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Giant Food Stores, Ahold Delhaize‘s largest supermarket chain in the United States, has brought some European flavours to its new city store concept. So what does it look like?
A focus on fresh food
In the centre of Philadelphia, the retailer opened the first outlet of its new city supermarket concept called Giant Heirloom Market. The concept is the result of over a year of conversations with local inhabitants, market research and exploration, in order to create a supermarket experience that fits the urban lifestyle.
At 883 sqm, the store is rather small by American standards. Focusing is on fresh food, the fruit and vegetables area takes up about a third of the space. A chef is always ready to prepare fruit and vegetables on the spot for visitors to have a taste. There is also a place to eat inside the store, with sandwiches, coffee and a sushi counter. Giant is exploring the possibilities of cross-merchandising, for example by placing spices next to the fish and meat coolers, greeting cards next to the flowers and cookbooks near the tasting spot. The wine department has a cooler that can cool a bottle of white wine in just 90 seconds. There is even a tap where people can pour a glass of kombucha (a hip fermented tea variant) or assemble blends of various kinds of olive oil and vinegar.
E-commerce hub
Vegetarians and vegans will be happy to find an expansive plant-based foods department, and there is also a lot of room for local manufacturers in the store. Anything customers do not find in the store can be ordered on tablets. Paying is 100% self-checkout. Customers’ initial reactions on blogs and social media are very enthusiastic. Most people consider Giant to be an ‘ordinary’ supermarket, but with this store, the retailer seems to be evolving in the direction of more upscale chains such as Whole Foods or Sprouts Farmers Market.
The city store concept is not Ahold Delhaize’s only innovation at Giant Food Stores: they are also opening an e-commerce hub on a former supermarket location in Lancaster. That new location called Giant Direct, and makes advantage of synergies with web supermarket Peapod, also a division of Ahold Delhaize. The an innovative concept combines a distribution centre for deliveries with a pickup point or drive. There is also a room with tablets where consumers can place orders. And we have already reported on the 500 robots that the chain will be employing there.
