Page 110 - Retail_Sustainability_Award_09-to-18
P. 110

RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD - PRICE CHOPPER’S MARKET 32
charge of the different areas. However, in terms of the ultimate feasibility, program development and implementation, their execution is where the rubber meets the road. The strategic partnerships I have, and that we share throughout the fabric of the organization, are really what enable sustainability to work effectively. That’s my role and where I live,” says Berman.
Outside of those responsibilities, Berman oversees the sustainability aspect of building construction and handles the certi cations deemed appropriate for each project — whether it be Market 32 or Price Chopper stores moving toward more sustainable approaches in phases, which include LEED and Green Globes (an environmental assessment and ratings
system operated in the U.S. by the Green Building Initiative in Portland, OR).
“We have about a million square feet of certi ed green building here and a really strong focus on high-ef ciency building design and systems,” he says. “The rest is fully collaborative with all company exec- utives involved in sustainability, constantly pursuing best practices and considered
NEW DESIGN EQUALS NEW SUSTAINABILITY
Encapsulating the  rm’s new brand iden- we ever were with our new store design,” cases, and they all blend in together,” says
tity in Market 32 involves ingenuity
and clever tradeoffs, according to Mike Kopchik, director of design. His mission is to amalgamate innovative consumer-centric design space, shopping  ow, marketing, and aesthetics with sustainability initiatives.
“The guidelines on that brand vision are rigorous and better de ned than the organ- ically developed Price Chopper brand as it exists,” he explains.
“When I came to work for this company seven years ago, we were building our  rst retail pilots, and the design departure was a day-and-night difference from the tradi- tional Price Chopper stores,”says Kopchik. “Over the arc of maybe 10 stores, we recog- nized we were a totally different company than when we started on this arc, and there was this real brand evolutionary process leading to our decision to launch Market 32. We needed to formalize this new identity and take it to the next level of who we wanted to be as an organization,” he says.
From a sustainability standpoint, “we are much more into refrigerated produce than
40 / MAY 2016 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
says Rick Mausert, director of non-resale purchasing. For example: changing from traditional orchard bins to refrigerated, self-contained, linear orchard bins, which are con gured in satellite displays on the sales  oor.
“These refrigerated bins provide produce with a little more integrity and longer life. We were always into European-style merchandising, but we moved away from that [style] with perishable product,” he says.
Benny Smith, vice president of facilities, is one of the founding members of the EPA GreenChill Partnership, an effort with food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease impact on the ozone layer and climate change.
The chain is a multiple gold and silver GreenChill winner, explains Joe Berman, manager of corporate social responsibility, adding, “We were one of the  rst to build a green, more ef cient Co2 cascade refriger- ation system in North America.”
From a design standpoint, “at a typical grocery store, you have a run of refrigerated
Kopchik. “When you start pulling products out and put them in different  xtures stra- tegically placed with intuitive adjacencies, you change the shopping paradigm. You walk around them and meander through the area, and you get a better sense of the variety of offerings available.
“These refrigerated satellite displays separate the massive options,” he says. “We can differentiate and highlight products — local, organic, featured seasonal items, etc. — and the  exible format gives us the opportunity to deliver more product infor- mation through clever, targeted signage regarding where it’s sourced, sustainability traits, nutritional values, and healthy recipes to address the rapidly evolving food diet.”
As Berman puts it, “Consumer demand for that knowledge drastically increased due to the social media and digital revolution, and for us to not provide it as a progressive food retailer would be a real missed oppor- tunity to connect with our customer base. We developed a strong health and wellness program, and we’re emphasizing it as part of


































































































   108   109   110   111   112