Chris Proffitt/Eyewitness News
Noblesville, Dec. 8 - Judging from its customers reactions, Marsh Supermarkets new Lifestyles concept store's grand opening is more like a premier.
Jim Thompson calls it "unique. Something the United States doesn't have. It's European and very impressive."
The Indiana-based grocer confirms that the 66,000 square foot store is the first of its kind. Gone are the traditional aisles. In their place is an open market with several small stores within one.
There are boutiques and large fruit and vegetable sections designed, as the chain says, around consumers' lifestyles and shoppers' patterns.
Jodi Marsh says it's "a very convienient shopping pattern for the consumer and something unique we wanted to bring to the market and a point of differentiation for Marsh as a chain."
The Nobleville store is a radical departure for Marsh and its competitors.
Marsh ranks second behind Kroger and ahead of Wal-Mart's grocery division in the highly competitive Indianapolis market. The company is planning other lifestyle supermarkets in Ft. Wayne and Chicago, a new market for the 66-store chain.
Company CEO Don Marsh believes, "By the time the competition figures out what we've done, we'll be ahead."
Marsh, which pioneered grocery store price scanning, sees its new supermarket line as the future by making a mundane trip to the grocery store an experience .and creating loyal new customers.
The way Shirley Carter sees the store, "Everything is sectioned off in its own little store. So you can go around the center and see which store you want to go to."
Still, it's coupons and low prices that ultimately determine the fates and fortunes in the grocery business. But like Detroit's automakers, Marsh hopes that it has created a store with style at a price that everyone can afford.
