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Also Decentralizing. Other national chains are diversifying beyond their bread-and-butter business. Second-place Safeway (1963 sales: $2.6 billion) has opened a group of Super S stores that sell sporting goods and small appliances instead of groceries. Third-ranked Kroger now operates 131 drugstores. Two weeks ago, Grand Union announced a 6% sales gain (to $667 million in 1963) but credited one-sixth of its revenues to its nonfood discount stores.
Many chains are decentralizing to give more authority to their store managers, are paying them as much as $22,400 in annual salary-plus-bonus. Managers cultivate local trade with a host of gimmicks: some have opened soda fountains in their stores, and the Colonial chain offers chairs and tables for weary shoppers to rest beside the soft-drink dispensers. Stores are also staying open longer. Kroger two weeks ago started doing business on Sundays in Ohio, and Grand Union in Norfolk stays open 24 hours daily to accommodate the round-the-clock shipyard shifts.
Ironically, supermarkets are emulating the corner grocers. Chains such as Chicago's Jewel Tea Co. are experimenting with "pantries" that are one-fifth the size of usual supermarkets and are conveniently located in high-rise apartments. Bigger stores are also considering clearing their shelves of slow-moving items. They stock no fewer than 56 brands of pickles and 97 kinds of detergents, but about half hardly sell at all. The supermarketeers are now talking about making a higher profit with a smaller selection.