FAIRWAY COLORS HBC HAIR LINE

LAURA KLEPACKI

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Fairway Foods here has added more color to its health and beauty care segment -- hair color, that is.

The wholesaler, which supplies some 250 stores in the Upper Midwest, previously offered 12 stockkeeping units of Clairol Nice 'n Easy products, according to an industry source familiar with the company's HBC operations.

Under a new program, about 100 SKUs are now being offered, including six additional Clairol brands: Loving Care, Lasting Color, Natural Instincts, Glints, Ultress and Balsam Color. The source conjectured that Fairway added the products "because hair color seems to be taking off.

"All of us are getting older, and most of us color our hair. So there seems to be a rejuvenation in the category," he said.

Some recent scan data supports this theory. Supermarket dollar sales of hair-coloring products rose 16.3% to $179 million for the 12-month period ended February 1995, vs. the year prior, according to figures supplied by Towne-Oller & Associates, New York, a division of Information Resources Inc., Chicago.

If the Clairol products do well, it's conceivable Fairway may add other branded lines to the category, said the source.