RETAILERS SHOWN HALLOWEEN DISPLAY OPTIONS

CHRISTINA VEIDERS

CLEVELAND -- Some supermarkets will dress up their seasonal aisles this Halloween with Frightmore Towers, a new spectacular display designed and supplied by Retail Creative Services of American Greetings here.

This latest creation from the retail environmental design group is being shipped to stores this month. The elaborate display consists of a tower, a self-contained unit that can hold up to 400 pounds of candy in the lower section of the display and 52 feet of hanging panels that are suspended from the ceiling.

Surprisingly, the display has a small 4-foot-by-4-foot footprint. The hanging panels create the illusion of a much larger display, said Don Marshall, the company's director of retail creative services.

"In areas of spectaculars, supermarkets are the most operationally equipped to run a program like this. They know how to build an event and bring traffic in," said Marshall. Although he was not at liberty to say what grocery chains have booked the new display, he mentioned that Hannaford Bros., H.E. Butt Grocery Co. and Hy-Vee were strong promoters of seasonally themed merchandise.

John Susich, vice president of general merchandise, Hy-Vee Food Stores, West Des Moines, Iowa, booked the previous Halloween design from the group, Spooky House, several years ago.

"These holiday sets allow you to tie-in everything and create better visibility for the featured products. The Spooky House program highlighted the whole department, built a greater awareness for our stores and made the promoted items and whole seasonal area and department stand out," he said.

"The more highlighting you can do to make customers think you're the place for holiday product, the more successful you'll be," Susich said, adding that he was not aware of the newest Halloween spectacular.

"We believe offering value-seasonal merchandise, combined with a consistent seasonal message that is tied into a theme, drives the most goods," said Marshall.

Retailers who devote the space to this year's Halloween spectacular can be sure to boost traffic in the seasonal aisle, Marshall noted. The display in effect acts as a milestone and calls attention to the second-biggest season of the year, he said. It adds entertainment in the store.