HANNAFORD NAME TO GO SOUTHEAST

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

SCARBOROUGH, Maine -- Hannaford Bros. here plans to use its corporate name on stores it opens this year in the Southeast -- the first time in its history it will use the name as a store logo, Hugh G. Farrington, president and chief executive officer, told shareholders at the chain's annual meeting here last week. Farrington said the new Hannaford Food and Drug Superstores banner will appear on seven stores the company plans to open this year: two in Raleigh, N.C., and single units in High Point, Charlotte and Fayetteville, N.C., and Richmond and Virginia Beach, Va. He said he expects second-half earnings to flatten as a result of those store openings. The new Southeastern stores will be 45,000- to 60,000-square-foot units that will feature a format similar to the new combination-store prototype Hannaford unveiled at three Northeastern stores last year, Farrington said. That prototype features all perishables departments on one side of the store and canned and packaged goods on the other, with a larger sales area and less backroom space than conventional stores.

During the meeting, Farrington also disclosed that Blythe McGarvie, who joined the company in

November from Sara Lee, Chicago, was named senior vice president and chief financial officer. McGarvie succeeds Norm Brackett, who will retire June 30 after a 21-year stint. Brackett will assume McGarvie's former title of senior vice president of finance, until his retirement. Hannaford's expansion plans in the Southeast follow its acquisition last July of 20 Wilson's Supermarkets, based in Wilmington, N.C., which gave the chain "a presence in a region of the country we feel has enormous growth potential," Farrington told the meeting. Commenting on the use of the Hannaford name for the new stores it will open in the region, Farrington explained, "We explored using [one of] our current retail names [Shop 'n Save and Sun Foods] in the Southeast but, for a variety of legal reasons, we can't use them. "The Wilson name is an excellent one in the markets where it operates, but it has no strong value in the four new areas of Charlotte, Richmond, Raleigh and Tidewater, Va. There are also national trademark registrations of the Wilson name that would prohibit their use nationally."

Farrington said the company has also decided to use the Hannaford name on all private-brand products throughout the company. The format that will be used at the Hannaford Food and Drug units in the Southeast was introduced last year at stores in Kingston and Oneonta, N.Y. and Lunenberg, Mass., Farrington said. The Kingston store is 64,000 square feet, and the other two are 55,000 square feet each. Besides the seven new stores in the Southeast, Hannaford plans to open four new stores and replace four stores in the Northeast, Farrington said. Last year the company opened seven new stores, relocated three and expanded two, he said.