Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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stores are owned locally by franchisees, even though its corporate reach spreads much further. In many cases the owner of the collaborating independent super- market or small chain is also the fran- chisee of the attached Ace store. "People are looking for other ways to drive sales into their grocery stores," said Curt DeHart, director of business devel- opment at Ace. "We felt by co-branding these stores, we could not only drive more traffic into the grocery store, but we can grow this brand and drive traffic into Ace stores as well." Gene Bond is the Ace store director and franchisee of a combo unit in Sa- lem, Utah. He also happens to be a part owner of the Stokes Market within which the Ace store is set up. Here, no partition separates the Ace products from the gro- cery items. "It gives us a unique marketing edge along with the grocery operation," Bond said. "We're looking at it as a one- stop-shop place, where customers can take care of many of their needs and not have to go to Home Depot or one of the big-box stores." Most of the customers are there pri- marily to buy groceries, but the store pur- sues a cross-branding promotion to help point them to the hardware. Corn is big in Utah in August, so the hardware sec- tion might carry pronged corn holders at that time, for instance. Around Thanks- giving, the store may carry more small appliances, tin foil, bakeware and so on. Such efforts help give small grocers a boost against the national chains. "The small size of independent retail- ers allows them to be more flexible and nimble to adapt in the changing marketplace, which is more difficult for retailers with a larger store portfolio," said Alida Destrempe, an analyst at Kantar Retail. "By having a small store base that covers a smaller market area, regional grocers typically have a better understanding of their shoppers and their behaviors." S C T r e T a i l i n g T o d a y © 2014 DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The Wall Street Journal delivers more global executives responsible for real estate than any other publication. Source: The Media Survey of Business Elite, Global 2012; global executives responsible for real estate procurement. A Platform as Powerful as the People Who Use It. 1-800-366-3975 O c t O b e r 2 0 1 4 / S C T 37 Ace has been focusing on independent supermarkets because they are trying to compete against much larger competitors.