SAV-A-LOT FOOD STORE CHAIN OFFERS VALUE-PRICED GROCERIES

BARBARA McDONALD

CHELSEA, Mass. -- A Save-A-Lot Food Store recently opened here offers low-income shoppers value-priced groceries in a limited-assortment format.

The store, about 12,000 square feet, is in a former Stop & Shop unit that had been vacant for several months, according to city officials and the new store manager, Peter Nason. Save-A-Lot is a fast-growing St. Louis-based chain owned by Supervalu, Minneapolis. Most of the 750 stores are independently owned. They have a no-frills atmosphere, and prices on the "custom brands" are said to be 20% to 40% below those of national brands. About 85% of products are private label.

Save-A-Lot stores stock only the most frequently purchased grocery items, offering one size and one brand of each, a company statement said.

"We don't need a huge superstore to be successful; we are really geared toward serving the middle- and lower-

income customer," explained Irwin Barkan, a partner in New England Food Associates, the company that owns the new unit here and two other stores in eastern Massachusetts.

The private-label merchandise is top quality, said store manager Nason. Goya is one of the few national brands carried all the time, although the chain makes occasional buys of items like Cheerios and Rice Krispies, under the "Temporary and Terrific" program.

"In frozen foods you'll see Tyson and Celeste, as well as our own brands," Nason said. "The candy section is very popular, and so are cookies," he said, adding that the competitive brands save 99 cents over Hydrox and Oreo.