Food Pavilion offers schools catalogs with points program

New tortillaria, Asian cuisine drawing in customers

Kids in schools may soon be getting the latest in playground equipment and the like thanks to a local grocery store.

"We have the Rewards for Schools going on," said Food Pavilion store manager Eric Almquist. "It is a program that Sperry and Hutchinson (S&H) Greenpoints has going on. They have a catalog that is separate from the regular customer catalog that you would get at the front of the store, and it's veered and directed right towards the schools."

The catalog contains a wide variety of school items, from computers and books to toys and playground equipment, he said.

"The school will enroll in (the program)," Almquist explained. "The consumer will go into whatever school their kids go to to get the voucher, and they will come into the store. What we do then is, when they build up points in their account, they can come in with that voucher and say, 'Hey, I want to donate,' and it's in 500-point increments, give that voucher, scan it and it will deduct 500 points from their account into the school's account."

The schools can then purchase any of the items in the catalog.

Almquist said the store only recently started the program, and has sent information out to the schools. He said that he has discussed the program with two schools.

"Right now, (schools) would get a 100,000 points just for signing up here," he said.

Other recent additions to the store are a special department offering Asian cuisine and a tortillaria.

"(Food Pavilion wanted) the tortillaria for the ethnic group in town, and it had done well in areas like Moses Lake," said Ernie Lang, Food Pavilion assistant manager. "The Asian cuisine, they have done very well, and I think (the store) wanted to offer a variety when customers come shopping."

Lang said that the reaction for both areas from customers has been excellent, in spite of a shaky start for one.

"The tortillaria, we had some production problems, so it's been spotty, but as of the last three months, it has really caught on," Lang said.

The store is also seeing some increased business due to the recent opening of the Food Pavilion Commercial Center, Almquist said.