Lowes Foods is less interested in being “an incrementally better grocery store” and more interested in creating “something different and unique in the grocery experience overall,” Tim Lowe, president of the 100-store chain, said.
In a video posted online, Lowe said the company is striving for what he calls “retail-tainment,” which includes in-store experiences to make shopping more stimulating. "If you need to get in and out quickly, you can do that,” he said. “But if you want to come and bring your kids and be able to have an experience, you can do that as well.”
The goal, he explained, is “to do something different to keep us relevant and moving forward.
“We have 100 different concepts,” Lowe said, which the company intends to roll out to additional locations over the next few months.
Lowes is the retail division of Alex Lee Inc., Hickory, N.C.
Experiences being offered at the company’s flagship store on Robinhood Road in Winston-Salem, N.C., include the following:
• A “chicken dance,” in which employees and any willing customers flap their arms and wiggle their rear-ends every time a rotisserie chicken comes out of the oven.

• A “sausage professor” who creates new varieties — such as peanut butter sausage —with the help of shoppers’ children, who get to push buttons and turn knobs to help develop the unusual flavor combinations.
• A “beer den” where customers can sample craft beers and buy their favorites in 64-ounce jugs.
• A “community table” for meetings or cooking demonstrations.
• A “pick and prep” area, where customers can select the produce of their choice and have it cut, trimmed or chopped to their standards by store personnel.
• The name of a local street instead of a number at each checkstand to keep the emphasis on local — a theme carried throughout the store, with more than 2,500 local products for sale.