The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) brought its new store design to Holmdel, N.J., in Monmouth County on Friday, unveiling a renovated A&P store that seeks to mimic a European market, reports the Asbury Park Press.

The multimillion-dollar renovation project at the A&P Fresh Market on Route 35 took nearly a year to plan and four months to complete -- while the store remained open. It increased the store's emphasis on fresh food, expanding the produce and deli departments.

"It is also about a fresh new way of shopping in regards to the flow of the store, the look of the store, the decor, the whole balance of shopping," said Paul Wiseman, senior vice president of store operations. "Fresh foods are becoming more and more important to today's consumers."

Similar to European markets, the store is divided into 17 "walking street"-style markets within the store, such as artisan breads, an expanded cheese shop, chocolates, seafood and sushi, and prepared food. It also features lower shelving, which enables customers to see across the length of the store.

Dropped ceilings in areas such as the deli and produce become "intimate sort of boutique areas," said Jennifer MacLeod, senior vice president of marketing and communications at Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.

The format eliminates long supermarket aisles.

"It makes all the product visible when you go in there," said MacLeod. "You are not hunting and pecking looking for food.

"It is more sort of an organic welcoming feel than just straight lines and harried corners, so it really is a much more comfortable store to shop in," she said.

The store also includes a Starbucks Cafe with a seating area and a fireplace, and a pharmacy.

The format was unveiled last year at the company's store in Park Ridge. Executives say the company chose the Holmdel location, its second, because of the area's demographics and the store's success.

"There is a good mix of customers," MacLeod said. "You have some very value-conscious customers, but you've also got a demographic that wants great cheese or wants some high-end meat product or high-end seafood product, so the focus on the fresh offer is really key to this store."

Retail analyst Burt Flickinger III said A&P's new format is a good alternative to Whole Foods, which has a store in Middletown, and Trader Joe's.

Montvale-based A&P, which has struggled in the past, has embarked on a turnaround since Eric Claus, who had led the company's successful Canadian business, became president and chief executive officer in 2005. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea purchased Pathmark Stores last year.

The company began a program to renovate its stores about three years ago. MacLeod said there are no plans to add the new format to other A&P stores in Monmouth or Ocean County, but it will be replicated in other New Jersey locations.

The new fresh format is "very compelling for consumers" and should be successful, said Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resources Group.

"If this store is successful, it should be a catalyst to help A&P turn the corner and be much more successful at the end of this decade and the next decade than they were in the second half of the 20th century," Flickinger said.

Some customers in the store on Friday morning said they liked the improvements.

"It's clean. Everything is orderly. The food is fresh," said Middletown resident Celina Ricardo. "Everything is like new. It's just so different from all the other stores."