AN INCLUSIVE PACKAGE

AMY I. STICKEL

Supermarket produce executives say clamshell packages do a fine job of protecting regular strawberries.

But that's not all. The packaging also is making it possible for more retailers to receive and merchandise high-quality, riper-stemmed strawberries out of California.

While the stemmed berries are extremely fragile, they also have a robust retail markup, merchandisers said.

This is the first season that Marsh Supermarkets, Indianapolis, has tried the stemmed strawberries. "We're having a tremendous response," said Jim Campbell, senior produce buyer at Marsh. The strawberries come 12 to 16 per package, and he retails them for $3.99.

"When you figure 16 berries at $3.99, your first impulse is that it's exorbitantly high," he said. "But on review, it comes out to a quarter each, and the berry is super-big. You compare that to a 1-ounce candy bar for 55 cents. Your value takes on maybe a different meaning." Brookshire Grocery Co., Tyler, Texas, also has had very good success with the stemmed strawberries, according to Peter Leung, produce supervisor.

"They just blew out of the stores, and the retail was extremely high," he said. "They were so beautiful that people didn't mind paying the price.

"And then we just couldn't get anymore," he said, a frustration echoed by other retailers who said supplies of the long-stemmed fruit have been very short.

Leung said he thought the stemmed berries would sell better in his more upscale stores than in others, but that was not the case.

"The first shipment we got we sold to country stores," he said. "It was not only the metropolitan customers who were buying them."

Pewaukee, Wis.-based wholesaler Roundy's, however, is finding the stemmed strawberries to be an item with more limited appeal.

"There are a few customers who will take those, but not many," said Frank Gillespie, corporate produce director.