For grill seekers, gas rules.

Retailers report that gas is the fuel of choice for consumers in the market for outdoor grills, dominating charcoal and all but edging out electric. Fir- st-time grill buyers are attracted to added features such as lid windows and side burners, but repeat buyers are mostly interested in a larger cooking area.

A buyer for an East-Coast home improvement chain said his outdoor grill assortment included one portable electric grill, 10 gas grills and 10 charcoal grills. "In terms of dollar volume, however, gas grills carry 80 percent of our business," he added.

Another buyer, from a southeastern home center chain, reported that gas grills accounted for 85 percent of his dollar sales. "Charcoal generates 10 percent and electric generates five percent," he said.

Brian Pope, seasonal buyer for Portland, Ore.-based discount chain Fred Meyer, said he had eliminated electric grills from his mix. "Gas grills, by far, are the most popular," he noted. "For every charcoal grill we sell, we sell between five and six gas grills."

Memorial Day weekend represents the summer season's kickoff for retailers in temperate zones. Retailers in the Southwest and Southeast report less seasonal spikes in sales. "Grill sales, by and large, are steady all year," said the southeastern home center buyer. "We do notice slight increases in the spring, however," he added.

Sales over this Memorial Day weekend improved over last year, said retailers. East-Coast retailers said that rain on Sunday was offset by great weather Friday, Saturday and Monday. "The rain on Sunday gave consumers an excuse to come into our stores and shop," one home-center buyer noted.

Pope said that in the Northwest, shoppers were undaunted by poor weather. "The weather was much worse than last year, but sales were up," he said.

Both home centers and discounters described gas grill assortments with sug- gested retail prices ranging from $100 to $500, with overall sales driven by grills with $150 to $200 price points.

Suggested retail prices in gas grills range from $99 to $479. In unit sales, the $149 price generates the most activity, according to retailers.

"You can get a lot of value with a $199 grill," one home center buyer said. He said this amounted to large cooking area and a high level of BTUs -- 40,000. "People are moving away from windows and side burners toward double-and tri- ple-rack interiors for increased cooking area," he said, adding that side and front tables were popular features.

Another home center buyer said. "Windows aren't a big deal anymore. People buy them the first time around, then learn they smoke up after the first few uses."

Fred Meyer's Pope said the chain's best selling grill was a non-window model, and that the popularity of side burners was on the wane. "I offer a 'your choice' promotion for $149, and the model with the side burner is the least popular."

He agreed that increased cooking area is an important feature for consumers. "And at suggested retails of over $200, they're looking for quality as well," he said.