Raley’s in Reno: Award-Winning Innovation

A small store yields big sales with innovation in produce merchandising.

Raley’s Mayberry 103 in Reno, NV, opened Nov. 29, 1976, and has steadfastly served its community for decades. In 2024, the store was remodeled to update its look and feel, in addition to expanding fresh offerings for customers, including easy meal solutions.

Upholding the Raley’s philosophy of “Making shopping easier, healthier, and more personal,” Produce Manager Sean Logan took advantage of the remodel to create a produce department that upholds the company philosophy — and earned him a 2024 International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) Retail Produce Manager Award.

The store is a small-format store with only 22,000 square feet of sales floor space and only 1,600 square feet dedicated to fresh produce.

“Fresh produce contributes 10 to 15% of overall sales for the store,” says Charles Hunt, district operations for Raley’s, an independent, family-owned American grocery company headquartered in West Sacramento, CA. “From the beginning, Raley’s has always been known for freshest availability of fine produce and meat and that reputation still holds true today.”

Founded in 1935, Raley’s Family of stores has grown to operate 118 stores in northern California and Nevada. “This operating company is now part of a larger enterprise, The Raley’s Companies, formed in 2021 with the acquisition of Bashas’ Family of Stores,” says Hunt.

GRABBING ATTENTION

The Mayberry store captures customer attention and imagination with eye-catching displays as customers enter the store by using lobby displays at each entrance.

“Sean’s displays are always fully stocked with seasonally relevant, fresh, and abundant fruits and vegetables,” says Hunt. “He knows seasonally fresh produce will drive sales and, in most cases due to abundance, he can showcase value by promoting this product.”

For example, this spring, the store showcased Sumo citrus in bulk and bags, Avocados from Mexico cross-merchandised with tomatoes-on-the-vine, and lunch box favorites, apples and oranges, all in the front lobby.

Seasonally, Logan uses the store’s covered patios to build out farmers market-style displays to capture customer attention. “He does this all the way to street level, utilizing color and a wealth of fresh fruits and vegetables to draw customers into the parking lot,” says Hunt. “During the summer months, these outside tables are filled full of seasonal favorites and bulky items such as melons.”

Use of the patio space is most notable in the fall when the store heavily promotes pumpkins, squash, gourds and Indian corn in front. “Sean has been creating his pumpkin patch for so long, he has a following and the store is known as one of the best spots in Reno to select a pumpkin,” says Hunt. “On top of creating a pumpkin patch, he is also supporting one of our longtime local growers, Doug Avanzino. Doug knows he can count on Sean to sell lots of pumpkins and brings in fresh loads daily. This year, the store sold over 2,000 large pumpkins off the front porch!”

MAXIMIZING SPACE

Raley’s Mayberry is an older store with limited space, even though it has been remodeled several times. “Due to this aspect, the produce department does not have any moving parts,” says Hunt. “It has one produce table, and the rest of the produce department is merchandised on vertical racks. Both sides of the department are lined by wet racks and value-added cases.”

Space is a major challenge, yet Logan devised creative ways to maximize his department’s space. Hunt explains the incredulity of building a high volume produce department with limited space and only one display table. “I personally would have a hard time imagining having success in this scenario,” he says. “However, Sean signed up for this challenge with enthusiasm. His imagination has transformed a small produce department into a sale-driven and impulse buying zone by changing the typical way of thinking.”

Logan started out by evaluating the entire department, looking for opportunities in every area, and instead of merchandising horizontally, he started thinking vertically, says Hunt.

“Inspired, he took it upon himself to design and build several custom displays using wood and Plexiglas to help merchandise vertically,” Hunt adds. “His table, for example, has a custom-made wooden display for apples, citrus, and pears. He measured, drew, cut, and built every display by hand.”

These efforts to help merchandise vertically expanded his display space and variety by almost 20%, according to Hunt. “This creative change in setting up the department using vertical display cases gained a 2% sales increase and a 3.5% margin increase this past fiscal year.”

Logan believes in making the shopping experience easier and has built sets that are easy to shop and inspired by cooking techniques and recipes. “He has built a vertical tomato set that includes all items to make a one-stop fresh salsa and guacamole center,” says Hunt.

Logan has also devised some unique methods to offer more variety even within space constraints. “Only so much product will fit on a side table in produce, and it will go empty quickly if there is not enough product out on it,” says Hunt. “To combat this, Sean has designed custom-built Plexiglas boxes that look almost like a fish tank. These allow the department to hold more product than if building off a flat surface. Once again, he is thinking vertically.”

SERVING CUSTOMERS WITH VARIETY

Raley’s produce team leaders have access to over 1,000 produce SKUs, and Logan carries as much variety as possible, as well as dual lines of organic and conventional product. “He believes by having choice in his department, his customers are more likely to be 100% satisfied,” says Hunt. “I think that’s why Sean’s organic penetration is almost 20% of the department sales and averages 4% to 5% higher than the rest of produce departments in the district.”

Building sales in produce is not limited to fresh. “Packaged nuts, dried fruit, and seeds can be powerful drivers to sales,” says Hunt. “During the holidays, Sean will heavily promote the sales of nuts for holiday baking and converts spots in his department to push sales. He also looks at upcoming sporting events to build sales. He’ll use his lobbies to promote CPG items such as Wonderful Branded pistachios for key events such as the Super Bowl and March Madness.”

Produce items are selected by Raley’s merchants based on seasonality relevance and market price, explains Hunt. The merchants promote the product by showcasing promotional pricing in weekly printed and digital circulars, as well as promoting product using EDLP known as Raley’s Dailies.

“Our produce team leaders can sample any item they choose to for their customers. Often, passive samples are used to promote in-season product or new and innovative CPG products to the customers.”

Logan also uses every opportunity he can to go after incremental and impulse sales. “This year, he teamed up with Melissa’s produce to go after tropical sales,” says Hunt. “Knowing the power of product placement, he has placed the Melissa’s product in the front of the department on a stand-alone display to draw added attention.”

GROWTH THROUGH OPPORTUNITY

Logan started his grocery career in 1994 as a courtesy clerk, working through various roles, including clerk, cashier, utility clerk, night crew, and then produce. “While working produce, he discovered his true passion and place in the store,” says Hunt. “Soon after, he found himself promoted to produce manager. He celebrated his 30th anniversary with Raley’s in April.”

Logan upholds Raley’s team member promises by leading his team with purpose and passion. “He has built a relationship with his entire team encompassing stability, compassion and trust,” says Hunt. “He’s quick to celebrate his team with meaningful recognition and gratitude. He thanks his team throughout the day for their achievements and hard work, and also believes in promoting a healthy work-life balance for his team.”

FACT FILE

Raley’s Mayberry 103
1441 Mayberry Drive, Reno, NV 89509
Phone: 775-786-0270
Hours: Open daily, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.