Displays of more than 400 kinds of domestic and imported cheeses, an olive and antipasto bar offering 16 varieties of olives, produce aisles with 500 kinds of fruits and vegetables, and, to top it off, 22 check-out lanes. The new Giant Eagle Market District stores in Shadyside and Bethel Park’s South Hills Village Square are part of an industry movement toward luxury, one-stop shopping for the masses. In addition to the organic, exotic and international foods, the stores feature Wi-Fi cafes, artisan bakeries, cooking demonstrations and walk-in refrigerators with fresh imported cheeses known as “cheese caves.” No longer is a grocery store about where to get the cheapest milk, it’s about how the consumer feels while purchasing that milk, said Ajay Kalra, professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Shoppers rolling their carts on faux marble tiling past imported cheeses, mounds of cactus pears, and a deli offering venison, quail and buffalo feel a sense of privilege and exclusivity, Kalra said, even if they roll right past them and pick up American cheese, apples and chicken. “I would love to do the organics,” said Leslie McGinness, 41, of St. Clair, as she shopped in the Bethel Park store. But with four growing boys at home, McGinness stays away from the expensive organic and imported foods. “But I like to have choices even though most of the time I bypass them,” she said. Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts said Americans in general are becoming more passionate about food, and Market District stores, which opened in June, cater to simple and exotic palates. It also keeps them competitive with neighboring Whole Foods Market. “People travel to these stores from much further distances than they would to a normal grocery store,” Roberts said. Roberts said it’s too early to track exactly how much money Market District stores are bringing in, but he expects Giant Eagle will expand the venture at new sites. Stan Brown, 46, of Point Breeze, recently made his second trip to the Shadyside Market District store because both times he couldn’t find an item he was looking for at his usual grocery store. This time, he was in search of a gyro kit. So far, Brown said he’s been impressed with the store, even though it can be hard to find a specific item among the rows of various offerings. “I have no idea where anything is,” he said. “This store, I’m lost. I’m staggering around as we speak.” Friends Brittany Ritchey and Nora Connor, both 22 and of Oakland, understand. After about 40 minutes of shopping at the Shadyside store and assembling about a dozen items, they weren’t even half way down their shopping list. Ritchey and Connor make sure they have plenty of time before they go on a shopping trip, but others have decided to avoid the store. “It just takes too much time over there,” said Randy Benson, 55, of Shadyside, as he loaded his groceries into his car at the Giant Eagle in East Liberty. “It just takes me too long to even walk through the store. I like the store. It has everything I need, but that’s not the point.” If the 68,000-square-foot Shadyside store seems large, try the 117,000-square-foot one in Bethel Park. It’s more than twice the size of Aaron Spelling’s estate, which was built for $47 million and recently put on the market for $150 million, according to TMZ.com. McGinness said the Bethel Park store can be daunting and confusing, but she still shops there because it’s clean and the food is fresher than other grocery stores. She does limit how often she shops there, though. “I can’t deal with coming here more than once a week,” McGinness said. “If we don’t have it, I’m not coming back.” Additional Information:

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We might never see flying cars like in ‘Back to the Future Part II,’ but we might not be far from ‘Minority Report,’ where pop-up advertisements greeted passersby by name.

IBM is working on technology that could display store specials on any surface in a grocery store that’s not being used, said Mark Campanella, IBM global director of marketing-retail industry. Imagine walking down an aisle and seeing ‘Milk: $1.09 a quart’ projected along the floor in front of the dairy case.

Then there’s the Personal Shopper devices available at the Giant Eagle Market District Stores. With Personal Shoppers, people can scan and bag items at their carts before heading to the check-out line.

These devices will someday be able to display personalized advertisements for the shoppers based on their shopping histories, Campanella said. Right now, consumers can type their Giant Eagle Advantage card numbers on the store’s Web site and see pictures of what they’ve bought recently. (Try it — it’s freaky.)

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