WHOLE FOOD UNIT UPDATES SELF-SERVICE SEAFOOD PRESENTATION

MINA WILLIAMS

SEATTLE (FNS) -- Whole Food Markets has introduced a self-service seafood merchandiser offering up frozen items to customers here.

The 16-bin, walk-around coffin case holds 14 stockkeeping units, and is signed with "Great Value. High Quality." The merchandiser, installed just prior to Lent, is located between the service seafood department and the produce department, which leads off the shopping pattern.

A scale adjacent to the case allows customers to readily see the weight of their selections, as well as the register price. Customers can also activate a label printer that issues a bar-coded price sticker. Tongs are available around the case for customers to safely select and handle products.

The day SN visited the store, medium-cooked prawns were offered at $12.99 a pound; cocktail shrimp were $7.99 a pound; king crab legs were priced at $19.99 a pound; halibut cheeks were $10.99 a pound; sea scallops were $14.99 a pound; and bay scallops were $8.99 a pound. Prior to the changeover, IQF shrimp had been merchandised in a self-serve case up against a wall within the seafood department.

Facings of select items were duplicated in the fresh-service seafood department. Here, sea scallops were $12.99 a pound and bay scallops were priced at $8.99.

The service counter here is small by the industry's measure, though high standards are evident in terms of product quality and service level. It is a busy case and generally is staffed with three counter personnel, a number that allows associates to spend time with customers -- helping them make the proper selection, relaying cooking instructions and answering questions.

Service counter personnel said customers really like the ability to select their own items. Additionally, SN was told since the unit has such a strong bulk food department, the frozen seafood cases were a "logical extension" of that merchandising concept.

"Customers are already used to picking their own items and packaging them here," said one counter staff of the new seafood setup. "It's part of the shopping adventure."

This store is part of a two-story complex just north of the University of Washington, which was completed a year and a half ago.

Other offerings in the frozen case included battered halibut and cod portions, vacuum-packed salmon steaks, and a seafood medley containing calamari and shrimp, which was priced at $5.99 a pound.