STORES Magazine - May 2008 - (Page 33)

Bloom loom is not your mother’s supermarket — unless mom has stopped thinking in linear concepts and prefers intuitive adjacencies while food shopping. It would also help if she were familiar with interactive kiosks as information resources in the store, hand-held scanning technology and self-bagging on-the-go to save time at checkout. B Bloom was launched in Charlotte, N.C., four years ago by Delhaize USA’s Food Lion division, following two years of research and analyses of customers’ habits and preferences, as well as tracking retail trends. The result is a store that focuses on convenience and service through an easy-to-shop layout that features a broad range of fresh products and home meal replacements. At Bloom, non-food items are organized on one side of the store; food items on the other. Table Top, which offers quick home meal solutions, is integrated with the service deli and conveniently situated adjacent to the bakery and wine sections. The set-up allows guests to quickly put together everything they need for a quality meal at home. Offerings are upscale, with more than 25 varieties of artisan and whole grain breads and more than 100 types of cheese. There are broad selections of produce, fresh meat and fresh seafood. In the bakery, there are also 2-ounce gourmet cookies and the “Bloomberry” muffin tops which have become iconic. In the grocery aisles, Bloom stocks more than a thousand specialty products. The entire store is at shoppers’ fingertips via Bloom’s proprietary Breeze technology. Interactive kiosks contain more than 2,500 recipes and guests can either shop online or use the website to cre- With an accent ate their shopping list, then print it on high-touch out at an in-store kiosk. customer service, Bloom invites customers to “get happy.” Bloom stores offer approximately 6,000 more SKUs in 50 percent more space than a typical Food Lion unit. Each Bloom is staffed with approximately 90 associates to assist consumers with what Bloom officials refer to as “high-touch” customer service. There are now more than 60 Bloom stores stretching from the Carolinas to metropolitan Washington, D.C. WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / MAY 2008 33 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - May 2008

Stores - May 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Contrasting C-Level Compensation Across Segments What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Concepts That Clicked Concept2Watch Kiosks Artificial Intelligence Tech Support Online LPinformation Data Synchronization Human Resources Site Selection POS Selection Communications Biometrics Networking Systems Credit Loeb Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - May 2008

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