At the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, the independent Mackinaw Family Market stands as a cornerstone of Mackinaw City – both during the bustling summer tourism season and the quiet winter months. The village of 847 residents is a resort community located on the shores of the Straits of Mackinac.
For Mackinaw Family Market Manager Greg Hinkley, it’s more than just a grocery store. It’s a gathering place, a community hub and a family business.
“The owner is Tony Ingersoll. His parents bought it in 1983, and then Tony took over from his parents,” said Hinkley, who has managed the store for the past seven years.
Hinkley’s own grocery career began in 1991 as a bagger at Carter’s Food Center in Cheboygan, Michigan. Over the years, he worked his way up through roles at Save A Lot, D&W Fresh Market and Harbor Springs Market before a five-year stint in real estate. But the grocery industry pulled him back in.
“I actually saw a Facebook post from the current manager that had my job, and he was like, ‘I’m moving to Canada. Anybody thinks they can do what I do?’ And I was spinning around at a desk in a real estate office, and I said, I can do what you do,” Hinkley said with a laugh.
Summer surge, winter slowdown
Mackinaw City’s seasonal tourism creates a dramatic swing in business, with the summer population estimated to swell to 10,000.
“Our daily sales are about 10 times more in the summer than they are in the winter. It’s a very big swing,” Hinkley said.
Labor has been a post-COVID hurdle, with increased wage expectations.
“The people that I have here are really very loyal, and they like it here, but it’s getting people in the door and trying to pay them a competitive wage but yet still make our payroll make sense.”
Staffing remains one of the biggest challenges for the store, which operates with 14-16 employees during the summer.
“If I spend all spring training a cashier, I don’t want them to leave at the end of the season when the hours get cut. Because next summer, I’m going to want that person that’s got a year under their belt.
“So you try to find things for them to do, and you try to use the summer’s income wisely to get through keeping the lights on in the winter. So that’s my biggest challenge.”
While inflation is a concern, Hinkley feels it hasn’t drastically impacted the store thanks to diligent price monitoring and a strategic switch in suppliers.
For about a year during COVID, the store experienced significant stock issues with its previous grocery supplier, with fill rates as low as 55 percent. However, a year and a half ago, it transitioned to Associated Wholesale Grocers out of Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“They have been excellent. I think the technology that they brought has helped a lot to not have that out-of-stock issue be a big factor,” said Hinkley, also praising AWG’s communication and transportation efficiency. “The regional director of AWG will text me personally and say, ‘Greg, you’re going to want these strawberries. I know you’ll sell them.’”
Local touches, loyal shoppers
Though the store doesn’t carry much local farm produce due to the area’s limited agriculture, Hinkley said they do their best to source Michigan products.
“We carry Traverse City cherries, and we get Michigan corn as soon as it’s ready,” he said. “We try to carry as many Michigan-made products as we can.”
One of Mackinaw Family Market’s claims to fame is its store-made bratwurst.
“We’re always experimenting with different flavors,” Hinkley said.
The meat department rotates about 20 varieties, including favorites like Michigan cherry, green pepper and onion, chili cheese dog and garlic herb.
While the store used to feature four flavors each week, Hinkley said this year they are trying to keep six to eight flavors in the case.
“We’ve had people, every time they come through, they have to stop and see what we have,” he said.
The store’s ground beef is also a point of pride and is delivered to eight local restaurants.
“A couple of them have won best burger north of the bridge, best burger south of the bridge … We take a lot of pride in our burger as well,” Hinkley said.
Independent, community-focused
While the closest competition is a Family Fare Supermarket in St. Ignace, about a 25-30 minute drive in the summer, or a Walmart 20 miles away in Cheboygan, Hinkley sees a different kind of challenge.
“I would say honestly, our biggest competition is people from downstate, bringing everything with them,” he said. “Sometimes I overhear people saying, ‘Well, this is cheaper at Costco.’ Well, there’s no Costco for 100 miles.”
Hinkley said the store also aims to cater to locals’ specific requests, trying “to do what we can for them to keep them from going 15 miles to the big chain stores.”
Despite this, the store has carved out a loyal customer base with personalized service and community involvement.
“The village of Mackinaw gets their distilled water here to run their water tests,” Hinkley said. “If the coffee shop runs out of milk or the bakery needs cheese to make their homemade breakfast burritos, they’ll come in here. I feel like the business owners in this town do a really good job of helping each other out,” Hinkley said.
The store also supports local schools and churches, and partners with the local food pantry.
[RELATED: Midwest Grocery: How Rural Nuance Allows Regional Independents To Thrive]
Emphasizing family, fun
Mackinaw Family Market emphasizes its “family aspect.” Hinkley’s brother is the butcher, and his daughter is a closing manager.
Many staff members have come through personal referrals.
“When you find good people, their family tends to be good people,” Hinkley said.
For Hinkley, returning to grocery from real estate was the right move.
“I found I function much better in a team environment, and that’s what I feel like we’ve got here,” he said.
Despite its small footprint – just four aisles and two registers in 4,000-square-feet of sales floor – the store remains efficient, clean and welcoming.
“For the size that we are, I feel like we really do a great job of keeping it faced and full and clean and efficient,” Hinkley said.
The store also offers a customer reward program that provides a $5 coupon for every $200 spent, without tracking their data.
“Most of our cashiers have a lot of our locals’ numbers memorized, and they’re like, ‘How you doing, John? I got your customer number in already. What’s been happening? How’s your mom?’ That’s what keeps the community together, and I think that’s what’s kept this store going for 40 years.”
Hinkley enjoys the daily rhythm of the store and the interactions with both locals and tourists.
“We try to have a little bit of everything somebody might need when they’re on vacation,” Hinkley said. “And that’s tricky, because you’ve got to have all the toiletries … everything that a camper might need.”
During the winter, when tourists have gone and only locals remain, the store focuses on building relationships.
“It’s just nice to know their names,” Hinkley said of the local residents.
“We have a lot of fun with the staff here. We have a lot of fun with the locals,” Hinkley said. “It just feels like everybody is working toward the same goal.
“And in the summer, a lot of the tourists are having fun and they’re on vacation, and they’re dancing to the music in the aisles. I’ll put on the yacht rock, and they’re just dancing up and down the aisles. And it’s just fun.”