The Shelby Report of the Southeast recently visited with Steve Garrett, president and owner of Garrett’s Piggly Wiggly stores in the Lower Alabama town of Troy, about the challenges of operating grocery stores.
How did you get started in the grocery industry?
My parents opened an 18,000-square-foot store in Troy in 1986, and I began managing it for them in 1998.
In 2009, my wife, Jennifer, and I opened our own 43,000-square-foot store in Troy. We then purchased the original store from my parents in 2013.
What are your current roles?
I oversee day-to-day operations, while Jennifer handles bookkeeping and the front end at both locations.
What is Troy like?
Troy is a small but developing city. We have several large manufacturing facilities and a university. Our customer base extends throughout the county and surrounding areas.
Our larger store is located between a Publix and a Walmart, both within half a mile. Our smaller store is about six miles away in downtown Troy, where there are also several dollar stores.
What approach do you take to stand out in this market?
We focus on a simple layout that emphasizes the products customers want. We operate on a cost-plus 10 percent basis. We do not have a deli or bakery, and our fresh seafood is limited. Instead, we concentrate on fresh produce, sourcing as much locally as possible.
Another focus is our fresh meat department, which is well known and loved by our customers. My experienced market managers and butchers have been with us for many years now, and our customers know them well. They handle custom cuts for individuals and large orders for restaurants and other organizations.
What sets you apart from other grocers?
We offer great prices, especially on meat and produce, combined with competitive pricing and friendly service from local people. This seems to be our biggest advantage.
What are your daily challenges?
Finding retail workers has become extremely difficult. Many high school and college students seem reluctant to work, making it hard for us to fill part-time, evening and holiday shifts.
Competing with Walmart also can be tough, as it sometimes sells products for less than what I can buy them for.
What is your approach with meat and produce?
We prioritize customer needs. This includes grinding beef multiple times a day, cutting thicker or thinner steak cuts as requested and understanding how customers want their pork chops prepared.
During the summer, we will have large local watermelons and fresh shelled peas from local farmers. In late fall, we have a box fruit sale that our customers come to look for each year.
Understanding the needs of our customers and listening when they tell us what they want is part of what we do well. It’s part of what the customer has come to expect from us.
How would you describe your stores’ décor?
As the customer enters our stores, they will notice the laminated wood floors and bright lights that showcase our products. The decor is straightforward but lively – to grab your attention but not hold it.
Additionally, we wanted to keep our stores’ look in line with the franchise concept and incorporated the Pig in every corner that we could. This has been a great way to help the customer relate more to the Piggly Wiggly brand and creates a fun and enjoyable shopping experience.
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Any remodeling plans?
We are remodeling our smaller store and expanding its square footage using adjacent space from a building we own next door. The remodel includes new refrigeration, a redone parking lot, new signage, updated décor and improvements to the backroom coolers and prep areas.
What strategies do you use to attract customers?
Our weekly ads feature a select number of our best deals, rather than overwhelming customers with too many items. We also use a coupon app that incorporates the weekly ad to help with customer retention.
How do you balance customer service and technology?
We maintain a quality POS system, but we haven’t attempted to dive into online ordering or self-checkout. Part of what sets us apart from big box competitors is the effort we make to get our customers checked out in a friendly and timely manner.
The No. 1 complaint that I hear about my largest competitor is issues with checking out. My customers can’t stand the self-checkouts, the long lines or trying to go through an actual cashier there. Because of this and the risk of theft, I don’t see us offering self-checkouts any time soon.
Our current staffing challenges also make delivery or online ordering difficult.
Speaking of employees, what can you tell me about your hiring approach?
We have about 85 employees. We offer our part-time and full-time people fair wages and treat them with dignity. Most of them are like family to us now.
We try to accommodate their schedules and needs whenever possible, and we’ve been fortunate to retain many key full-time employees.
How would you define your management style?
We have a straightforward set of rules and guidelines. It’s not a huge handbook, but I expect employees to respect the rules. We emphasize that customers are the reason we are here.
As I was taught growing up, there is always something to do in a grocery store. If not, there is a problem.