BYERLY'S UNIT WARMS NEW CUSTOMERS WITH FROZENS LAYOUT

AMITY K. MOORE

EDINA, Minn. -- Byerly's here has deviated from its traditional frozens department layout at its new Eagan, Minn., store.

Frozen foods are in a separate section located on the front left side of the unit, which opened last month. Byerly's other frozens departments typically are not in a detached section; they cut across the store in a perpendicular format, breaking up horizontal aisles.

The new layout is a result of customer research and focus groups, which showed that it took new customers a long time to learn the store layout, said Tracy Wiese, communications manager at the chain.

"This way it makes it a little easier for them to learn the shopping pattern," she added.

When customers enter the frozen-food area, they have visible access to all the varieties and categories available, Wiese said.

"If you have a list and you want a bag of frozen vegetables, an entree and ice cream, [then] you can see all of those things as you enter the department," she added.

A diagram of the store shows the frozens section near the floral, gourmet coffee and dairy departments.

Grocery aisles displaying health and beauty care items, paper goods and laundry detergent are also nearby.

In addition to a change in the frozens department, the deli area is bigger, Wiese said.

"The deli has greatly expanded because many of our customers are asking for quick meal solutions and dinner ideas," she added.

As far as plans for additional stores with the new layout, Wiese said Byerly's will wait for customer reaction at the Eagan store.