Going bananas over grocery stores
June 25th, 2007My mentor brought up Stew Leonard’s today. I’m going to blame my unfamiliarity of this jungle of a supermarket on me being Canadian. In any case, it was brought up because we are trying to find examples of good services to study. I’m not sure if this supermarket falls into my definition of a “good service” (apparently in the warmer months, they have petting zoos outside the market?), but they definitely have their fair share of tricks to maintain profits. Making customers walk through the entire store to get to the other end, having signing animals (and produce) to entertain the little ones, and their famous policy of “the customer is always right” (even when they’re wrong).
New York Times has called this place the “Disneyland of Dairy Stores” (they’re apparently the world’s largest dairy store). Barring the fact that I don’t think grocery stores should be in any way related to Disneyland, it makes me wonder what sorts of decisions went in to making a place like this.
(My particular interest in this may or may not have been due to the fact that I was close to studying Whole Foods for my thesis this coming year.)
[tags] food, service, StewLeonards, supermarket
June 28th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Ikea, Harry Rosen, Itunes, Dubai Airlines, President’s Choice online banking?
June 28th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I’m assuming you’re giving examples of good services?
I miss President’s Choice (the food. I’ve never had a bank account with them).
June 29th, 2007 at 6:39 am
Pretty reliable (banking).
President’s Choice food is also good, but you can’t really call them a model business. It sounds like you’re enjoying your new job, although your vague description makes it sound like one of those “you can get paid to do that?” jobs that I run across occasionally. Cool.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:24 am
With the hours I’m working and the no-overtime rule that I’ve placed on myself, I’ve gotten a few “you have a fake job” comments. I’m not complaining, it’s a pretty sweet gig.
July 1st, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Not fake. Just…surprisingly unexpected. There’s a difference. Mainly in that I totally believe you can add value to the client product. But maybe without that confidence in the profession as a whole. Either way you can explain it in detial next time you’re in Toronto. Ring me up.