The Sneaky Reason Produce Is At The Front Of The Grocery Store

If you like to cook your own meals at home, you probably frequent your local grocery store a couple of times a month. Or hey, maybe even a few times a week depending on the demand for fresh food items in your household. According to Statista, the average grocery shopper in the United States made an average of 1.6 shopping trips every week in 2019. While the cost of fresh products and produce increased by 10.4% in the last 12 months, the demand for fresh food is still there and needed as ingredients in many recipes (via U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Depending on where you live, your grocery store might differ from others around the country. While Walmart might be America's most trusted grocery store, you may prefer to shop at your local Kroger, Aldi, Publix, or even the wholesale giant Costco if you enjoy buying in bulk. Regardless of where you go, you probably know the layout of your grocery store fairly well, and once you enter those doors, you head to the right aisles for what you need. While each grocery store is laid out differently, there is still one commonality. Have you ever noticed that the produce section is always in the front of the store? There's a reason for that.

If you think about it, what is going to catch your eye? An array of colors of "fresh" food or bland-colored boxed items? There's a reason why the produce section is usually at the front of the grocery store. According to Mental Floss, having the produce section situated when you enter the store allows shoppers to be hit with bright, vibrant, fresh food. This helps the customer view the grocery store as "fresh" and thus can trick customers into spending more money under the mindset that the store offers fresh and healthy foods.

Additionally, because the produce is in the front of the store, customers often add produce as one of the first things in their baskets or carts. Once customers stock up on healthy produce, it can provoke them to splurge on some not-so-healthy food options in the store knowing they already made their rounds in the healthy produce section (via Chicago Tribune). Really, nothing is by chance, the stores know exactly what they are doing to get you to keep coming back.