From The Fall 2005 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

Natural makes the move into mainstream at Stop & Shop

Organic and local offerings spice up the mix in Hadley, Mass.

Cynthia Barstow

“This is ridiculous—I am totally lost!” a friendly, yet utterly confused person laments from the aisle. The local Ahold-owned Stop & Shop superstore is expanding, and natural-minded locals, who had been less than happy about the inconvenience, are witnessing a metamorphosis that now seems worth the wait.

The Stop & Shop store in Hadley, Mass., serves a five-college community, centering in Amherst and including the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. More than half the surrounding towns are involved with higher education, and grocery-buying habits are what one might guess—education level being the only truly viable demographic factor that identifies organic customers these days, according to consumer research from Packaged Facts.

Given the community, it is no surprise that an early Whole Foods (then Bread & Circus) grew up down the street and last year, a new Trader Joe’s moved to the neighborhood. Of all the stores in Stop & Shop’s 345-supermarket chain, the Hadley store has always been known as the “natural” location, leading sales in several naturals categories, such as dietary supplements. According to one 24-year employee, “We have always been an unusual store. With Whole Foods down the street, we have always had to be more on top of the natural thing.”

Stop & Shop is partnering with Wild Oats Markets for stores-within-stores such as this one in Plymouth, Mass. The naturals section features health and beauty care, natural living products and Wild Oats-branded private label foods.

The Hadley store has been successful at keeping the natural consumer. A former manager, Mike Messer, used to say it was his goal to keep these customers coming in the door, even if they also went down the street. During his tenure, the store made an effort to offer local products in a number of categories. One day, Messer brought in a local organic vegetable farmer. Another day, he put a cow in the parking lot to promote local milk.

Compared with its natural neighbors, however, the Stop & Shop has always been a mainstream store, as conventional as a small red neighborhood in a very blue town. For many years, friends might hide from each other in the aisles or, at least, strike up a guilty excuse for why they were there: “I needed white sugar—you know Whole Foods doesn’t stock it.”

During the recent transition, customers began to act like survivors on a lifeboat witnessing the destruction of their unexciting, yet comfortable, surroundings. But now that the renovation is finished, they have gone beyond a “we-made-it” attitude to a realization of how worthwhile was the wait.

A triple stand of organic apples greets the still-dazed, with a plethora of organic options filling in behind. This new produce section was almost in place one morning during the December holidays when I walked in at 6 a.m., looking to beat the crowds. As I turned around in awe, alone in the freshly stocked space, feeling a bit like Dorothy landing in Munchkinland, tears actually began to form as I thought of a conversation I’d had 10 years earlier with George LaPanne, the produce manager. “An organic version for every conventional,” he predicted.

“An organic version for every conventional,” the produce manager predicted.

LaPanne has always seemed like such an anomaly, but after chatting with various employees, I have found that the folks who work at the Hadley Stop & Shop are as excited about the changes as the customers. One of the butchers admitted to really liking the natural meat he sells: “If you want my real opinion, it is the only one with any flavor, but how can they compete? Look at the price points on the regular stuff!” These folks know the inside scoop, and they want the good stuff. Stocking yogurt, one employee told me he would never eat any of “this junk,” except the Stonyfield organic brand.

The staff’s effervescence is contagious, and it seems to be coming from further up the management chain. Last week, LaPanne hurried me to the back to see photos of a display he had built with an old-time potato-shredding machine (potatoes are big in our Pioneer Valley.) “[Management] liked it so much, they have asked me to do an organic apple display next week. Can you believe it?” he bubbled. It appears as if “experience” shopping (heretofore led by Whole Foods) has been recognized and validated by the central office. Another indicator is the increase in sampling. Throughout the store these days, you will find covered sample stands, especially in the cheese section, with particular emphasis on Ahold’s new organic private label, Nature’s Promise.

As the store’s overall changes have been rolled out, many products bearing the Nature’s Promise brand have been rolled in. In the organics industry, there is a lot of concern about the organic farmer’s plight, but for consumers, having an organic butter option that is the same price as the conventional brand is astonishing. From organic peanut butter to natural pizza products, Nature’s Promise is finding shelf space in the homes of this college community.

Now, Stop & Shop wants to know what shoppers think of the changes. Tired last week after a long day on my feet lecturing, I stopped in to pick up a few things for dinner, and a friendly woman invited me to sit down and take $2 off my grocery bill to answer a few questions. I agreed enthusiastically, and we were off to 15 minutes of very good questions. I think this type of feedback will yield important insights about Stop & Shop’s customers.

So, what can one make of this metamorphosis? As an organic devotee, I want to believe the definitive answer has been caused by more products being grown as a result of the 2002 national organic standards. As a food marketing professor, I think it may have more to do with Marketing 101: a more pleasant store, which makes food the star—rather than packages of questionable food products. If people spend more time thinking about, preparing and eating good food, they will gravitate to the natural end of the spectrum.

Last night I thought I would stop by the store to check my thinking. Stocking cheese, one of the regular employees was whistling while he worked. “Don’t you love the organics?” I asked, still hanging on to the possibility that the Shop & Shop remodel could be all about the additional natural products. “Sure,” he responded, “but it’s more than that.” He went on to share the attributes he sees. The new store is clean, it’s bright—it’s what the customers want.

So the changed atmosphere appears to be just about the basics: Find out what your customer wants, and give it to her. How many times a year do I say this in the classroom? Wouldn’t it be rather ironic to think that the conventional grocery industry, growing at such a slow pace compared with the natural retailer giants, simply needs to reconsider the basics?

How many studies does it take to accept that customers find produce one of the most important grocery store qualifiers and one of the top disappointments in their current store? How many years have industry analysts suggested “experience” shopping? If organic and natural products are growing at nearly 20 percent a year for the past decade, wouldn’t it seem that customers want them?

This particular mainstream store has made changes that are simply consistent with the market research. It has given its customers what they want, and its customers are, in turn, very pleased. In this town, the expansion of natural is a winner. Maybe the metamorphosis to natural is nothing more than a natural course of change.

Cynthia Barstow is an adjunct faculty member in natural products marketing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the author of The Eco-Foods Guide: What’s Good for the Earth Is Good for You! (New Society Publishers, 2002).