WEST POINT MARKET CAMPAIGNS FOR A HIGH RANK IN PRODUCE

AMY I. STICKEL

AKRON, Ohio -- When a nearby specialty foods store with a star produce section closed its doors, West Point Market here stepped in to fill the vacuum.

The upscale independent quickly launched a produce makeover that included offering more varieties, reworking facings, building mass displays and increasing the frequency of product demonstrations.

Seizing the day allowed West Point to seize the business. The operator has boosted produce sales volume 20% over the last six months, and there are no signs of a slowdown, company officials told SN.

The strategy was to make the produce department a destination place, according to Kathryn Lowe, director of public relations.

"People know they will get the finest and the freshest," Lowe said. "We try to get the vegetables and fruits and varieties that you can't buy any place else."

West Point was already making a marketing point out of fresh foods as a rule, but its star department has been meat, not produce.

"Produce has always been a big part of our store, but we were founded as a meat market," Lowe explained. "This change in the market gave us an opportunity. People were gravitating toward us, so we decided to let them really have some wonderful experiences."

The experience started with about 30 new produce items -- many of them exotics or hard-to-find specialties such as fresh and dried shiitake mushrooms, according to Mike Vernon, who was produce manager at the time of the reworking. That boosted West Point's mix by about 20% or 30%, he said. Vernon has since been named store coordinator; Anetta Yohe is the current produce section manager, and deserves credit for keeping the momentum rolling, said Lowe.

While mass displays and new facings are an important part of the new produce program, Lowe said that perhaps the most visible effect in the produce department has been a series of ongoing demonstrations with a unique twist.

Recently, the produce department offered a demonstration for a grower who raises exotic mushrooms. Besides providing literature and information on different types of mushrooms, the store also provided a cooking demonstration of fish and mushroom dishes, including recipes.

A wine salesman demonstrated his products at the same time in the produce department, rather than the wine department. That sort of cross-merchandising has been very successful, Lowe said.

In another instance, West Point Market last month hosted an author who had written a cookbook on dandelions and sampled some of his recipes.

On the day of the demonstration, customers snapped up 20 cases of dandelions, Vernon said. Before the demonstration, few dandelions were sold in the department, but now shoppers ask for them, he added.

"We sold a ton of dandelions," Lowe said. "Dandelions are very healthy, because they are so full of iron."

Dandelions are just the start. Lowe said the produce department now features many specialty items, such as Holland tomatoes and cherry tomatoes on the vine.

Massive bulk displays are another part of West Point's new strategy for the produce department. "None of our produce is packaged. It's all bulk," Lowe said.

"When I say we make massive displays, I do mean massive," Lowe added. "You may not have come in to West Point Market thinking you were going to buy Holland tomatoes, but you will not walk out without them. We're real good with add-on sales in the produce department."

Lowe said the new produce department is continually staffed by at least four or five clerks.

The service level includes clerks weighing all produce in the department, rather than at the front end. Vernon said the clerks then hand-write prices on packages. Scale-generated labels are not feasible, since the produce department relies on bulk produce.

The produce employees are also deeply involved in offering samples, which lures customers into add-on purchases, Lowe said. "The associates are whetting shoppers' appetites," she said. "There is a clerk there, slicing that apple, slicing that pear, and offering you a piece. So it's not like you take it and walk away," she said. "You have an actual, live person there talking about what they're offering you."

Recipes are an everyday feature in the department. As part of her duties, Lowe said, she creates recipes, and tries to tie departments together. For example, a recipe for a cream to complement pears will feature cheese sold elsewhere in the store.

The department also features a citrus juicing machine and pineapple coring machine on the sales floor, to create animation. While the citrus juicer has been in place for about five years, West Point is rolling out a second machine. The store had rented a juicing machine for squeezing made-to-order banana, pineapple, apple or any other type of juice, Lowe said. West Point has been using the machine for a month on a trial basis, and it was scheduled to be introduced permanently on the store floor by the end of April.

West Point's new focus on produce freshness extends to its in-house value-added produce program, which has grown steadily, Lowe said.

The store does not carry any prepackaged salads or carrots. Everything is done in-store, and the program includes salads, cut vegetables for stir-fry, fresh-cut melons and edible flowers.

All the value-added products are sold in lucite containers, not plastic bags, Lowe added.

Premade salads range in price from $7.29 per pound to $14.29 per pound. The store moves about 1,400 premade salads every month. According to Lowe, two employees are devoted to production of West Point's 10-green salad.

"We can't keep up with production of salads," she said.

Adding new choices and varieties is one way West Point plans to continue its booming sales, Lowe said.

"We want to continually be able to offer new choices and new varieties," she said. "That's how we're going to grow our sales." The other focus will be "service, service, service," she said. Staff for the entire department meets on a monthly basis for ongoing education and training. Role-playing is also an important part of training, where the associates learn suggestive selling.

"They need to know about produce, and they need to know about nutritional value," Lowe noted.

Vernon said the training is not new, but it is becoming increasingly more important. In a retail world where "Wal-Mart is the hallmark of excellence," some employees need to completely rethink their definition of service, he said.

Mothers are lured into the produce area with the store's free cookie program for children. The kids pick up a sticker for a free cookie in the produce department, and redeem it in the bakery, Lowe said.

"That draws the mother there, and we can offer a sample of something," she said. "That's two-fold, because it also draws people to our bakery."

When West Point expanded about five years ago, the produce department was shifted from the front of the store to the center, where it stretches the width of the store. At that time, the department was expanded to its current size of 2,400 square feet, out of a store total of 25,000 square feet, she said.

"You get produce coming and going," she said. Shoppers heading for the bakery or the meat department, which are located at the back of the store, must pass through the produce department.

While West Point does offer general merchandise, fresh foods is its selling point, Lowe said.

"Crossover shoppers are going to save their money on toilet paper and Coca-Cola at the discount stores, but they still love to eat and love good food and they're going to come here for the very best," she said. "And they're not going to hesitate to pay for it. Because they want quality. They know if they don't want quality, or if they want mundane things, they can get them elsewhere."