BI-LO LOCAL VIDEO SECTION RECEIVES HONORS

DAN ALAIMO

WARREN, Pa. -- A leased-space video department here in a store operated by Thorne's Bi-Lo Supermarkets, Salem, Ohio, is touting the honor of being chosen as the No. 1 video store in the county by readers of a local publication.

Last month the Warren County Guide ran its annual readership study in which it saluted the department, which is run by the Movie Exchange, Oaks, Pa. The department is not keeping the citation a secret, said Ed Sam, national sales director for the Movie Exchange.

Employees are wearing buttons that say "Voted Number-One Video Store in Warren County," signs and window banners have been created for the supermarket, and a public-relations campaign resulted in an article in the local newspaper, he said.

Results from the promotion would be difficult to measure, Sam added, "because the store does so well. But we have had many favorable comments from our customers."

Sam attributes the success of the 1,800-square-foot store-within-a-store to department manager Faye Skaggs and her staff, as well as Movie Exchange's relationship with Thorne's Bi-Lo. Thorne's is supplied by Penn Traffic's Riverside division, Du Bois, Pa. Additionally, "we buy deep.

The product is there and we are priced right," he said. Of the 5,000 tapes in inventory, about 40% are new releases, he noted.

The Movie Exchange provides about 200 supermarkets with shared-revenue and leased-space rental programs. It also provides sell-through product to 1,000 stores.

Among the Movie Exchange's other customers are Acme Markets, Malvern, Pa.; Penn Traffic, Syracuse, N.Y.; A&P, Montvale, N.J.; Super Fresh, Florence, N.J.; Waldbaums, Central Islip, N.Y.; Stop & Shop Supermarkets, Quincy, Mass. (in two former Edwards Foods stores); Giant Foods, Carlisle, Pa.; Weis Markets, Sunbury, Pa.; some ShopRite stores supplied by Wakefern Food Corp., Elizabeth, N.J.; some independent Giant Eagle stores; and some Shop N' Save stores in the Pittsburgh area supplied by Supervalu's Northeast Region, New Stanton, Pa.