TOURS FOR CURES

June 20, 2011 – Supermarket News – Store tours take on new meaning as they hone in on celiac disease, nut allergies, and other conditions requiring special diet

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Hiller's Markets, Southfield, Mich., is another retailer that uses store tours to cater to those on special diets. The retailer typically hosts one themed store tour a month. Up to about 40 people typically attend.

It does not have registered dietitians on staff, so it brings in doctors from nearby Beaumont Hospital to host the tours.

“We felt it was important to have an expert there to field questions,” said Justin Hiller, company vice president.

The goal of the tours is to help shoppers learn how to better manage their condition by eating the right kinds of foods.

“We want to make the shopping experience easier for people with ailments,” Hiller said.

During the tours, participants are shown alternatives to mainstream items they would typically need to avoid.

“We open their eyes,” Hiller said. “Some people don't realize how healthy or unhealthy some things in their diets are.”

Hiller's tours cater to those with conditions like high blood pressure and celiac disease. It even hosted a free health tour for cancer patients last year. An oncologist and oncology dietitian talked about coping with symptoms like loss of appetite and nausea, and how to choose the most nutrient-rich and energizing foods.

A store tour on nut allergies was so well attended that Hiller's realized it needed to do more for those who can't eat nuts. Soon after the tour, it dedicated endcaps to nut-free foods in several stores. The sections not only help those with the condition, but also others who are searching for options to take to childcare centers or schools that have nut-free policies in place.

Hiller's had personal reasons for scheduling store tours on how to choose low-sodium products. Last year, company Chief Executive Officer Jim Hiller wasn't feeling well. After purchasing a blood pressure meter, he learned his numbers were high at 145 over 90. (Normal is 120 over 80.)

Along with going on medication, he started reducing his sodium intake.

“I've always read food labels because keeping the fat out has been my longtime focus,” Hiller wrote in a blog about his condition. “Now that I've moved down a few lines on the nutrition labels, I'm astonished at how much sodium is in just about everything.”

While the recommended sodium daily intake is 2,400 milligrams, someone with his condition should eat half that amount. So he directed his staff to seek out sodium-free and low-sodium items in every category and visibly mark them.

“We must make it easy for people who have high blood pressure, or love someone who does, to cut out the salt,” Hiller wrote in the blog.

The retailer has since brought in hundreds of low-sodium items, even soup and lunch meats. To highlight the items, it created shelf tags that picture a slash mark through a saltshaker.

“Hiller's is becoming a sea of low-sodium tags,” he wrote.

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