MINYARD JUICE BAR PUMPS FRESH IMAGE AT NEW UNIT

ROSEANNE HARPER

HIGHLAND VILLAGE, Texas -- Minyard Food Stores has capped off its biggest Minyard produce department ever with its biggest juice bar, right up front in a new store here.

The 32-linear-foot juice bar and the 4,500-square-foot department together represent an increased emphasis on produce that the chain will carry over to subsequent remodels and new units under the Minyard banner.

"We've been bringing the produce department to the front of the store in Minyard remodels and new stores to emphasize freshness, and at this one that's emphasized even more, with the juice bar where it is," said Ted Fullerton, the chain's vice president.

"Consumers are more than ever demanding fresh products and that's why we want to make a strong statement that that's what we have," Fullerton said.

Minyard makes the statement immediately, with the juice bar at the very beginning of the traffic pattern and the first thing customers see at one of the store's two entrances. The rest of the produce department stretches behind it, nearly the entire length of the 69,000-square-foot store on its right side.

David Richards, produce supervisor, said the bar serves as a focal point. "It delivers the fresh message right away," he told SN.

And customers are apparently taking heed. Sales from the juice bar are making up 6% of produce sales at this point, Richards said.

The juice bar itself is twice the size of Minyard's next biggest bar. Its counter is

U-shaped, with 8 feet on its shortest side and 12 feet running down its two other sides. The footage merchandises bottles of fresh-squeezed juice and fresh-cut melons, pineapples and other fruits on ice.

The juice bar also provides "theater," Richards said. During most of its hours of operation, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., the bar is staffed with two associates. However, as many as four associates work the area during peak periods, typically around 5 p.m., Richards said. Sales in the morning are also picking up.

The bar squeezes a lot more than orange juice. "We've also added some unusual juices at this store," Richards said, including celery, papaya and tangerine. Carrot juice, he added, is a surprise favorite of customers shopping the new store here. The juices are offered in four sizes of plastic bottles: 8 ounces, 16 ounces, 32 ounces and 64 ounces. The retail for orange juice is 59 cents for 8 ounces, doubling each time as the size increases. A 16-ounce bottle is $1.18; a 32-ounce bottle, $2.36. The more exotic juices, such as carrot and tangerine, sell for 99 cents for 8 ounces. And, as with orange juice, pricing doubles with each increase in size.

"That [method of pricing] makes it easy for customers and also easy for our associates," Richards said. "Margins are progressive. We keep the gross margin at above 30%," he added.

Asked if the juice bar would be added in other new stores and remodels, Richards said it would probably depend on the demographics. The produce department is 30% roomier than Minyard Food Stores' next biggest. The total produce item assortment has grown, too, from a typical tally of about 200 items to more than 300, Richards said.

The additional space in this store is enabling the retailer to increase its variety of organic fruits and vegetables, and imported specialty items as well, he said.

Approximately 36 square feet are dedicated to each of those two subcategories at the new store. In essence, space for both is tripled from that devoted to them in the handful of other Minyard stores that carry such items.

"We have about 25 organic items, which is about twice the number at our other stores.," Richards added.

In the specialty area, Minyard is experimenting with some tropical exotics, such as Maradol papayas from Panama.