Giant Food Tests C-store Concept

Carlisle, Pa. -- These days, "one size fits all" is becoming less and less fitting for grocery stores. Supermarket chains are experimenting with new store formats to cater to new shopper segments.And with consumers more time-strapped than ever, Ahold USA's Giant Food Stores is out to capture a share of that segment with a test run of convenience-oriented stores called Giant To Go. The first location is a 4,000-square-foot store in Lancaster, Pa. "A 65,000 square-foot supermarket isn't the solution for every market or every neighborhood," says Tracy Pawelski, director of public and community relations. "We wanted to expand our fleet of stores where a 'big box' is not the answer." Unlike its much bigger brethren, the Giant To Go store will not offer CPG companies a chance to develop in-store promotions or promotional displays. "Customers have told us that they do not want to deal with clutter," Pawelski says. "The size of the store is the size of a conventional convenience store."Nor will Giant To Go -- with its limited inventory -- be able to offer the same promotions and savings offered weekly that the Giant supermarkets are able to offer, she says. Some of these things may change, however. While the company has plans to open another Giant To Go in an undisclosed location later this year, it views the stores as a test. "And as a pilot program, we have a lot to learn," Pawelski says. "We'll evaluate what we learn and make a decision [about more locations] then."Jon Springer, associate editor, Supermarket News, says there are other chains with convenience stores (Kroger, for example), but "this one, along with Giant Eagle's 'GetGo,' are somewhat unique in how they are so closely aligned with the supermarket brand." At the same time, Giant To Go is not a trendy small-format fresh store that focuses on express items, either.The first test store, which opened in mid-April, was fueled by a desire to grow the company's gas-selling business. While Giant has been selling gas at 66 of its locations throughout Pennsylvania since 1997, environmental and other factors prevented the company from setting up fueling stations at its current Lancaster locations, Pawelski says. (Giant To Go, which has eight pumps, is the second fueling station in Lancaster County; the chain also has pumps at its Elizabethtown Giant Food store.)"We've offered [gas] to customers as a convenience," Pawelski says. "As we looked at places that we couldn't site gas pumps, we came up with this. This is a new and exciting format for us."The new format, however, is meant to be more than simply another convenience store offering sodas and snacks along with gasoline. With offerings such as fresh produce, meats and deli selection, as well as a working bakery where cookies and breads are prepared on-site, the store is meant to fill the space for busy families between larger trips to the grocery store."We looked at this as a natural extension of our business. We've been competing with [convenience stores] for a long time," Pawelski says. "The target is busy families who want to stop by for that 'fill-in' quick trip to the grocery store." There are plenty of traditional convenience-store offerings, like hot dogs on a roller grill, as well as pre-packaged sandwiches, salads, coffee and fountain drinks. The company determined the combination through a mix of focus groups in the market, vendor and supplier input, sales data from surrounding stores and shared learning from Ahold sister company Albert Heijn. While as much as 10% of the store's inventory will be Giant's private-label brands, Giant worked with many of its CPG suppliers to stock offerings similar to those found in Giant's larger grocery stores. Pawelski says much of the inventory is based on "what people are looking for when they're on the way home for dinner.""I think the c-store vehicle works, on paper at least, for Giant because it has experience with fuel and the ability to provide discounts there through loyalty-card programs. I am also not sure whether the markets it operates in would necessarily support a 20,000-square-foot 'express store,'" Springer of Supermarket News says. "Supermarket companies building that kind of store are usually forced into it by having a dense urban location."

Giant Food Tests C-store Concept

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