CHERRYMAN PICKS MEIJER UNIT TO LIFT HIS LID FOR JARRED CHERRIES

BARBARA MURRAY

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- A huge Meijer's unit here was the site of a CherryMan stop, a national promotion aimed at boosting sales of jarred cherries.

The promotion coordinator, Connie Castro, said Meijer's liked the event so well that it added four more stores to the CherryMan tour.

CherryMan, a product of Gray & Co., Forest Grove, Ore., set up its ice cream sundae sampling right in front of the store and provided entertainment for children on its traveling stage for about three hours. The stop here was part of a 22-city supermarket tour, called the Monumental Topping Tour, which wound up at three New Jersey ShopRites at the end of last month. CherryMan also visited eight Stop & Shop units in Boston.

"There was quite a gathering; it was a pretty neat event," said Mike Keller, Meijer's store director here.

Castro said Gray & Co. gave the chain brochures and artwork used in Meijer's One-Stop Shopper circular and in-store signs. "They made it very turnkey," she said.

Keller said the CherryMan cherries are merchandised with the toppings and cones, near the ice cream. In the canned fruit aisle, however, he stocks Meijer's private-label brand of cherries.

"We had their products on sale, and we ran it in our weekly ad and announced the event, so people would know there would be giveaways," he said.

Keller said the promotion was good for his store, and it introduced people to the CherryMan product and the logo.