KROGER CHAINS EXPAND MAGAZINE PROMOTION

MARK HAMSTRA

SALT LAKE CITY -- Kroger is expanding a health-oriented promotion, pairing cereal and magazines at Smith's Food & Drug here.

The promotion, which allows consumers to get a free copy of Shape magazine when they purchase two boxes of select Kellogg's cereals, is scheduled to kick off in about 120 Smith's stores in Utah and Nevada on March 6, after returning to the aisles of 115 Kroger-owned King Soopers and City Market supermarkets in Colorado earlier this month.

Giant Food, Landover, Md., which had offered the promotion in past years, is not participating this year. A spokesman for Giant said the chain was not approached to participate.

The promotion generated a 170% increase in sales of Shape last year at King Soopers and City market, according to Dick Glassman, director, retail sales, Weider Publications, New York, which publishes Shape.

Officials at Smith's and King Soopers could not be reached for comment.

Cereal sales also increased, according to Bill Olander, customer business manager, Kellogg's.

"It does create sample on both sides," he said.

Although last year the displays were placed on endcaps, this year the displays have shifted to the cereal aisle, where the magazines are offered in a bin between stacks of the four participating cereal types: Special K, Special K Berry, Smart Start and Smart Start Soy.

Kellogg's is subsidizing the cost of the magazine.