|
Stew Leonard's is a chain of four supermarkets in Connecticut and New York which Ripley's Believe It or Not! deemed "The World's Largest Dairy", with ''Fortune'' magazine listing Stew Leonard's as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For". "Anyone who comes from Connecticut or thereabouts knows this landmark chain of grocery stores where mechanized cows sing and roosters crow," according to a writer for the ''Sun-Sentinel'' of Florida. A typical Stew Leonard's store will attract customers from a wider geographic area than a typical supermarket because customers are willing to drive longer distances. The store's fame comes from its innovative in-store marketing, which includes a barnlike wood decor, a winding path for shoppers instead of straight, parallel aisles, and animatronic singing animals perched above the shelving. Founded in 1969 with seven employees in Norwalk, Connecticut, there currently are also stores in Danbury, Connecticut; Yonkers, New York; and Newington, Connecticut. The latter opened on May 5, 2007. The original Norwalk store was previously a farm whose owner required prospective purchasers to take care of all the farm animals. No one was willing to do that except for Stew Leonard, who thought that he could make the farm an attraction at his store. As Stew's previous occupation was as a milkman (working alongside his father), the store began just as a dairy store. The store became more popular because of the farm and the animals, which he employed in a children's petting zoo, still in existence. In 2004, Tom Leonard, son of the founder, opened a spinoff store, Tom Leonard's Farmer's Market, in the Short Pump section of Henrico County, Virginia (suburban Richmond). The store is also known for its customer-service policy, which greets shoppers at each store's entrance etched into a three-ton rock: # The customer is always right. # If the customer is ever wrong, re-read rule #1. == The store == ''The New York Times'' called Stew Leonard's the "Disneyland of Dairy Stores."〔(In Norwalk, A 'Disneyland' Dairy Store )〕 The store has taken tips from educational practices, where they implement visual, auditory, and kinesthetic strategies into their sales. Stew Leonard’s have created animatronics characters called the "Farm Fresh Five" that perform songs and dance. The stores are not set up like traditional grocery stores; one must walk through the entire store (though there are short cuts). As customers walk through a path of aisles, they are greeted by different employees dressed up in costumes and by animatronic favorites such as Twinkie the Kid, the Chiquita banana, and Clover, a cow's head that moos when one pulls its rope. The stores also feature petting zoos and outdoor cafes in the warmer months and sell a variety of prepared meals year round. Customers are also offered an unusually large number of food samples for a supermarket, as well as free drink samples. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stew Leonard's」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|