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Thanks for all your input on the store request process.  What I have decided to do is have the group sign a very friendly letter that I will hand-deliver to the manager of our local Kroger.  Then I will also ask the group members to follow-up in person everytime they shop there.

Here is a summary of the other responses I received (may take a couple of emails)
Amy




If I were a store owner and had a group of 20 people show up and request, I would think these 20 people is all there is ... not worth my effort.

If the same 20 people, individually, keep asking my employees: "... do you have ... "a couple times a week over a period of a month or two, I'll think maybe this is the start of a trend and I might bring the product in for a trial run to see how it moves off the shelf.

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From what I've heard, when you're dealing with large corporations and not mom-and-pop stores, they can only get you what their warehouse carries, because they stores are part of a conglomerate and buy in bulk.  I was told this by the owner of 5 large Shop-Rites (in southern NJ).  He said the 47 (or so) Shop-Rites, throughout the Northeast, all deal with one warehouse, and he can only get what is already there.  So it might be a product that a Shop-Rite in another state carries....but it cannot be a special order anymore.  He said all of the big supermarket chains work this way.  It's to keep cost down.  So unless Walmart or Kroger already carry this, within their system, we can write petitions till the cows come home, and it won't do any good.  (The Shop-Rites I deal with carry an expansive array of gluten-free and kosher products, so I can't complain about them.)

The mom-and-pop healthfood store that I deal with, near my other home, in rural Maryland (wonderful people), will special order....but again, it must be on the list of their distributor.  They said otherwise, the shipping costs are too high...and if it's something that he has to order from a website, he said I may as well do it myself, since there would not be a discount. (I don't do mailorder.)

But you can certainly start with your local manager to see if the product is available to that chain.  I don't recall seeing the Snyder's GF pretzels in my local Walmart, but it's not a super store...limited groceries.  From what I hear, the bigger Walmarts carry a lot of gf food...and label their own products.
I think Snyder's has an exclusive with Whole Foods for carrying the GF pretzels.  Maybe it won't be forever, but that's the only place I can find them.  Maybe one day the other stores will be able to carry them.  And no, I haven't had any luck getting stores to carry what I ask for either.
I spoke with Harris Teeter manager on the Outer Banks and they started stocking the pretzels.
My dad was a food broker in the central Ohio area YEARS ago. He always said that individual store managers ultimately made the decisions as to what foods to carry. I don't know if this is still the case, but I'd start there. Certainly, the more people you have to approach him/her, the better. Kroger seems to be very responsive to this kind of thing, so I'd start there.
We have a Jewel store that is beginning to expand their gluten-free section. At the customer care desk, they have a postcard we can fill out and send into Jewel. Once they receive them, they call back and talk with me. I recently thanked them for expanding their GF section, and when I need an item or two, I write them and request it. It's worked in the past.
We work with our local Hy-vee health markets.  It has never been a problem to introduce them to a new product the celiac community would like them to carry.
If the store has a dietitian or health market manager, go directly to them with your request.
I recommend working with consumer relations - there should be 1 main person.

I spoke to the supply manager at our local Walmart, and got nowhere. He was polite, but firmly told me there was nothing he could do, that headquarters sent what they wanted. When I pressed and pointed out the GF products that kept selling out, he said he would ask his supplier. Nothing has changed

I know other Walmarts get a lot more GF products. Was just at my cousins in Tifton, GA, and she could even buy Tinkyada noodles at her Walmart!
I have gotten a lot of gf items in my local giant by first talking to the person in the gf aisle and asking that person in the corporate level who is the person i should talk to get an item in then i call that person and usually i can get it in it may take a little bit of time but i can get it in .  I have become very good friends with the person in the gf aisle if i want something in the store until it gets into the system she orders a case for me and keeps it in the back room.  When i want it she gets it for me and i pay for as i need it  i have to go at the times when she is there because no one else will know the proper code for the check out procedure but it works for both of us.
I spoke in person with the manager at my local Giant store. They already carried a sizable GF supply, but I had some specific requests. He was very helpful, and practically every week I find new GF products on the shelf. I vote for the personal touch. :)
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