MARTIN SLOANE | Supermarket Shopper Being a family-friendly supermarket is important

What makes a supermarket "family-friendly & quot;? The editors of Child magazine decided to find out. They sent surveys to America's 50 largest supermarket chains with questions such as "Do you have diaper changing tables in the women's restroom?" "The Top 10 Family-Friendly Supermarket Chains," by Maureen Sangiorgio, appears in the August issue of Child magazine, now on newsstands.
"Supermarkets increasingly want to position themselves as family-friendly destinations," said Miriam Arond, Child magazine's editor in chief. "Family-friendly supermarkets are working hard to reduce the stress associated with grocery shopping and ensure that a trip to the supermarket is fun for kids."
How survey worked
Karen Cicero, one of the magazine's senior editors, told me each of the survey's 46 questions was assigned a point value. A supermarket with a perfect score, every answer family-friendly, would receive 100 points. None of the supermarkets, out the 44 chains that responded, was perfect but Wegmans Food Markets Inc. came close with a score in the 90s. "The Child magazine story recognizes the efforts of so many people in our company who work hard to make shopping easier for customers who shop with their children," says Jo Natale, Wegmans' manager of public relations.
In second place was Giant Eagle stores. And following in descending order were Publix, Ukrop's, Harris Teeter, Hy-Vee, Whole Foods Market, Farmer Jack, Wild Oats Natural Marketplace, and IGA in a 10th place tie with Raley's.
Cicero says the most surprising family-friendly service is a private nursing area for mothers in many of the Wild Oats stores. "I am a new mother and this is something I can really appreciate." She said another surprise was the unusual offer by Detroit-based chain Farmer Jack. Shoppers there earn points that can be applied to free house cleaning or spa treatments. I know many of my readers would appreciate that offer.
Innovative services
Here are some of the most innovative and worthwhile family-friendly services offered by the high scoring chains mentioned in the Child magazine article:
Family-friendly also means making it easier to feed the children. Whole Foods Market offers kids grab-and-go natural lunches. Whole Kids is the first line of organic foods developed for children. Hy-Vee offers a kids' menu in the prepared foods department and parents can request any menu item in a child's size.
Many of these supermarkets show their concern for children by offering learning programs. Childhood obesity is a serious health problem and the top-rated supermarkets offer classes that teach healthy eating. Each year, more than 12,000 fourth graders take "Good Food Tours" at Wegmans to learn how to make healthy choices. Hy-Vee has healthy cooking classes for kids. At Wild Oats, children take tours, and sample natural and organic food while learning about nutrition and the value of exercise. The prize for completing the Wild Oats tour is a Frequent Fruit Card for a free organic banana on each visit.
What about teaching children how to be smart shoppers? Giant Eagle's "Be a Smart Shopper" classes discuss managing money. And here is one I really like, the Giant Eagle class in Kids' Etiquette!
Incentives
Many of the top family-friendly chains also have baby clubs to help parents save money. At Farmer Jack, parents receive $20 in cash for each $200 they spend on diapers and other baby needs.
Some of the top supermarkets cater to kids while giving back to the community. At Giant Eagle, parents buy a card for $1 and kids receive a free cookie on each visit for a year. What makes the Giant Eagle program special is the money is donated to local children's hospitals. Harris Teeter's annual Safe Kids program includes registration of the child's fingerprints with the local police department. Farmer Jack offers free kids' fingerprinting ID kits.
When it comes to the rest rooms, these stores have it all. Most of the top-rated chains provide diaper changing tables in both women's and men's rest rooms. Farmer Jack provides an additional convenience mothers really appreciate, child-size toilets!
Sacramento-based Raley's cares about the health of its customers beyond the bathroom by placing hand sanitizer and plastic bags at the meat cases to keep shoppers' hands clean and prevent leaking meat trays from contaminating other foods.
Other chains
I asked Cicero about the other major chains that responded to the family-friendly survey. How did they stack up? Unfortunately, not very well. After the top-rated 15 chains, the family-friendly scores for the remaining 29 chains sank dramatically. Obviously, there is much room for improvement.
In the magazine's story you can read about the chains that offer supervised children's play areas, special parking spaces for expectant mothers, candy-free checkout lanes, as well as other important family-friendly facilities and services. (Not all of the facilities and services are available at each chain's stores.)
A caution
One last thing: My enthusiasm for family-friendly supermarkets is tempered by the fact that even the best of them do not sanitize the shopping carts young children have to sit in. And, many thousands of youngsters are taken to hospital emergency rooms each year after falling from supermarket shopping carts. I strongly advise parents to use a sanitizing wipe and don't forget to buckle up!
Is your supermarket friendly to you and your children? Please let me know. Write to me, Martin Sloane, the Supermarket Shopper, in care of The Vindicator. I publish the most interesting letters.
XSend questions and comments to Martin Sloane in care of The Vindicator. The volume of mail precludes individual replies to every letter, but Martin Sloane will respond to letters of general interest in the column.
United Feature Syndicate