Grocery becomes larger focus
Changes to inventory and format at Big Lots
"Grocery is a really hot category for us and it's growing," said Peter Mensinger, a district manager for Big Lots.
Stores here have added large coolers to carry cold and frozen grocery items, which allows them to carry milk and cheese. By doing that, stores are now able to accept SNAP and EBT payments, also known as food stamps. Big Lots stores have long carried canned meat, fruits and vegetables, but needed to regularly carry one more category of "staple foods" in order to qualify for the program under government standards.
At the Big Lots store in Depew, four of five shelving units containing greeting cards were eliminated to make room for the coolers.
Big Lots has also expanded its ethnic food offering, adding a World Flavors section to all of its stores. In the past, only urban stores and stores with a strong immigrant and minority clientèle carried a variety of ethnic foods. Those stores that already carried such items have added more, devoting entire shelves and aisles to the speciality foods--up from about four feet of shelf space they occupied in the past.
Big Lots stores, such as this one in Depew, have expanded their ethnic food offerings.
Stores have also added "shelf strips" and overhead "street signs" to better organize its different product categories and make them easier for customers to find and navigate.
"Before, we would have crackers in five different places," Mensinger said. "Now they're in one place."
Big Lots has also instituted policies to ensure uniform price labelling in Erie County, which requires each item to be labelled with an individual price tag, even if the price is displayed on the shelf. Big Lots requires employees to place all price tags in the upper, right-hand corner of each product, so customers can easily see them.
Managers and employees completed the store overhauls over a week-long period. New York is the second market to make the change.
Source: buffalonews.com
