THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9409080528
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
A&P, owner of the Super Fresh grocery chain, wants to try a new name in Hampton Roads: Farmer Jack.
A 38,500-square-foot Farmer Jack supermarket is scheduled to open this fall in the Newtown Baker Crossing shopping center in Virginia Beach. It will replace a Super Fresh, which closed there nearly two years ago.
This will be the first venture for Farmer Jack, a Detroit-based chain, in Virginia. Analysts say it's an unexpected move from The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., better known as A&P. And they're unsure what kind of store will be opened here.
``(Newtown Baker Crossing) is just a particular location that didn't work for a number of reasons,'' A&P spokesman Michael Rourke said. ``This will be a new approach. It will be something we follow carefully.''
If the pilot Farmer Jack succeeds in Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads residents might see more of the chain.
``If this does well in that area, we may well look for other potential locations,'' Rourke said. ``Right now, we're testing the concept.''
Analysts say they're puzzled by the move. But they say it's clear that Farmer Jack needs to take a different approach.
``They've got to make some significant changes if they want it to work,'' said Kenneth Gassman Jr., a retail analyst with the Richmond brokerage Davenport & Co.
Since the late 1980s, A&P has been slow to remodel, replace and expand its stores, analysts said. As a result, A&P has struggled in Hampton Roads and Richmond, said Jeffrey Metzger, editor of the monthly trade publication Food World.
``They've been very unaggressive,'' Metzger said, ``and have been steamrolled by their competitors.''
Rourke disagrees. Super Fresh stores in this market have been doing fine, he said.
The company has spent money remodeling and making other improvements over the past year, said retail consultant Jeffrey Green, president of Michigan-based Harold L. Green & Associates. In addition, A&P opened superstores to compete with the giant supermarkets.
In Michigan, Farmer Jack has built a solid reputation, Green said. ``They are a strong performer with an emphasis on pricing.''
Super Fresh, which has about a dozen stores in Hampton Roads, is the third-largest supermarket chain here behind leader Farm Fresh and Food Lion.
A&P bought family-owned Borman's Inc. of Detroit, which operates Farmer Jack, in 1989. The new subsidiary was performing better, so dozens of A&P stores in Michigan were converted to Farmer Jack supermarkets. There are now 93 Farmer Jack stores in that state.
Officials at Montvale, N.J.-based A&P would not release separate sales figures for Farmer Jack, but they have said the company is profitable. by CNB