Grocery Gambit

Nice N Easy scores big with its expanding mini grocery format

Just like the movie said, “If you build it, they will come.” For Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Inc., that has certainly been the case.

Two years ago, the central New York-based convenience store chain responded to local requests for a small grocery store in Brewerton, N.Y., so area families didn’t have to drive so far for food. The chain’s second small grocery store followed on June 1 of this year and was immediately welcomed into the community.

“From the first day in both stores, customers walked in, grabbed a cart and went up and down the aisles just like they would do at a grocery store, even though all of the customers know we are a c-store company,” said Matt Paduano, vice president of category management at Canastota, N.Y.-based Nice N Easy. “I guess if you look like a grocery store and act like a grocery store, customers will treat you like one.”

The chain’s second grocery store is located in Sylvan Beach, N.Y., on the east end of Oneida Lake in New York’s Finger Lakes region. It’s just 22 miles away from the original one in Brewerton, which is on the west side of Oneida Lake.

Locals originally identified the Sylvan Beach site as an ideal place for a mini grocery store. “There’s not a day that goes by when the owner, Mr. [John] MacDougal, doesn’t get a call asking for this type of store in their community,” Paduano explained.

While he acknowledges the company is considering additional mini grocery units and said requests for these stores arrive regularly, the format is “not meant for every location.”

The mini grocery units are very similar to one another, as would be expected, but by no means are they identical. The Sylvan Beach unit is about 100 square feet smaller, at 6,650 square feet, due to the way the lot is shaped, yet it offers 200 to 300 more SKUs — as many as 1,400, including roughly 25 percent more dairy products and fresh produce.

“Customer reception was great for both locations,” said Paduano. “New areas such as fresh meats, expanded dairy and expanded produce sections were well received by the customers. We’ve reacted to the customer requests and items they shop for by expanding areas that did well — dairy, produce, pet foods — and cut back or reworked areas where we thought sales were lacking such as cleaning and paper [products].”

LEARNING & MODIFYING

Based on the experience with the Brewerton store, Paduano said executives increased the refrigerated section from eight to 20 feet to accommodate such merchandise as five types of shredded cheese (up from two in Brewerton), plus brick cheeses and more milk varieties that now include soy and almond milk. The Sylvan Beach unit has big, open-faced coolers, and a lot of the cold drinks were moved into cooler doors.

Execs learned they could use more frozen food offerings so they upped the number of frozen doors to eight, plus a 16-foot coffin freezer for ice cream cakes and bulk novelties (such as 12-counts of ice cream sandwiches and cones). Ice is positioned outside at the entrance, another adjustment the company made after the Brewerton store opened.

The Sylvan Beach unit features a few more moveable refrigerator cases, which can be positioned around the store and offer a variety of food and meal suggestions or meal bundles (protein, starch and vegetables).

“We’re always changing and moving and dayparting to meet customer visits,” Paduano said, noting that the retailer has had to bring in more full-sized grocery carts, not just the half carts they originally had available.

The produce department at Sylvan Beach also grew by approximately 25 percent and now has two 8-foot tables and a 12-foot refrigerator case, plus pallets of potatoes and such. Some of these pallets and bulk bins are presented outside the store’s entrance for apples, pumpkins and watermelons, depending on the season.

The retailer increased its pet offerings as well, with added racking in the foyer area of the store. Fresh Italian breads, hamburger and hot dog rolls, and assorted pies from a local bakery, Risen Bakery of Rome, N.Y., are also stocked. The selection is now offered in four to five Nice N Easy locations with another eight to 10 stores poised to receive the goods shortly. Risen’s frozen pizza dough will also join the product lineup.

Of course, with these merchandise increases came corresponding decreases. Paduano said Nice N Easy cut back in the grocery area where some items were “over-faced,” such as in cleaning products. “Within the grocery area, some [areas] gained and some lost, and we’ll continue to modify,” he said.

The increased interior space was made possible by the elimination of center checkout, which Paduano said enabled the retailer to increase its presentation.

The Sylvan Beach mini grocery has a number of exterior differences vs. the Brewerton store. The unit is positioned differently on the lot and the gas pumps were relocated to the side of the building. There’s also no diesel fueling facility at this location.

Moving the gas pumps to the side provides a clear view of the entrance from the street, unobstructed access to the front door from the parking lot and 30 parking spots. Customers appreciate the change, especially female patrons who no longer have to walk through the fueling area to enter the store. Instead, they can now park directly in front of the door.

Nice N Easy made this change to one of its traditional convenience stores last year and will likely keep it up wherever possible, according to Paduano.

Success with the new grocery format is multi-layered. Paduano pointed out such requisites as having the right site, the right building and the right manager with adequate and properly trained staff. The newest grocery unit has a staff of 45 to 50 people instead of 28 employees at the chain’s traditional c-stores. Having a manager in place who can delegate is crucial. “It’s a small business you run and there is a heavy emphasis on training, customer service, labor and labor hours, and scheduling,” he said.