Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1156964
credit card. More advances in tech will drive greater, quicker ac- cessibility and convenience that especially appeals to younger con- sumers used to doing everything via a smartphone. Destination Experiences. Jake Dell, the fifth-generation owner of New York City's venerable Katz's Delicatessen, faces the unen- viable task of preserving the iconic 131-year-old brand while keep- ing it fresh in today's retail climate. While Dell has focused on an outpost in a trendy Brooklyn food hall as well as revamping on- line service to expand reach, other established retailers have come up with creative ways to branch out. They focus on experience to create destinations, either through services that appeal to their customer base or through location-specific attractions. A Shop- Rite in Hanover Township, N.J., offers yoga and Zumba classes. One Boston-based Whole Foods Market offers peppermint foot scrubs. And, outside the food retail space, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse launched a concept store in Las Vegas last year with glitzy offerings like a Shoevator, a wall of shoes that allows cus- tomers to order from the wall via an app that has a salesperson send them down to the sales f loor. You can learn more about the breakout talent mentioned here as well as other innovators—from a former marine biologist whose exposure to plastics pollution led her to open a package-free store, to an operator of the first commercially viable rooftop vine- yard and wine bar—in this issue beginning on p. 25. For more, check out other leaders online in our SFA News Live and Future Friday video series at specialtyfood.com/news/section/videos/. EDITOR'S LETTER Three Trendsetting Retail Concepts FALL 2019 1 SPECIALTY FOOD ASSOCIATION MEMBERS: Discuss this topic in the Solution Center on specialtyfood.com I n our Fall issue of Specialty Food Magazine, we showcase some of the industry's younger paceset- ters in our annual "12 Under 35: Breakout Talent to Watch" feature. You'll find a dozen inspiring examples of reformers and visionaries launching new business concepts, addressing social good, and rethinking established models. This year's roster especially contains innovators whose cre- ative thinking points to growing retail trends. Here are three: Pop Up Stores. Pop Up Grocer, the brainchild of Emily Schildt, launched last spring in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood and is poised for expansion in cities like Denver and Austin. The pop- up concept can benefit small brands looking to gain exposure and visibility through a highly curated shopping experience. While pop ups are trendy in industries like apparel and cosmet- ics, grocery pop ups are gaining momentum even among estab- lished brands as a way to generate buzz while gauging interest in markets or testing out new products. For instance, earlier this year Hy-Vee launched a temporary seasonally themed pop up, Patio & Grill Outlet, in Lincoln and Omaha, Neb., and in Kansas City, Mo. Honor System Shopping. Farmhouse Market, owned by Ken- dra Rasmusson, operates as a 24/7 store designed to make local and organic foods accessible in a small Minnesota town. While it's open to the public during the day, after hours its members use a key card access system to enter the building, shop, and check out. Cashierless, automated models are gaining ground, famously through Amazon Go stores and now among smaller retailers. The Drug Store in Manhattan has taken self-service to a new level where shoppers select what they want, text the company their order, and leave while the brand charges their Denise Purcell Editor, Specialty Food Magazine dpurcell@specialtyfood.com