis on training. We've hired a specialist to help us."

And, here at this store, general manager Jesse Makles is attentive to the needs of associates as well as customers.

"We want this to be a fun place to shop, but we also want it to be a fun place to work," Makles said. "It's not hard to get associates to smile if they like what they're doing."