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HANDY ANDY LOWERS DISPLAYS TO MAKE GROCERIES HANDIER

SAN ANTONIO -- Getting a bottle of soda off the shelves is a lot easier at some Handy Andy stores due to new display fixture profiles, according to Robert Morales, the chain's space management and grocery merchandising coordinator.That's because most of the retailer's grocery displays have dropped from 78 inches to about 72 inches, and some have been lowered by as much as 18 inches, according to Morales.To

SAN ANTONIO -- Getting a bottle of soda off the shelves is a lot easier at some Handy Andy stores due to new display fixture profiles, according to Robert Morales, the chain's space management and grocery merchandising coordinator.

That's because most of the retailer's grocery displays have dropped from 78 inches to about 72 inches, and some have been lowered by as much as 18 inches, according to Morales.

To date, eight stores have been reset. One more is scheduled to begin today, with another starting Oct. 28. The remaining stores in the 21-unit chain, based here, are expected to be finished by March 1997.

"We're only going to be able to do two more before the holidays. We don't want to be in the stores doing all these changes during the holidays," Morales said.

After the first of the year, the chain will continue reformatting until all resets have been completed. The larger stores can take up to two weeks to regroup, but most are being finished in a week, he added.

Snacks -- including chips, cookies and crackers -- carbonated beverages, wine and health and beauty care are the categories that have been reset at 60 inches. Displays in the baby aisle have been lowered to the standard 72 inches.

"We are going to modify all our stores to have basically a 72-inch-high profile at the top of the product. That's the top of the product; that's not the grabbable end," Morales said.

"We had stores as high as 78 inches and we've drastically lowered that profile," said Stan Edde, president of the chain.

In addition to visiting the chain's latest prototype store on Blanco and Dresden Roads here, SN toured Handy Andy's Fredericksburg Road store.

This store, unlike the prototype, does not have the 72-inch profile on all grocery displays. "Regular shelves have stayed at the standard 78-inch profiles," Morales said. In January, he plans to come back and reformat this store to model the prototype.

SN observed the 60-inch profiles on wine, carbonated beverages, bottled water, salty snacks, cookies, crackers and candy.

To lower the profiles, the chain is decreasing the number of product facings -- not stockkeeping units. For example, if canned soup originally was stocked three cans high, it is now at two cans, Morales said.

"By lowering the profile, we didn't SKU down or eliminate products. We just got better control of our inventory by repositioning all the products," he added.

According to Morales, stocking product high on shelves was initiated by H.E. Butt Grocery Co., also here. Because it is the market leader, other area competitors followed its lead.

"That was the trend and everybody was going higher on their product. We saw some customers concerned that the product was too high," Morales said.

The benefit is the convenience the resets afford customers. Shoppers who had trouble lifting 3-liter soda bottles from 78-inch gravity-feed displays will no longer have a problem, Morales said.

"You don't have to grab up for it; you just grab across," he added.

Increasing space between the shelving units and the ceiling has proved to be another bonus for Handy Andy. Before the resets, customers could not see the entire store because their view was blocked by the height of the displays.

"We lowered the profiles. We gave [the store] a better appearance and [better] accessibility to the product for each of the consumers," Morales said.