SUPERVALU CREATES CLUB PROTOTYPE

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

MINNEAPOLIS -- Supervalu has developed a prototype for corporate Cub Foods locations based on results from an experimental store opened more than two years ago.

That experimental store was opened in late 1991 in Apple Valley, Minn.

The prototype combines three distinct departments in a side-by-side arrangement: discount groceries, fresh perishables and a discount drug store.

The general merchandise section includes a pharmacy, cosmetics department, video department and a bank.

However, while the Apple Valley Cub is 106,000 square feet, the

new prototype measures 88,000 square feet and features a more limited assortment of general merchandise and health and beauty care items.

In contrast, a traditional Cub, which features fewer expanded departments and more integration, averages 70,000 square feet.

The first two locations to use the new prototype opened late last year in Maple Grove and Duluth, Minn. Supervalu plans two more expanded Cubs later this year -- in Glendale, Colo., a Denver suburb, and in Waukegan, Ill.

The philosophy behind the three-in-one concept is to offer convenience for quick, fill-in shopping trips and a wider assortment for more extensive shopping needs, Rita Simmer, vice president of communications, told SN.

Cub Foods, part of Supervalu's retail division, operates 104 stores in 13 states. Of that number, 52 are corporately owned and a like number are franchised.