Sushi, organic produce, prepared meals, an extensive wine selection, preferred-shopper cards.

It could be a Churchill's supermarket. But it is a Farmer Jack Food Emporium, one of three operated in Michigan by the grocery-store chain that announced last week it is buying three of the four stores of locally owned Churchill's Super Markets, Inc.

The Farmer Jack that will return to the Toledo area next year after a decade-long absence won't be the same grocery chain most shoppers remember.

Under its former owner, Farmer Jack's focus was aggressive low pricing. But the company has shifted emphasis to tailoring its stores for their neighborhoods.

It is coming back to the Toledo market with two stores it is building as well as its Churchill acquisitions.

Although John Ponzio, Farmer Jack vice president of public and government affairs, said the chain has no current plans to put a Food Emporium in Toledo, a recent visit to a Food Emporium in Bloomfield Township, Mich., showed how much Farmer Jack has changed.

The Food Emporium is a store with an expanded produce section, with about a third of the offerings organically grown.

It also had a large deli section with prepared foods and freshly made sushi, an expanded seafood section, and a bakery.

It did not have a pharmacy, and a comparison of its selection of items in the cooking and baking section found fewer than that at Churchill's.

A store manager proved eager to special order items, but a requested brand of chocolate powder was not available for that store to order.

Mr. Ponzio said the company makes an effort to listen to customers and change store selections to provide what customers want.

But, ``There should be enough consistency to know you're in a Farmer Jack. There are brands and products you can always find there,'' he said.

``Your hometown store - that's how we want to be perceived. We want to cater to the needs of the consumer and provide good value and good choice along the way,'' he said.

Mr. Ponzio attributes the new look at Farmer Jack to its owner, Montvale, N.J.-based A&P, which in turn is owned by the Tengelmann Group, a German retail giant.

The previous Toledo store, on Secor Road, near Westgate Village shopping center, opened in 1974. It was owned by Detroit-based Borman's, Inc., until A&P bought Borman's in early 1989.

Trying to stabilize and bolster its new Farmer Jack subsidiary, A&P closed the store in December, 1990, and also phased out the A&P name in Michigan.

The return to Toledo is the latest step in Farmer Jack's quest to be the dominant grocery retailer in the Detroit metro area, to conquer southeast Michigan, and to be a player in Toledo.

The chain, which has 102 stores, opened nine stores in 1999 and 10 this year and plans to add 10 more stores each in 2001 and 2002.

Officials of Farmer Jack say they plan to aggressively challenge the Toledo area's dominant players, Kroger, Food Town, and Meijer.

Ryan Mathews, a Detroit-based grocery industry analyst with FirstMatter, of Westport, Conn., said the changes at Farmer Jack since A&P purchased Borman's have given it a new personality and some flexibility.

Although Farmer Jack no longer has the extremely low prices it was famous for under Borman's direction, ``the Borman's ran their pricing right into red ink,'' Mr. Mathews said.

He said that Farmer Jack might incorporate successful Churchill concepts in several of its stores if someone higher up the management chain liked them.

``And because they're owned by Germans, at the end of the day they have a big advantage over an American regional supermarket chain,'' Mr. Mathews said.

``The Europeans take a longer view of things and they're more forgiving.''

He said it was difficult to understand what Farmer Jack wanted from its purchase because the Churchill's locations - on Monroe Street in Sylvania, on Byrne Road in Toledo, and on Dixie Highway in Perrysburg - aren't strategically significant.

But Mr. Ponzio said what makes the Churchill's acquisition significant is the Churchill's employees, all of whom Farmer Jack intends to hire.

He said the company believes it is important for Toledo customers to see familiar faces in the store even if the name outside changes.

``Initially we want to take the stores that people are used to there and not make a lot of changes. That's why we bought them, because people know what they're like,'' Mr. Ponzio said.

``We don't want to go in and uproot what's been successful. That's why we were excited about hiring Churchill's employees. They know the customers and the customers ... want to see that continuity. And they can count on that.''

Whether the stores will resemble Churchill's in other ways is uncertain.

Bob Kaiser, Churchill's president, said the significant thing about the small Toledo area chain was that it had personality.

``The Churchill name means a lot. You have to put that into the equation,'' he said.

Mr. Mathews, the analyst, said the most modern Farmer Jack stores aren't all that different from Kroger, Seaway Food Town Plus stores, or current stores of other big grocery industry chains.

``A new Farmer Jack store and a new Kroger store will probably have the same store in terms of departments, variety, and general pricing positions.

“In terms of service levels, some of the Food Emporium stores have a little more emphasis on food service with a bakery, lots of prepared meals, heat-and-eat sandwiches, and sushi,'' he said.

``My sense is with Farmer Jack, anything that's going to work in a certain geography you're going to find in a Kroger store, too. The lines in the sand will be drawn around price as opposed to quality and service,'' Mr. Mathews said.

First Published December 3, 2000, 11:43 a.m.