TOPS ROLLS SELL-THROUGH TO REMODELED FINAST UNIT

DAN ALAIMO

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Tops Friendly Markets here continues to roll out permanent in-line video sell-through sections to its new and remodeled stores.

The Ahold division's latest section is in a remodeled store in Fairview Park, Ohio, a Finast Friendly Markets store that is about two years old and is being converted to the Tops banner. A permanent Tops sign is now up, but a temporary Finast sign covers it. Store employees did not know when the store would change names or when it would have its grand re-opening. Calls to Tops headquarters were not returned.

In the Fairview Park store, sell-through video occupies 12 linear feet in an aisle that also houses magazines, books, film, photo albums, picture frames, batteries and blank tapes. There is a prominent endcap with a monitor facing the checkouts. The section is near the customer service desk and pharmacy, and it is adjacent to the store's seasonal aisle. It has about 1,000 units of inventory. The store formerly merchandised video on rolling racks and corrugated displays in the front of the store and in a main center aisle, which has been eliminated in the remodeling.

Other larger stores have bigger video sections. For instance, a store in Parma, Ohio, devotes 44 linear feet to video sell-through, while the Fairlawn, Ohio, store has a 24-foot section. Both are in the front of the store with the same endcap with TV monitor. According to Tops' Web site, the division now has 122 supermarkets in western and central New York, northern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. Tops and Finast feature video every week in their Sunday circulars.

The front-facing endcap usually displays the newest sell-through titles. For instance, Tops had "Titanic" there when that title was a new release, and now features "The Rugrats Movie" at $16.95, together with a sign, balloons and decorative point-of-purchase materials. On one side of the endcap, the store was offering Disney's animated "101 Dalmatians," priced at $19.95, with "Antz" at $16.95, "The Rescuers" at $15.95, and "Titanic" at $19.95 immediately adjacent. On the other side of the endcap, which is in the seasonal aisle, the retailer stocked "Mighty Joe Young" at $15.95, and various Easter titles. SN visited the store on the day after Easter.

Depending on the new release schedule, between one-third and one-half of the inventory is in adult theatrical titles, like "Titanic" and "Armageddon," and the rest is in children's videos.

Among the adult titles are "Amistad" at $13.95, "Gone With the Wind" at $22.98, "Pretty Woman" at $6.95, "An American Werewolf in Paris" at $17.98, "As Good as It Gets" at $13.44, "Armageddon" at $17.98, "City of Angels" at $13.95, "Everest" at $13.95, "Godzilla" at $17.98, "Scream 2" at $17.98, "Mask of Zorro" at $17.98, various "Star Trek" titles at $7.77, and the "Planet of the Apes" movies at $11.98.