New Food Store Creates Cornucopia Opening Of Fred Meyer In Cda Makes Grocery Market ‘Overcrowded’

Soon, it seems, the ratio of grocery shopping carts to people here will reach one to one, helped along greatly by Wednesday’s grand opening of a Fred Meyer store.

On the heels of last March’s opening of a Safeway grocery store just down the road, Fred Meyer’s 157,000 square feet of retail space makes a competitive grocery market “over-crowded,” according to Bill Haraldson, executive vice president of Rosauers.

“We’re priced pretty low already over there, but if they drag prices down, we’ll match them,” Haraldson said of his chain’s store at U.S. Highway 95 and Appleway.

While the much-anticipated Fred Meyer opening may cause indigestion for local grocery executives, shoppers are delighted.

“I’m really going to enjoy it,” said Valerie Hanson of Hayden, who sometimes shops at the Fred Meyer in the Spokane Valley. “I really like the kind of selection they have there, and it’s all in one stop.”

Hanson refers to the mini-mall concept in Fred Meyer stores. The Coeur d’Alene store’s grocery aisles are surrounded by clothing, cosmetic, dry goods and hardware sections, along with a pharmacy, home electronics store and even a baby-sitting station to let shoppers drop off kids while they roam the store.

A surge of television and direct-mail marketing has accompanied the store’s opening. Residents were mailed gift certificates this week for the opening, scheduled at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

“It’s been fun to watch it come together,” said store director Greg Sandeno, a Spokane native. “I know people are excited about it.”

Competing grocers aren’t doing handstands. The Tidyman’s store south of the new Fred Meyer, which lost nearly a fifth of its sales when the Safeway opened, has gone through quite a few changes in anticipation of its new neighbor, said John Maxwell, chief executive officer Tidyman’s, based in Greenacres.

Sections of the store with low sales were absorbed into others. About 3,000 items in the store have been heavily discounted, Maxwell said, and he’s confident those prices are the lowest in the county.

Aggressive marketing toward the store’s best customers promises rebates for shopping there, Maxwell said.

The stores rimming Highway 95, if they relied only on Coeur d’Alene and Hayden shoppers, “wouldn’t be around for long,” Maxwell said. The regional draw of shoppers from Sandpoint, the Silver Valley and Benewah County make this kind of competition possible, he said.

Fred Meyer’s pricing strategy is to keep its food prices “always among the lowest in the area,” explained Rob Boley, vice president for public relations for the Portland-based chain. The chain does not believe in massive discounting, emphasizing overall low prices instead of selling some items at a loss and making larger margins on other products.

Smaller grocers such as Tidyman’s and Super 1 Foods, which has a store within sight of the Fred Meyer, may have more at stake than bigger chains such as Safeway and Rosauers, which have the strength of many stores to survive price wars. Attempts to reach Super 1 Foods management in Hayden weren’t successful.

Rosauers’ successful Huckleberry’s store concept - which features organic foods and specialty items - won’t be coming to Coeur d’Alene, Haraldson said. The Coeur d’Alene store will, however, carry some of the organic foods in the future, he said.

The true draw of the Fred Meyer won’t be known for at least six months, Maxwell believes. Once the tourist season ends and the initial spike in consumer interest in the new store subsides, then the grocery landscape should be clearer, he said.

“The shoppers are the big winners here,” Maxwell said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo Map of area.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FRED MEYER AT A GLANCE Size: 157,000 square feet. Employees: Nearly 300 to open the store, dropping to regular crew of 250. Other tenants: Washington Mutual bank, Northwest Beauty Salon, Hollywood Video store (planned). Cost: $18 million.