Checking out the wait at supermarket checkout lines

by Alexandra Biesada, June 28th, 2007, 7:00 am

While it’s hard to predict what part of a trip to the grocery store will take the longest — circling the parking lot on a busy Saturday afternoon in search of a space or drawing #51 at the meat counter when the only butcher is serving picky #35 — it’s probably safe to assume that the wait to checkout will eat up plenty of precious time.

If, like me, you’re cursed with the uncanny ability to chose the absolutely slowest line in the store you’ll want to hear about what gourmet grocer Whole Foods has come up with as a result of its foray into the New York market, home to perhaps some of the most impatient shoppers on the planet. As a displaced New Yorker I can attest that the prospect of a long wait topped off by a sneer from the surly cashier was enough to keep me eating in restaurants for days rather than shopping for groceries.

In Manhattan, where its stores sit atop some pricey real estate and retail space is limited, Whole Foods has adopted the single-line concept: having all shoppers wait in one line for an available register (rather than one line per register). While the system is more commonly found in banks and airports than in supermarkets, Whole Foods has found that no matter how long the single line gets, the wait time is shorter than using the traditional one-line-per-register system. A recent “admittedly unscientific” survey conducted by The New York Times that visited five rival grocery chains (including Food Emporium, Gristede’s, Trader Joe’s, and Zabar’s) supported Whole Foods’ finding that a single line is the most efficient at speeding shoppers through the checkout process.

In fact, The Times found Whole Foods to have some of the fastest grocery store lines in the city. Of course, for the single line model to work there must be plenty of registers at the end of that line. Whole Foods can afford to staff lots of registers — more than 30 per store — given the premium prices it charges for its natural and organic foods. 

The trick now is to convince New Yorkers to try the longer lines, rather than flee the store. I’m willing to give the single-line model a try because — at least at Whole Foods in New York — it’s impossible to choose the slowest line if there’s only one.