PATHMARK OPENS ITS FIRST COMMUNITY STORE IN N.Y.

BARBARA MURRAY

CARTERET, N.J. -- Pathmark Stores here has opened the first of its new community stores, a unit in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, N.Y., that is about 20,000 square feet but appears to stock about 70% of the grocery stockkeeping units of the big supercenters. Center Store items take up most of the store's 12 aisles, including frozens, which fill all of aisle 11 and one side of aisle 12.

"This is our first small-store prototype," said Harvey Gutman, senior vice president for retail development at Pathmark. The next ones to open will be in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Gutman told SN. The community stores are approximately 25,000 to 35,000 square feet, as opposed to the 65,000-square-foot supercenters most Pathmark shoppers are used to.

Gutman noted that the opening of the store in Kew Gardens Hills -- in a former Waldbaum's -- marks a return to the neighborhood for Pathmark, which formerly owned a freestanding pharmacy on Kissena Boulevard nearby.

The new store, which opened earlirt this month, is located in an ethnically diverse area. The immediate area is Jewish, explained store manager Larry Gruttemeyer, but the population nearby includes Turkish, Mideastern and Russian immigrants, besides Indians, African-Americans, and Hispanics and Caucasians.

The store offers fresh produce, deli, seafood and meats, as well as a pharmacy, and contains a branch of CFS Bank. The surrounding area is densely populated, with apartment houses of all sizes.

Pathmark Kew Gardens Hills has a sizable laundry section, with big buckets of Pathmark-label powdered detergent. The baby aisle, with pegged items overhead, is considered a destination. The canned-goods aisles include large sizes of pork and beans, and of Chef Boyardee mixtures.

In Aisle 7, rice fills six shelves in 11 or 12 feet, in various bags and packages, including Pathmark brand with Spanish language labeling. Shelf-talkers below the next section, dried beans, announce that they are WIC-authorized items. Across the aisle, the Goya section is 12 feet, with canned goods on five shelves and canilla rice on the bottom in 20-pound bags. Cafe Bustelo coffee has a prominent space. There is a large section of pasta sauce, 16 feet of five shelves. There are 13 feet of sauces and condiments, including vinegar, and 11 feet of salad dressings, mayonnaise and tartar and horseradish sauce.

Grand-opening specials included buy-one, get-one offers on Canada Dry ginger ale six-packs, Lucky Charms or Golden Grahams cereal, Aunt Jemima syrup, Edy's ice cream, Purex laundry detergent, Stouffer's frozen Macaroni and Cheese, Wish-Bone salad dressing, and more. "Smart coupons" in the circular offered discounts on many more items. For the first week, Pepsi 2-liter bottles were going at 49 cents and Breyers ice cream at $1.99 for a half-gallon.