Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995                   TAG: 9505240061
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TONYA WOODS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SUPERMARKETS NOW OFFER CREDIT CARD CONVENIENCE

Supermarket customers who find themselves a little short on cash at the checkout can whip out their credit cards and say, "Charge it," just as they have for decades at department stores and other retailers.

"If supermarkets are to compete with other markets, they must be competitive in the types of payment methods they offer," said Edie Clark, of the Food Marketing Institute, a Washington, D.C., trade group.

While most supermarket purchases still are paid with cash or checks, the institute says grocers are seeing more plastic money. Of the $390 billion spent in U.S. supermarkets in 1993, only 3.2 percent was paid by credit cards, according to a survey the institute reported last year.

"The real reason behind the offer is ... we want to make sure customers have every convenience," Clark said.

In Roanoke, Harris Teeter and Kroger stores accept customers' credit cards. While Harris Teeter accepts Visa and Mastercard, Kroger also accepts Discover and some bank teller-machine cash cards. The ATM cards function as debit cards, automatically subtracting the amount of customers' purchases from their bank accounts after a transaction has been made.

Jack Lawson, assistant manager of the Harris Teeter on West Main Street in Salem, said the store began accepting credit cards about four months ago.

"It's working out OK," he said. "A lot of customers will use their credit cards when they run out of cash."

But, Lawson said, he hasn't seen an increase in the number of customers in his store because of credit card acceptance.

The only Food Lion stores in Virginia equipped with electronic payment systems are those where there has been big customer demand, said Mita Powlas, spokeswoman for the Salisburg, N.C.-based chain.

Though no Food Lion stores in the Roanoke Valley accept credit cards, Pat Taylor, manager of a Food Lion store in Blacksburg, said there was a big demand for credit card use in her store.

"I pulled and pulled to get it," she said. "I had requests from about 23,000 college students," she said referring to students at Virginia Tech. "They're the main ones who use it."

Or so she thought. Taylor said that when students were away during the break between the end of the spring semester and start of summer session, use of credit cards in the store remained the same.

Making shopping quick and convenient is what attracts customers, said Archie Fralin, a Kroger Co. spokesman. In the summer of 1992, 119 Kroger stores in Western Virginia and North Carolina welcomed major credit cards in its checkout lanes.

The portion of Kroger shoppers who use credit to pay for groceries is small but increasing significantly, Fralin said.

Unlike some other food store chains, Kroger in 1993 created its own credit card. The Kroger supermarket card initially was offered in stores in Ohio, Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Fralin said no decision has been made about when the Kroger card will spread to other areas, but having the card active throughout the Kroger Co. is definitely a goal.

"If we don't offer every convenience possible to our customers, they may shop somewhere else," he said.