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A market for the upper echelon: Scott''s Food Stores, a Midwestern operator, has unabashedly set its sights on finding a market among the community''s wealthiest citizens with its new prototype. (Equipment & Design).

Article Excerpt
Fort Wayne, Ind., is definitely not at the top of the list when delineating regions ideal for upscale marketplaces that provide the best in gourmet and fresh products and a large selection of fine wine. In fact, it may seem a bit odd to build a new upscale prototype supermarket in the north central Indiana city. Yet, for Ft. Wayne-based Scott's Food Stores, the locale is a fitting choice for the company's new format.

When Scott's, a subsidiary of Supervalu, purchased the land in the southwestern part of the city and started planning the 59,900-square-foot store, the development team quickly realized that the location was ripe for a new, upscale format. The market demographic was screaming for a knockout store that would offer them the finest products.

"It's our new flagship. We're known for somewhat upscale stores in general, but this takes it to another level," says Rick Zahm, Scott's district manager and director of operations. "We wanted to fill the high service, upscale niche in the market."

"This job was fairly unique for Scott's," adds Scott Blank, manager of architecture at Plan-mark, part of the Minneapolis-based Design Services Group of Supervalu. "Scott's was always known for their service and selection rather than price. Because of growing competition in the market, there was pressure to turn these strengths up a notch or two to create a larger distance from the rest of the market. We had to look for something that was different than what we've done in the past.

"Given that the neighborhood around the store was developing, and was so affluent, we thought that we could develop a store that would become the centerpiece of that neighborhood. We used high quality building materials, stressing more detail in the structure. A...