PET CENTER UNLEASHED BY WAKEFERN

JOEL ELSON

CLEMENTON, N.J. -- Zallie Supermarkets here rolled out a 190-foot PetRite pet care center at a new unit early this month. The center is designed to deal with the growing pet superstore competition faced by ShopRite retailers.

PetRite is the designation that Wakefern Food Corp., the warehouse buying arm of the ShopRite retailer cooperative, Elizabeth, N.J., launched about six months ago to give the pet care category a stronger focus at store level.

The PetRite name also plays off of the ShopRite banner, and was selected to boost the department's image as a destination pet center. Wakefern officials declined to comment on the concept.

"This set, with its expanded accessories, really addresses the pet category better than at any of our other stores," said George Zallie, president of the seven-store ShopRite operation. "There's a market out there for these products that we're trying to address."

According to Zallie, expanding general merchandise in the way that the new center does is also a way to offset the shrinking dry-grocery market share.

"Dry groceries have been on a downward trend for years, and so we're focusing more on general merchandise, like pet supplies," he said.

Zallie will expand on the PetRite concept at two new 65,000-square-foot ShopRite constructions set to open in the New Jersey towns of Deptford, in October, and Medford, next year.

The PetRite product mix at the Glassboro ShopRite was planned primarily with faster-turning supplies and accessories. There also is 75% more display space devoted to pet care than at Zallie's other stores.

Although Wakefern planogrammed the pet food and Hartz display racks, Zallie's staffers developed shelf schematics internally for the rest of the department.

The selections are based on "the 20% of the category's items that really excel and account for 80% of pet care sales," said Daniel Dinkowitz, Zallie's director of grocery merchandising and sales. "This gives the department a pet-shop look and lets customers know they don't have to go to pet superstores to find these types of commodities."

Bold signage and colorful graphic elements draw pet owners to the section, where pet accessories are presented pegged and on shelving appearing on the 95-foot-long right side of the aisle. Additional accessories are displayed on the upper two shelf tiers on the 95-foot-long left side of the pet food gondolas.

An overhead sign at the front endcap leading into the section reads, "PetRite. Wild Selection. Tame Prices."

Contributing to the pet-shop ambience are large panels with color photos of different household pets, mounted over pet accessory display fixtures.

The accessories presentation is segmented according to leashes and collars, dog toys, bulk rawhide, chemicals, fish, bird and small-animal supplies. Grooming items for cats and dogs are placed on the aisle's right side. Large pet carriers, dog beds and pillows, priced from $19.99 to $29.99, and bird feeders are displayed on the opposite gondola fixture, with posted signs that tell shoppers to ask for help to reach any item.

The PetRite department is in aisle 15, one of the last grocery sections at the right of the store. This location makes restocking easier and provides less interference with shopper traffic.

"We try and keep tonnage aisles close to the receiving doors," said Dinkowitz.