PRICE CHOPPER SETS SCALLOPS ROLLING

LAURA KLEPACKI

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- Price Chopper here featured fresh calico scallops in a week-long buy-one-get-one-free sale that included items from several departments.

The scallops, priced at $4.99 a pound, sold well. In some stores, movement doubled, according to a company source.

Featuring seafood in buy-one-get-one-free promotion is something Price Chopper does frequently. At least once a month, either a scale item or a packaged item is featured, said the source.

Since the advent of scanning in the department a few years ago, the computer can be programmed to take half the value off at the register, making the buy-one-get-one-free offer something easy to implement, said the source.

At the discretion of each store's department manager, the sale items are sometimes cross-merchandised with high-margin items to increase the dollar sale, the source noted.

Other items in the weekly buy-one-get-one-free ad, which was valid from June 12 through June 18, included a 5-pound bag of chicken drumsticks, boneless sirloin steak, a half pound of glazed ham and water product, and iceberg lettuce.

Price Chopper here operates 96 stores in New York, Massachusetts and Vermont.