Vons Plans Lower Prices, Improved Service to Help Sales : Supermarkets: The Southland’s largest grocery chain says it will also step up advertising in wake of revenue decline.

Faced with declining sales, Vons Cos. on Wednesday said it will improve service in its stores and permanently lower prices on thousands of products under a program that begins today.

The Arcadia-based supermarket operator also said it will significantly expand its advertising in local media as part of a new marketing strategy.

Vons said prices on 3,300 to 8,700 products will be reduced--depending on the location of the store--but it did not disclose the level of the price cuts. The company said it is also authorizing store managers to increase the hours of employees to improve service and shorten the waiting period in checkout lanes.

The company is developing a new marketing approach in response to a drop in sales, said Douglas Christopher, an industry analyst at Crowell, Weedon & Co. in Los Angeles. Sales for the 40-week period ended Oct. 10 were $3.9 billion, down from $4.2 billion for the same period the previous year.

The company will release the results of its final quarter Feb. 24.

“It’s clear that this program focuses on sales,” Christopher said. “They’re trying to build more sales and consistent customer counts. Price cutting is just a part of their promotions strategy. They’re becoming more aggressive, and that’s positive.”

The staffing increases and price cuts will take place only at the 307 stores operating under the Vons name. In all, the company operates 345 stores under the Vons, Pavilions, Tianguis and Expo formats in California and Nevada.

Vons, the Southland’s largest supermarket chain, in November announced plans to lay off about 250 administrative workers and close 11 poorly performing stores to create savings that could be used to cut prices.

“Vons has reinvested millions of dollars in cost savings realized from our recent restructuring into areas customers told us were important,” Vons Chairman Roger Stangeland said Wednesday.

“Customers told us they wanted better prices every day, better customer service and better promotions,” he said.

The markdowns are already in effect at a new Vons store in Compton, which opened Wednesday amid much fanfare.