PATHMARK UNIT IN HARLEM SET TO APPEAL TO DEMOGRAPHICS

MARYELLEN LO BOSCO

NEW YORK -- Hispanic and African-American grocery products in Center Store are in tune with neighborhood demographics at the new Pathmark unit in Harlem.

Pathmark Stores, based in Carteret, N.J., celebrated the opening of its Harlem store, on 125th Street and Lexington Avenue, late last week. Ten years in the making, the store's soft opening, two weeks prior, was greeted with "very positive" customer feedback, according to Rich Savner, spokesman for the chain. "Opening day the place was mobbed," he said. "It was the culmination of a long time waiting."

The 50,000-square-foot unit, a modified "Pathmark 2000" store, is merchandising ethnic groceries in both a separate "destination" aisle as well as alongside mainstream groceries. For the most part, though, Pathmark does not call a lot of attention to ethnic selections, but simply presents them as more choices.

The ethnic section, 60 feet long on both sides, has an aisle sign that says "Spanish" and "Mexican." Indeed, there are only 12 linear feet of mainstream Mexican items, and the rest of the area is devoted to Hispanic brands, many of them popular with people of Caribbean descent. According to Savner, about 50% of shoppers are Hispanic, with the majority of Puerto Rican heritage. The rest of the shoppers are African American.

Not surprisingly, Goya is a large presence in the ethnic aisle, commanding 30 running feet on one side and additional shelf space on the other side of the aisle. A wide range of Goya items includes canned and bagged beans, hominy, rice dinners, rice, spices, seasonings, condiments, canned meat and fish, cornmeal, olives, pimentos, lard and pasta.

Additional Hispanic brands that are a strong presence in the aisle include Vitarroz, Iberia, Knorr (seasoning and spices), La Cena, Jamaican (sodas), Badia (spices) and Cafe Bustelo (commanding 4 feet of space for coffee products).

Here customers can also find a variety of maltas (a popular Hispanic drink), sodas, syrups, spices, crackers and cookies (especially soda crackers), rice and beans, canned peppers, condensed milk and so forth.

A good selection of rices, from 5- to 20-pound bags, is also available, at hot prices. For example, a 20-pound bag of Canilla extra long-grain rice sold for $6.99 during SN's visit, while Goya's Jasmin Rice (from Thailand) sold for $9.99 for a 20-pound bag.

In a different aisle, with signs that designated "rice" and "beans," Pathmark's 20-pound bag of long-grain rice was selling for $4.99, alongside brands like Uncle Ben's (10 pounds for $7.69) and Minute Rice ($4.19 for almost 3 pounds). Meanwhile, Pathmark's Enriched Quick Rice was $4.59 for a 4-pound box.

Ethnic items can be found in other sections of grocery. For example, Caribbean sodas, particularly the Jamaican brand, are stocked in the soda aisle. Eight feet are devoted to flavors like ginger beer, kola champagne, pineapple, coconut, merengue and uva. Sylvia's, an African-American brand, can be found in the spice aisle as well as the canned-food aisle. Eight feet are devoted to Glory Foods in the canned aisle. Glory items included sweet potatoes, collard greens, turnip greens and mixed greens.

Sylvia's products include black-eyed peas, pinto beans, mustard greens and field peas. Sylvia's canned products were on special: buy one can for 89 cents and get one free. An endcap off one of the grocery aisles touted the BOGO offer for Sylvia's. Additional African-American brands are also available, such as Allens and Luck's. Pathmark has its own canned collard greens beside the other brands.

Goya also has a presence in the frozen-food aisle, with two doors of products, including frozen vegetables, yucca, burritos, fruit pulps (such as mamey pulp, papaya and guanabana).

Two doors in frozens are also devoted to natural and organic foods.

Pathmark uses some space in the produce aisle and in periphery departments to merchandise grocery items. For example, an additional display of Badia spices is set up off the seafood department. Near the entrance, which opens into produce, is a huge cookie display. To the left of the entrance are tall cases of Frito-Lay products. There was also a racked display of galletas (crackers) during SN's visit.

The produce department carries a limited number of Hispanic vegetables and fruits. The meat department also carries a limited number of Hispanic items.

The Pathmark brand is a significant presence in this unit, and was especially visible in the paper products section, which occupies about 144 feet of space along the back walls of the store. This section begins after the pharmacy (an enclosed corner space off produce) and ends with the meat department. This section had many hot prices during SN's visit, as well as jumbo and family packs of toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, facial tissue, plastic and foil wrap, trash bags and so forth.

In the frozens aisle, coffin cases are used to merchandise more jumbo sizes, this time of items like waffles and French toast, White Castle hamburgers, vegetables, Jamaican-style beef patties, frozen snacks, family size entrees and side dishes, Pathmark pizza slices (27 for $7.99) and so on.

According to Savner, about 20% of Pathmark supermarkets are "city stores." The chain will open another urban unit in North Philadelphia May 6, and one in Brooklyn and another in Queens by the end of the year.

Governor George Pataki attended Pathmark's grand-opening ceremony in Harlem April 30, as did local congressmen and New York state senator Olga Mendez.