Where to Find Your Favorite Items
Though it can be frustrating to a shopper when items move to a different place on the shelves, the changes are made with guests in mind.
Festival Foods recently completed a store reset and moved a few of its items to new spots. One of these was maraschino cherries, previously located next to the pickles, olives, and other things someone might put in a cocktail.
“Here in Wisconsin we are known for our drinks, so this location makes a lot of sense,” said Marty Chy, Store Director. “But you can also understand that many of our guests would go looking for maraschino cherries in the canned fruit section.”
With 30 stores located across the state, Festival Foods is able to try out items in various spots and see which one the guest prefers.
“In this case, we found that guests were finding the cherries much better when they were shelved in the canned fruit section, so we made that change across all of our stores,” said Chy.
Relocating items makes sense in an industry where the needs of guests continually evolve as new products become available.
“When I was a kid, Ritz crackers were just one single type of cracker. Now you have eight feet of Ritz crackers that come in wide variety guests are looking for – low fat, low salt, multigrain and family size, just to name a few,” said Chy.
Similarly, a product like pasta comes in traditional varieties, but also plenty of new ones like gluten-free and whole grain, not to mention all the various sizes and shapes.
“Over time, you simply need to do resets to get sections up to speed with what guests are currently looking for,” he said.
During the reset, Festival Foods moved the natural bulk food bins into the produce department.
“We have some newer stores where the produce departments and the natural/organic departments are located together in one large area. This makes a lot of sense because in many ways these are the same shoppers,” said Chy.
The bins were previously tucked in a corner of the store where many shoppers may not have even realized they were available. Since the move to produce, the store has received a lot of positive feedback by guests who are excited to see these options available.
Due to the move, Festival Foods now offers more ready-to-purchase packages for shoppers in a hurry. These are located in the back of the bulk bins.
The store was also able to expand its general merchandise and natural offerings, including healthy meal bars and natural snacks, because of the newly emptied space where the bins were previously located. Feminine hygiene products previously located nearby in aisle 1 can now be found in the health and wellness area.
Can’t find something? A nearby associate can answer questions or else find someone who can locate the item.
