Why One Grocery Store Chain Is Ditching Candy at Checkout Lanes

Jennifer O'Neill
·Writer
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Resisting temptation to buy candy just got a little bit easier. Grocery chain Aldi will be replacing the candy in its checkout aisles with trail mix, granola bars and dried fruit in each of their 1,500 stores by the end of the year.

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“We are…stocking stores with even more nutritious options,” Aldi CEO Jason Hart told Convenience Store and Fuel News (CSFN) on Wednesday, adding “We truly care about our customers and we’re responding with guilt-free checkout zones and increased food options they can feel good about.”

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(Photo: Flickr/Mike Mozart)

The Batavia, Ill.-based grocer has stores in 32 states but is reportedly rolling out their “Healthier Checklanes” plan to shops in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Minneapolis first. Sweets will still be offered at Aldi, WNYT reports, the items will just be moved to another part of the store.

Bravo, says The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group focusing on health and nutrition. “Putting products at checkout can prompt purchases — and putting foods at kids’ eye level can induce requests for those products and family conflict,” CSPI Senior Nutrition Policy Counsel Jessica Almy wrote in a statement applauding the move. “Giving customers choices they can feel good about supports their health and frees parents up to say ‘yes’ to their kids.”

The location of candy at stores has been proven to make a big difference in purchases, the organization has found. Sixty percent of shoppers interviewed by food company researchers said that they had bought their candy from the checkout, according to a report from the CSPI last year. “Checkout,” the group declares, “sets people up to buy food and drinks that harm their health.”

(Top photo: Alamy)

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