KID'S PROGRAMS WORTH WRITING ABOUT

MARYELLEN LO BOSCO

PHILADELPHIA -- Super G's children's programs have been getting attention in the local newspaper here.

That's because the retailer, a division of Giant Food, Landover, Md., here has been running full-page advertisements in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer about its Kids' Corner displays, Healthy Start Flyers, manager's rewards for children, shopping-cart seat belts and candy-free checkouts. The Health Start Flyers, which come out once a month, contain information for maintaining health in children age 2 through 6.

"We do a lot of things for children. We want to let people know what we're all about," said Odonna Matthews, consumer adviser for Super G.

While Super G has had units in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for about three years, it just recently started advertising its kids programs in the newspaper.

"Grocery shopping shouldn't be one of life's most challenging moments," stated one ad. The copy went on to talk about the chain's "kid-friendly" stores.

Another ad focused on Super G's Apples for the Students Plus program. A headline read: "Who took the first byte?" In the copy, the retailer congratulated a Hillside Elementary School in a Mt. Laurel, N.J. store for being the first of 500 participating schools in Super G's market area to earn free computers.

Under the Apples program, parents can turn in their register receipts to the school to accumulate points toward computer hardware and software or scientific or athletic equipment.