A lot of things have changed in the past 80 years, but the design of your local supermarket isn't one of them.

So says Paco Underhill, founder and CEO of Envirosell, a New York-based research and consulting firm. ``Milk is at the back left, meat is at the back right. You enter through the produce section. This is designed to produce a counterclockwise flow through the store, which puts all the products at the shopper's right hand.''

Welcoming shoppers with fresh produce seems like a health-friendly thing to do, but it also contributes to the health of your grocer's bottom line, Underhill says.

''They send you to produce first to get your saliva glands working. That's why there's often a bakery nearby. Produce is also the highest-margin section of the store,'' where grocers make the most profit on each item sold.

Forcing shoppers to walk the perimeter to gather the basics of daily life -- produce, meat and dairy -- also leads them to the back of the store, from where they can look down as many aisles as possible, Underhill said.

The problem with this plan, as any busy shopper has already discerned, is that ''it was originally designed for once-a-week shopping trips,'' Underhill notes. ``The industry has had to respond to a certain degree of chaos. Some families visit the supermarket three times a week, sometimes to buy something to eat that night.''

Thus, the increasing presence of ready-to-eat foods, with ''bays'' within the store selling deli items, dinners to go, seafood and salad fixings.

It can be healthful or not, depending on what you choose -- and your grocer would be happy for you to go vegetarian, as far as his profits are concerned.

''It used to be that we would tell people to shop the outside [or perimeter] of the store,'' said Gayle Dietz, a registered dietitian and nutritional consultanat with Dietz and Associates. ``But that's not the best advice today. There are healthy foods on the inside of the store and not-so-healthy stuff on the outside.''

For Underhill, the most important determinant of a healthful shopping trip doesn't start with where you shop but when.

``Never shop tired, never shop hungry and make a list and stick to it.''

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