University Daily Kansan / Thursday, September 28, 1989
Business
9
Local grocery stores evolve to compete
Story by Liz Hueben
Illustration by Kevin Masten
expansions and buy outs are the stuff of which the business world is made. The grocery store business in Lawrence is no exception. It has progressed steadily and rather rapidly in the past five years or so.
In the grocery business' drive to please consumers with low prices and good service, changes have been made. The business has become behind the door to make room for the "super store."
Comings and goings
A few years back, Rusty Springer owned four grocery stores in Lawrence called Rusty's IGA stores. He owned Rusty's for 44 years, from 1938 to 1962.
Jim Lewis bought the Rusty's stores when Springer retired. One continued under the name Rusty's IGA and the others changed to JL's Grocery.
Lewis said that while he ran JL's he knew he wasted to retire enough debt to be able to afford a job.
So in 1984, Jim Lewis started to put his plan into action. He sold one of the JL's stores in May 1987. In March 1989, he sold the other two.
On the spot where the fourth Rusty's IGA had been, 23rd and Louisiana streets, Lewis opened what is now Checkers Foods.
One of Lewis' stores, which had continued under the name of Rusty's IGA, at 608 N. Second Ski in North Lawrence, was bought by Roger Kuker and renamed Roger's Food Store.
The other two, in the Hillcrest and Westridge Malls, were bought by Alvin Joe Schmidtberger. Schmidtberger bought only the merchandise from the Westridge store, Sixth and Kasold streets, and then he closed it. The Hillcrest store, 901 Iowa St., is now Alvin's IGA
Another major factor in the history of Lawrence groceries is the Dillon's company. The first Dillon's store opened in Lawrence in 1960 at 1740 Massachusetts St.
After fire destroyed the building, the store was rebuilt and expanded. It reopened in 1981 and at that time became a "super store," said Ken Keefer, director of advertising and public relations for Dillon's. A "super store" in the apartment not found in neighborhood store.
Dillon's had two older stores in Lawrence that it closed in order to expand and open two new Dillon's Super Stores. One of them replaced the Kroger Super Store at 23rd Street and Naismith Drive. The other is at
3000 W. Sixth St.
Other stores operating in Lawrence include Food Barn, Food 4 Less, Shin Asian Supermarket and the Community Mercantile Coop.
Playing the game
Jim Lewis said he had read in grocery trade journals that Lawrence was the third most competitive market in the nation pricewise.
But he also said that studies showed about 50 percent of consumers wanted the lowest possible prices, and the other 50 percent wanted good service, even at higher prices.
Lewis said he knew that he wanted to sell low-priced groceries and that was why he opened Checkers with its super warehouse format.
"I had to decide whether to play the game and go head to head with the competition or to change the game. So I changed the game," he said.
"This will be the only Checkers for a while in Lawrence. The town's got to grow."
Lewis called his store a "California style" market. He said California was where the first self-serve gas stations originated; his store is a self serve grocery.
Lewis acknowledged that changing the game meant following some new rules.
"We probably operate on half the labor cost of the conventional service-oriented IT industry."
"A store cannot have low prices and offer services, too. We have a bakery, but it's self-serve. We don't have check canning. We don't have or sell stamps. There are no halls to ride."
He said every decision he made was based on the cost of goods.
"If a decision will increase cost of goods to the consumer, we don't utilize it." Lewis
He said he bought goods direct instead of buying through a wholesaler so he could get the product cheaper and relay the savings to the consumer.
On the other end of the scale, there are stores that offer many services.
Dillon's Super Store offers a bank, post office, dry cleaning service, gourmet meat counter, salad bar, bakery and other services. The employees sack groceries and help people to their cars with their groceries.
Ken Keefer said, "You do what you do best. What we do best is provide good service, variety and many departments. Today's consumer is still looking for those things."
The competition between the two stores is high. The store in the corner has its existence is apparent from the sale
signs at Checkers that list Dillon's higher prices on specific items.
Alvin Schmidberger, owner of Alvin's IGA, said that at his store, they were trying to service the market around the Hillcrest and Sunset elementary school neighbor-
He said he thought Dillon's drew customers from around the county instead of just from
"There is room for a neighborhood supermarket in Lawrence. There is room for more than one of them," he said. "This type of store in the right location will survive regardless of how many super stores come in."
Schmidtberger said he had seen the generations for the store formats get shorter.
"The Mom and Pop" stores were around for 50 or 60 years, up into the 1980s. Then came the neighborhood grocery, which is still around in some places.
"The have been three generations of warehouse stores. First there were the wood-shelved stores where the merchandise just set up in boxes," Schmidberger said.
He said Checkers was in the third generation — the super warehouse.
He said Food Barn opencd in Lawrence with a warehouse format. They offered everything, including microwave ovens. He also described the second generation, Schmidtberg said.
"Now there are the super stores and super warehouse stores, but the generations keep getting shorter. Lawrence is over-stored and it always has been." Schmidtberger said.
On the other side
Some grocery stores don't seem to be as caught up in the competition; but they stay
North of the river in one of the old rusty 'Northeastern' is Roger's Food Center, owned by Roger.
"It's the only 'Mom and Pop' store in town." Kuker said. "There is just enough population north of the river to support the store."
He said the bridge across the river worked as a natural barrier in a good way and a bad way.
"People generally won't come over here to shop, but who? I live over here don't like it. I like when they do it."
Tucked away in a residential neighborhood, at. 700 Maine St., is the Community Mercantile Co-op.
Linda Gwaltney, manager of the co-op, said the store was the only natural food grocery in town.
"We aren't really immune to the competition, but we are unique," she said. "Our prices really can't be compared with other stores because the products are different."
"We're the type of store people seek out rather than going to the one in their neighborhood."
Seated left to right, Vicki Commons, Mary Shipley, Penny Cassell Standing left tio right, Ina Benz, Leanna Alexander, Rosalie Stolpe, Rosemarie Forsyth
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