There's an Office Store in My Grocery Store

An oddity from last week: I was browsing the grocery stores' sales flyers, and noticed that Jewel was selling Office Depot brand office supplies. It struck me as a weird thing, to be sure; what happened to just plain ol' Jewel brand stuff?

But then the ante was upped: Dominick's, the other major grocery chain, was selling Staples brand office supplies! What was this? You guessed it: it was EXTREME!!! corporate synergy! And my head nearly exploded.

I wondered why the stores stopped there. Think about all of the exciting marketing opportunities:

• Ziploc brand grocery bags - with their unique zippers. No muss, no fuss when carrying to your car!


• Bowflex conveyor belts. Get the body you want while you're buying your Cheerios. From Bowflex!


• Kohler shower heads in the produce department. After all, they're the shower masters!


• Fruit of the Loom brand jackets for the pharmacists. Plus, the fruity logo will remind consumers to enjoy their 5 fruits every day!


• Dell computers at checkout. Everyone just looooves Dell!


• IKEA carts. They'll be foldable, require assembly, and include a tiny allen wrench.

I'm sure that sometime in the future, a grocery store exec will read this and say, "Good ideas!"