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WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Adrienne Pavlik displays produce available at the Zellers in Grant Park mall.

IT'S one thing for a retailer to spend a few bucks sprucing up the place.

It's another thing to spend $20 million doing that in a competitive market with an uncertain near-term economic environment.

But that is exactly what Zellers has done in Winnipeg with a store makeover that it will officially launch on Friday.

What's the goal of the project?

According to Adrienne Pavlik, Zellers' Winnipeg district manager, the No. 1 goal is to make the shopping experience easier "for Mom and family" and to provide "a full offering" to the shopper. This is likely the first stage of a radical new look that the discount retailer will start to roll out across the country.

What is it doing to the stores?

Aisles have been widened and product assortment has been streamlined to add depth of selection. A "decompression area" has been created in the entranceway with sight lines all around the store. Separate "shops" are created throughout with merchandise on lower-profile shelving marked off by high shelving to distinguish between bedding, bathroom, home decor and housewares. Items are located in the store using "logical adjacencies" so that, for instance, high-chairs and children's car seats are across the aisle from the toy department.

Are there new product offerings?

The most notable addition is an expanded 4,500-square-foot full convenience "neighbourhood market" with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and bread products adding to a full dairy section that Zellers has had in the past. Its Alfred Sung-designed Pure line of women's affordable fashion and Sportek Platinum line of active wear that includes the kind of high-tech fitness features that retail at much higher prices points from the likes of Lulu Lemon have been in Zellers stores for more than a year now.

Why roll out the new look in Winnipeg?

Winnipeg is a competitive market with a discount-oriented consumer -- a perfect scenario to test new merchandising strategies, Pavlik said.

What's the likelihood that this will be a successful exercise?

Maureen Atkinson, a retail industry consultant with J.C. Williams Group in Toronto, put it this way: "Obviously, Zellers is up against Walmart. It puts them in a difficult position regardless of how much sprucing up they're doing." She said this move is likely not the "magic answer" to beat Walmart at its own game, but it could be a good first step.

How big a risk is it to add fresh produce?

There may be new logistics issues handling products with a short shelf life, but Atkinson points out that lots of retailers are doing it, not just Walmart, and that it can drive traffic and get more people in the store. "It keeps the retailer front and centre with the customer," she said.

What is Zellers' footprint in Winnipeg?

There are seven stores in the city with one slated to close -- the Henderson Highway location -- and another to open -- in the basement of The Bay's downtown store. (Hudson's Bay Co., Zellers, and Home Outfitters are owned by U.S.-based NRDC Equity Partners).

Each Zellers store has a staff of at least 100 people.

There are 279 Zellers stores across the country.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca