For the past several years, supermarkets have faced a barrage of new competitors, from big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Target (which have increased their emphasis on food products in their product mix) to specialty chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to online retailers.

In response, supermarket chains have become more innovative than in the past — by adding prepared meals, a greater variety of produce, indoor cafes, and many other tactics. Now, the traditional gridiron store layout with long-time fixed product locations is being reimagined by some supermarkets — especially the store perimeter.

For example. as reported by Stephanie Strom for the New York Times: “The doors of the Cub Foods grocery store in this middle-class suburban city [Eagan, Minnesota] open onto piles of picture-perfect peaches and nectarines nestled next to jewel-toned plums and grapes. Around the corner, corn delivered in the morning from a local farm is heaped decoratively on one side of a wide, meandering path that guides shoppers through the produce section and toward the deli counter and sushi bar, where they can catch the aromas of freshly baked breads and doughnuts, a Cub specialty, a little farther away. ‘You can pretty much be in Anywhere, U.S.A., in center store, but the perimeter is the fashion side of the grocery business,’ said Sharon A. Lessard, chief designer at Supervalu, which operates Cub Foods stores as well as chains like Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, and Albertsons in some markets. ‘The perimeter is where we can best distinguish ourselves from everyone else.’”

Click the photo to learn more. Shown here is Peggy Hoffman, looking for fresh corn in the perimeter area of Cub.

Photo by Tim Gruber for the New York Times