Next month, Stop & Shop will unveil a new logo and redesigned store uniforms in addition to expanding its prepared food section and further rolling out shopping assistance technology, the Boston Herald reports.

The changes come as Stop & Shop is more than three-quarters finished with its aisle-by-aisle, price-rollback "value improvement program" at its stores from Massachusetts to New Jersey.

"We're trying to make sure that we keep up with what's important with moms and kids, and then make sure the proposition we offer meets her needs," said Jim Dwyer, executive vice president of strategy and business development.


The new logo is brighter with a slightly different shape, according to Dwyer. "It's a way for us to make sure consumers receive the signal that we're improving our stores," he said. "It's an opportunity to get them to notice."

Stop & Shop's range of prepared foods will grow significantly over the next two to three months, and "will be priced well and offer value to customers," Dwyer said.

The chain is also testing a product line called "Choose and Cook," a refrigerated collection of fresh, color-coded food ingredients -- meat, poultry or seafood, a vegetable, starch and sauce -- that can be combined into a meal for four in 20 minutes. The line, which comes with instruction for meals such as sirloin beef teriyaki and shrimp pad thai, is widely available in the stores of Stop & Shop's sister companies in Europe. Stop & Shop is owned by Amsterdam-based Ahold.

As the prepared food sections expand, Stop & Shop's store colors and layout will change as the company works to de-clutter its stores.

Employees' two black and dark green short-sleeved shirt choices will be replaced with clothing tailored to fit men and women in eggplant and yellow.

Stop & Shop is also giving new 5 percent store discounts to its store employees and their families, and an additional 5 percent off corporate and store brands.

The expanded technology rollout will bring self-service DeliVision kiosks and EasyShop scanners to more stores. Customers use the kiosks' touch-screens to electronically place their sliced meat and cheese orders, and can continue shopping while the orders are filled. The hand-held EasyShop devices allow shoppers to scan and bag their items as they shop, and keep a running account of what they're spending.