Corner Market in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, stands out from its competitors in several ways, primarily by putting “people over profits.” According to VP of Fresh Price Mabry, the Roberts family – owners of the company – takes pride in caring for employees.
“They’re the most generous family you will ever meet…you can ask anybody, from our high school stocker to our full-time dad or full-time mom, whomever – they will sing the praises of the Roberts family. They’re just a very giving family.”
That spirit of generosity also extends to the communities served by The Roberts Company, which owns 15 Corner Market locations (conventional grocery stores), along with five cost-plus Grocery Depot stores. Mabry said the Roberts are involved and give back with time and resources.
The company also prides itself with the shopping experience it offers. “When you walk into our stores, you’re walking into fresh. And we feel like that’s really what separates us,” Mabry said.
Customers entering Corner Markets walk into the produce and floral departments. The stores also offer fresh, baked-in-store bread in the bakery department, along with an in-house cake program. A signature cake is called the “Berry Burg,” a nod to its location in Hattiesburg.
Some locations offer a fresh squeezed juice program. The deli carries Boar’s Head meats and cheeses.
“We pride ourselves on Boar’s Head,” Mabry said. “We like to think that is a competitive advantage. They really take care of us and come in and help train our people.”
He added that the stores have restarted their sampling program, which had been put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. “People are happy about that.”
In some locations, the meat department offers a dry aged beef program. The Certified Angus Prime beef is aged 25-28 days. “That’s a point of difference,” said Mabry, adding that it’s not something seen in many traditional supermarkets. In-store butchers cut steaks an inch thick, and Corner Market also offers Prime pork, which Mabry said also is not commonly found.
Local products are highlighted throughout the stores. The produce department advertises “Farm to Table,” and the company promotes that concept on social media.
Corner Market also focuses on fresh by attending IDDBA and IFPA shows annually, along with the annual Meat Conference. Mabry said for the past two years, the company has had a winning produce manager in IFPA’s awards program. “We like to think we’ve got the best produce managers out there.” The company is an active participant with its wholesaler, AWG, where it won the 2022 floral award.
While the company has recovered from pandemic-related challenges such as supply chain and labor shortages, Mabry noted that COVID-19 and inflation have changed the shopper.
“The customer is looking more for dinner solutions than ever before. They got used to cooking when they were at home, and they’ve kind of been cooking the same things. So they’re relying on supermarkets to basically tell them ‘what’s for dinner.’”
He said that has become an ad strategy for the company, which offers daily meal ideas and has those products merchandised in the stores.
Customers also have become very price conscious. “That doesn’t mean they want the cheapest thing. They’ll still spend money, but they’re very careful where they spend it. So for us, we have just got to be very good on our quality programs, such as Certified Angus Beef, Prairie Fresh premium pork, Sanderson Farms chicken, our Corner Market signature items – those things that really make you stand out.”
