Last updated on October 29th, 2024
Reflecting on the past eight years of running Friends’ Marketplace in Massachusetts and the decision to buy the two stores from his father, Brian Junkins and wife Monila have encountered challenges along the way but are proud of what they have created.
Among the changes the pair have made since taking over include expanding the prepared foods section, adding a full-time in-store sushi chef, focusing on local offerings and creating a competitive employee retention program.
“We made the decision to buy Friends’ because we liked the idea of being rooted at the ground level in a local community where we could make a meaningful impact,” he said. “At Friends’, authenticity and discovery are foundations of what we stand for, as well as community connection and creating a family culture for our amazing group of team members.”
Junkins described the two Friends’ Marketplace locations – one of which is 10,000 square feet in Orleans on Cape Cod, a vacation destination along the coast of Massachusetts, and the other a 3,800-square-foot store inland in Rochester – as being both fill-in and full-shop stores.
“We want to have everything a customer could need so that we can be the primary/full-shop space,” he said. “But I always say that we are perfectly happy being a second shop and not a first shop for people. People today typically shop at three or four places regularly to complete their grocery shopping for the week. We just want to make sure we have a spot on that list.
“We like to position ourselves as ‘from everyday to artisanal.’ We have the everyday products people need to be their one stop shop, but we also carry unique and interesting items to keep shopping fun and exciting for our customers.”
Watching his father run the business as he was growing up, Junkins said running a grocery store was furthest from his mind. But after getting an MBA, working in finance, then as a consultant and even starting a food brand, Jaali Bean, with his wife, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put his own spin on the stores when the occasion arose.
Junkins handles the day-to-day operations and is the management leader while his wife has more of a fresh food, catering and marketing role. They are joined by store managers Steve Colley in Orleans (a 15-year Friends’ employee) and Rob Ciardi (seven years with the company) in Rochester.
Staying relevant
Junkins credits his past experiences, including living in Europe for a decade, with helping him craft his vision for Friends’ Marketplace.
“When we started our food brand, we visited tons of grocery stores, large and small, in natural, specialty and conventional channels across different regions of the country to try and get our product placed,” he said. “This exposed us to many different store formats and has given us ideas for our own stores, as well as visions of what we could be in the future.
“Running this kind of business is a lifestyle – it has to be if you want to stay relevant. Innovation is hard when you don’t make a real effort to look outside your local geography or even store format. So many great ideas exist out there that can be tailored to fit our local market needs.”
But as Junkins has discovered, it takes more than good ideas to stand out.
“Our service definitely sets us apart,” he said. “You cannot walk into our stores without being greeted with a smile and a helping hand. Customers are always telling us we have such positive energy in our stores, and I’m very proud of that.”
Aside from service, the ability to quickly react to customer needs and their commitment to serving the community are other separating features at Friends’.
The Junkins are big supporters of many area nonprofits, community organizations and local events. Several times a year, they hold family fun events – including wine tastings, food demonstrations and parking lot celebrations – to bring the community together.
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Fresh, local
Friends’ is known for having the best fresh products around and a larger variety of produce than some larger markets in the area. Meat is also a large draw, and it takes three full-time butchers to handle the demand.
The stores’ bakeries feature a large variety of store-baked and take-a-bake offerings, along with a wide selection of premade sandwiches, wraps and salads.
One of the fastest growing areas in the stores has been their chef-prepared foods department, where a kitchen team is dedicated to preparing 50-plus main courses, appetizers and side options each day.
The Junkins also run a growing catering business.
“We have an amazing catering menu and have recently implemented a new ordering system to make it easy for customers to browse our offerings online,” he said. “We offer personalized service, a strong focus on fresh and provide high quality meal solutions that make our customers’ lives easier – all in a space that is easy to shop.”
In addition, discovering and promoting local products is a key part of their business. The couple dedicates space at the front of the stores to feature local products.
“Whenever possible, we source from a variety of local producers, which really sets us apart,” he said. “We constantly scour markets around the area to find local products that we like. Any time a local producer comes in and asks for space on our shelves, we do whatever we can to help them.”
Retention, hiring
Between the two stores, about 90 people work at Friends’ Marketplace. Finding workers is one of the most difficult aspects of operating a store on Cape Cod, Junkins noted. As is the case in many resort areas, a housing shortage is making it difficult for people who live there year-round to find an affordable place to live.
To complicate matters, given the seasonality of the Orleans location, he needs to hire about 35 percent more staff during four months of the year.
“To fill these slots, we often hire international college students who are here on the J-1 visa program and participate in the H2B program, which allows us to sponsor foreign workers (who are not students) for up to nine months,” he said.
Despite the labor challenges, several long-time employees work at Friends’ Marketplace.
“Over 20 percent of our employees have been here for more than 10 years and nearly 40 percent of our year-round employees have been here for five years or more,” Junkins said. “Our employees are like family, and we foster that kind of caring and respectful spirit within our stores.”
The pair also offer a matching 401(k) plan and vacation/paid time off. Anyone working on Sundays still earns time and a half as an added benefit.
In addition, employees get 30 percent off grocery purchases.
“Given that the cost of living in general has risen so much over the past few years, this benefit really makes an impact on our employee’s day-to-day expenses,” Junkins said. “It may seem crazy that our discount is so high, but we are not in this business to make money off our employees. Our team members are the most important asset we have and it’s our job to do whatever we can – big or small – to help make their lives better every day.”
As for future plans, the couple is constantly updating and reinvesting in their stores, which customers can expect to see continue.
“I also see us building out our prepared foods and catering business even further,” he said. “We are currently looking to add a commercial kitchen to support this growth.”
While open to expansion, the pair’s focus is on quality over quantity. They wait for the right opportunity to ensure any additional store complements their business model.
“This is not an easy business,” he said. “But if the right opportunity arises, you can be sure we will be ‘all-in’ in expanding the Friends’ footprint.”
