SAN DIEGO, Calif. – I visited Lazy Acres Natural Market while in town recently for the National Grocers Association Show.
Lazy Acres is a small chain, with just five locations currently, but it packs a punch when it comes to fresh produce.
This store leveraged handwritten signs throughout the department and delivered clear call-outs for organic and local items. As the name of the store suggests, it carries an abundance of organic produce, which was integrated with conventional offerings.
On second thought, there was enough organic that maybe it’s more accurate to say the conventional was integrated with the organic.
I noticed just one big display of a single item – sumo mandarins – but the department created excitement elsewhere by highlighting entire categories with prominent, simple signs atop displays with numerous varieties. Pears and citrus were the featured ones when I visited.
Back to that sumo mandarin display for a moment. It was front and center, right inside the doors, and the colorful signage succinctly communicated four key points:
- What the product is (sumo mandarins)
- Why you should care (sale)
- What you will pay ($2.99/pound)
- Extra incentive (locally grown)
A couple additional messages were included on the more subtle point-of-sale material -- “easy to peel,” “juicy without being messy,” “seedless” and “enormously sweet taste.”
Lazy Acres also noted country of origin on many of its pricing signs, which is the kind of information more and more shoppers are curious about, especially the folks that frequent a specialty retailer that focuses on organic.
Keep an eye out for more store checks on the way, or check out our videos section for previous ones.