DISCUSSION
Schnucks’ new concept store is a fresh take on the grocer’s business
Written by RetailWire Staff
Photo: Schnucks
Though the disruption and uncertainty of the novel coronavirus pandemic caused an uptick in the purchase of center store and frozen products that had become less of a customer focus in the years leading up to it, customers are still by and large interested in fresh options — assuming they can purchase them safely. With its new standalone concept, customers of regional grocer Schnucks will soon have a new outlet where the grocer’s fresh products will be given greater emphasis.
Schnucks Fresh will be focused on produce, meat, seafood and bakery, according to Inside Indiana Business. The first new concept store does not yet have an official open date. Schnucks Fresh is meant to carry the same fresh products customers find at other Schnucks locations.
Schnucks is not a stranger to experimenting with how it approaches its fresh and higher-end assortments. In 2017, the grocer partnered with specialty meat producer Volpi Foods to open a store-within-a-store selling the brand’s artisanal cured meats in the companies’ home state of Missouri.
While attracting shoppers to a focused product assortment in the new store could lead to cannibalization of fresh food sales in traditional Schnucks locations, other regional grocery chains have demonstrated some success with targeted rollouts of specialty concepts.
Meijer opened a small, experiential, fresh-focused concept store called Bridge Street Market in downtown Grand Rapids, MI, in 2018. The supercenter innovator announced the launch of another small concept store in Royal Oak, MI, in late 2019.
Publix has a separate organic/natural foods concept called GreenWise Market, which it launched under the name Publix GreenWise Market in 2007 (named after the grocer’s 2003-launched private label line). The banner’s footprint was restricted to three stores until 2017 when Publix announced an expansion of GreenWise Markets and, notably, the removal of the Publix name from the store’s branding to make it a more distinct entity.
Publix was operating seven total GreenWise Markets by the end of last year with plans for a continued expansion throughout 2021, according to Supermarket News.
- Schnuck Markets Bringing New Grocery Concept to Jasper – Inside Indiana Business
- Will miniature Meijers be a big hit – RetailWire
- Will a store-within-a-store work for deli – RetailWire
- GreenWise Market won’t name drop Publix anymore – RetailWire
- Publix to shut two GreenWise Markets in South Carolina – Supermarket News