By Richard Turcsik
Through special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of a current story from Grocery Headquarters magazine, presented here for discussion.
A&P is repositioning The Food Emporium from an upscale supermarket into a cross between a gourmet store and a neighborhood market to better compete with Balducci's, Dean & Deluca and Whole Foods.
That's being accomplished by drastically cutting back on conventional groceries and replacing them with gourmet items.
The Food Emporium is also being given more autonomy with its own team of buyers. A new store brand is being developed with some 150 gourmet items scheduled to debut next year. Some will be sold at Food Emporium boutiques found in up to 50 A&P Fresh stores.
A new moniker for the chain is also in the works: The Food Emporium Fine Food.
"This market will appeal to our neighborhood shoppers, tourists and anyone who has an appreciation for fine food and specialties," said John Metzger, executive vice president of A&P.
The transformation is being headed by Hans Heer, who joined Food Emporium in May as senior vice president and general manager. Mr. Meer has held key posts in designing food concepts for Kaufhof Warenhaus in Germany and Harrods of London.
"This unique upscale urban brand will provide a shopping experience that we believe will be the delight of food lovers, while still continuing as a neighborhood store. We want to have something special and don't want to copy Dean & Deluca, Balducci's, Whole Foods and other stores in the city. We will be a little more European in style," said Mr. Heer.
"This will be the first Food Emporium to have a completely service cheese counter," he said. A key feature of the department is a glass walk-in showcase that serves as a stockroom. "This way the associates don't have to go downstairs and get more cheese. It is quite a unique thing, and I think there is one other, in Europe."
Nearby, another showcase houses hams. "Our ham selection is one of the best that you can get in New York," Mr. Heer said. "We have hams from Spain, Italy, Germany and the United States."
In the middle of the store, an International Marketplace houses specialty products from around the world.
A new mezzanine houses a service tea counter, featuring loose and bag teas. "You can buy loose tea and drink it right there. It is a little bit like the tea counter in Takashimaya [a Japanese department store on Fifth Avenue], and a little bit more open," said Mr. Heer.
The old Eight O'Clock coffee counter has been replaced with a Lavazza Italian coffee bar. "We own the shop, but Lavazza is our partner and supports us with the machines, equipment and coffee," Mr. Heer said.
Discussion Questions: John Metzger said, "As a company, we recognize that the middle-ground conventional supermarket is no longer a viable competitor in the ever-evolving food marketplace." How does the new Food Emporium represent that understanding? Does the new concept suggest to you that A&P headquarters "gets it"?