Shopping Bop

There has been a noticeable shift from soft drink to new age drinks especially among 16 - to - 24 year olds. We cut the soft drink doors back and saw less than one per cent sales drop.  Maybe water delivery is back in vogue.  Companies such as Sparkletts, Zephyr Hills and kentwood water delivery will be happy to hear that.

However, when we gave that additional door to the ready - to - drinks - the Fruitopias, Snapples, Arizona Iced Tea and water - we saw 23 per cent growth and five - or 10 per cent more in terms of margin profitability." At the Thrifty stores, new age products are "taking a little away from the sale of pop, especially from oddball flavors such as grape."