SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith's Food & Drug Stores and Fred
Meyer Stores have installed electronic shopping cart containment systems that
create invisible "fences" around parking lot perimeters at their
Salt Lake City stores.
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson welcomed the move as an example of
corporate responsiveness to a community concern. "As small of an issue as
stray shopping carts may seem, it really impacts the look and feel of many of
our neighborhoods and poses significant risks for children who might play with
the carts," said Anderson. "The willingness of Smith's and Fred Meyer to take
action and expend resources to make our community better is commendable and an
example for other businesses in Salt Lake City."
Smith's is using The Wheel Cart Containment System(R) at six stores:
4100 S Redwood Road, 6th Avenue and E Street, 12th West and 6th North,
8th South and 9th West, 21st South and 9th East, and 8th South and 9th East.
Fred Meyer is using the K-2000 Kart Saver System at its Downtown store located
at 455 South 500 East in Salt Lake City.
"Smith's strives to be a good neighbor. The issue of abandoned shopping
carts has been of mounting concern to some communities, and while we have been
diligent in retrieving them, we believe this electronic system will help us
keep neighborhoods free of Smith's carts," said Marsha Gilford, Smith's Public
Affairs. "Each cart costs about $100, and those costs quickly mount up when
carts disappear."
Smith's has been testing the system for several months at one of its
stores in Las Vegas, Nev. The system works through a special wheel that will
self-brake when electronically activated by a low-frequency signal emitted by
a buried cable. Cart wheels then unlock through a remote control device for
reuse.
Fred Meyer uses a different approach called the K-2000 Kart Saver System.
Instead of underground wires, it utilizes a radio-transmitted signal that is
activated when a cart leaves the building and can be adjusted for different
distances. When the cart reaches the preset distance, a beeping sound starts
and then the signal locks one of the front wheels at an angle so the cart
rolls in a circle.
"We have set our system to permit carts to go as far as the bus stop on
5th East," Bart Hoerner, store director at the Downtown Fred Meyer, said. "We
installed it only at our Downtown store because daily cart loss there was much
higher than any other Fred Meyer store in Utah. On average, we were losing
about 50 carts a day at that store. Yesterday, only six of the 300 carts we
have modified so far were missing, and we expect even better results in the
future. This system is in use at two other Fred Meyer stores in Portland,
Oregon where it has virtually eliminated cart loss."
For customers who need shopping carts to take their purchases home, both
Smith's and Fred Meyer have two-wheeled, collapsible tote carts available for
sale at reduced prices. Both also have programs to donate shopping carts to
apartment complexes near their stores that are willing to operate cart
checkout programs for their residents.
Smith's and Fred Meyer are both divisions of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR),
one of the nation's largest retail chains. Electronic cart containment systems
are used in more than 100 Kroger stores throughout the country. Smith's
operates a total of 118 stores in seven western states including 43 stores in
Utah. Fred Meyer has nine one-stop-shopping stores in Utah selling food,
apparel and general merchandise and operates a total of 132 of those stores in
five western states.
SOURCE Fred Meyer Stores
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Related links:
http://www.fredmeyerstores.com
CONTACT:
Marsha Gilford of Smith's Food & Drug Stores,
+1-801-973-1700; or Rob Boley of Fred Meyer Stores,
+1-503-797-7176
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