market research

As customers crowd his market, stocking up for Thanksgiving, Paul Nojaim stops to hug a senior citizen wearing a plastic rain hat. “How are you, Mrs. Berman,” he asks the smiling woman. Outside his store, Nojaim Brothers Super Market, 307 Gifford St., on the Near West Side, he told a man in the parking lot that he’s praying for his ailing relative, then was diverted to a discussion of the ongoing debate over nearby Blodgett School.

A few miles away and some hours earlier, in the village of Liverpool, fellow grocer Mike Hennigan was patrolling the aisles of Nichols Supermarket, 327 First St., stopping frequently to shake hands and swap small talk with regular customers. Hennigan advised old friend Dave Alessio in selecting a turkey and exchanged holiday wishes with numerous regulars.  

A couple of days before that, at Green Hills Market, 5933 S. Salina St., Heather Hawkins had been greeting patrons and distributing free samples in the landmark business where her husband Gary Hawkins is CEO and her brother-in-law Keith Hawkins is president. Nearby, visitors perused an enormous community bulletin board near the store’s main entrance, while others talked on a free customer service telephone next to the service desk.

Aisle be seeing you: A typical scene, like this one at Green Hills, plays out every day at the area’s independent grocery stores. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTOS 

This trio of independent market families has combined for more than 250 years of serving generations of local customers and doing it with conviction. Each store sells plenty of familiar national brands alongside a handful of local favorites like Hofmann, Byrne Dairy and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que as well as produce from nearby farms at prices that are often strikingly competitive with mega-chains. There’s no doubt that the owners-managers know how to run profitable businesses.   

But when talking about their trade, each of these businesspeople spends more time discussing people, family and community than groceries. Although the square footage of the three stores combined doesn’t equal one chain superstore, it’s impossible to picture their respective neighborhoods without their markets. They are more than just places to purchase groceries. They provide employment, social interaction, activism in terms of sponsorship and promotion of community events, activities, and cultural and educational programs.

These three have survived in the competitive world of grocery stores, proud of their success against big-box grocery chains like Wegmans, Price Chopper and P&C. While Peter’s and Sweetheart Corner Market have bid farewell to Central New York, there’s something refreshingly quaint about neighborhood grocers that carry on their corner-store feel, while reinforcing their value to their respective neighborhoods.

Minding the Store

“We do our best to support people within our community,” Hawkins says. “Like if people are ill and there’s a fund-raiser. We prioritize community first. We have some incredible people in the community who are similarly motivated. They want to re-energize the Valley. They see all of the good that’s going on here and they take the lead on making the community blossom.” Green Hills has invested energy in raising money for schools, promoted environmentally friendly grocery bags and last summer treated local citizens to a performance of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in the parking lot.

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Photos of youth sports teams Nichols has sponsored plaster the grocer’s office walls. Likewise, the culture- and recreation-friendly Liverpool community has benefited from the hometown market’s benevolence. “We’ve sponsored for years concerts in Johnson Park,” Hennigan points out. “We’re often donors to various runs or whatever happens down to the lake or some group having a fund-raiser. We try to be as generous as we can be with our community. It might not be as flamboyant as some companies, but nevertheless, we’re proud of our history on that and look forward to doing it in the future.”

Paul Nojaim, of the eponymous Gifford Street market: “You cater to the community that you’re in.”

A Gifford Street house is currently undergoing conversion into a food and nutrition center, the latest in a string of philanthropic projects that have benefited the economically challenged Nojaim’s neighborhood. A banking office serves patrons inside the store. “We played on the point that Key Bank was at the time the local bank and their roots were very much upstate New York and this neighborhood needed them,” Nojaim recalls. “And by the same token we had health issues and we brought St. Joseph’s Health Clinic into our back parking lot and they built a health center. Before that, we were instrumental in getting the pharmacy {Gifford & West} across the street in as well.”

The family that owns Green Hills has found their niche holding onto their storied history while bringing the business into the 21st century. The traditional name, Green Hills Farm Stand, is still popular with customers and neighbors in the city’s multicultural Valley section, where the market named “The Best Little Grocery Store in America” by Inc. magazine in 2001 still occupies a site developed from farmland. 

“I think we are one of the cornerstone businesses of the Valley, there’s no question about that,” Hawkins asserts. “But Green Hills has evolved over the years, so in addition to being very neighborhood- and community-oriented, and doing a lot for our immediate neighborhood, we’re also a destination store. We’ve always been an organization that a lot of our business has grown through word of mouth and reputation.”

Nojaim’s shares its roots and its name with a supermarket in the village of Marcellus owned by Paul Nojaim’s brother, Rich. The brothers are grandsons of the business’ original owner, who founded and ran the business with his brothers, beginning in 1919. “We do share the name and we also share certain things we do together,” Nojaim says. “But it is separate ownership, serving two very different communities. What’s similar is our mission is still the same. You cater to the community that you’re in. So our variety is very unique and very different from our Marcellus store.”

Hennigan’s business was also founded by his grandfather, who started selling meat and groceries at the Tipperary Hill intersection of Milton Avenue and Tompkins Street, now famous for its green-on-top traffic light. In 1959, his father bought out Nichols, eventually consolidating business to the Liverpool location. “That’s why the store is named Nichols,” Hennigan explains. “Mr. Nichols had a great reputation, so we’d have been crazy to change the name.”

Nichols proprietor Mike Hennigan: “The meat-cutting room is wide open, so if you want to talk to a butcher, they can come right over and help you.”

In addition to the original moniker, Hennigan has retained many traditional business practices. “As time has marched on, we draw from a much larger geographical area than, certainly, the village of Liverpool or the greater Liverpool community in general,” he points out. “That’s because there’s a lot of things we still do here that some people might call old-fashioned, but we think it’s the right way to do business. For example, we still cut all of our own meat on premise. You go to most big stores today, their meat comes in case-ready, already cut and packaged.” 

Another modern practice Nichols has rejected is a bonus card for shoppers. “We have a philosophy of trying to keep things simple,” Hennigan says. “For example, we don’t make our customers have a card in their wallet or on their key chain. Life’s complicated enough. We think food shopping should be fun, should be simple.”

Says Nojaim: “We’re cardless. Actually, Nichols and us came up with this together. What some chains have done to get a better marketing grip on where people are coming from is they tied that sale item to a card. In addition, they want to know all your demographics, how much do you make and so on. To induce you to give them that information, you don’t get the sale. We don’t feel that’s right. We actually put it in our ad, ‘cardless savings.’ We just want you to be here. We’ll get to know you because we’re small enough to get to know you.”

Conversely, a club card is heavily promoted by Green Hills (www.greenhills.com) and the benefits touted by management as unique and tailored to individual shoppers. “Smartshop is actually a system that was created for Green Hills, by Green Hills,” Hawkins explains. “All a customer would do is scan their card and what’s different about this from other kiosks in other stores is this gives you a personalized shopping list. Mine is a personalized page for me based on my shopping. If you’re a vegetarian, for example, you’re not going to get offers on meat. If you have cats, you’ll get offers on cat food, not dog food. The nice thing about Smartshop is that I can put my grocery list in here if I want and recipes that I want to use. You can do it from any network computer.”

The Price is Right

One point on which the independents agree is that they can match the giant retailers on price and product variety. “It’s a common misconception that we can’t compete on prices,” Hennigan states. “I think another conclusion that people draw from the simple physical size of the store is not only price, but selection. I bet we have a far better selection than stores that are 10 times the size of this one. I’m not going to sell you a Christmas tree. I’m not going to sell you pool furniture. I’m not going to sell you a snow blower. But if you want to come grocery shopping, I think you’ll find our variety second to none.”

Super market: Green Hills’ team: butcher Chris Wheatley, Nicole Sofranko from the deli, Lindsay Billingham from the meat department, Heather Hawkins, co-manager Dan Piron, manager Bud Kennedy, human resources manager Donna Cleveland and marketing manager Hilarie Zane. Citrus fruits (below) are obviously in season at Green Hills.

Keeping competitive on prices requires a team approach. “We belong to New York state’s only grocery cooperative, Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative,” Hennigan says. “We’ve belonged for about 30 years. It’s comprised of a couple of hundred independent grocers, just like Nichols. Some stores are much larger than ours and some are much smaller, but it’s totally owned by its members. Paul Nojaim’s family is also a member of the cooperative.”

Nojaim is enthusiastic about the value of the co-op. “My analogy is the Verizon commercial you’ve seen on television where there’s the Verizon army so you can make a call,” he explains. “The truth is for us to be local grocers and meet the needs of the consumers, we need that army behind us, too. Each store could not possibly have procurement, advertising, store development, accounting and just do our size volume and compete with the bigger chain stores. The cooperative gives us that advantage.”

Personal service and responsiveness to consumer needs are strengths that local independent supermarkets play up every day. “The grocery industry has gotten to be a big business industry, tremendous consolidation,” Hawkins says. “I think customers became more aware of that with the dog food crisis, with so many brands of dog food really made by one company out of China. So I think people are really tuned into the value of an independent market because personal choice matters.” Green Hills keeps customers happy with high-end store-brand products, a large in-store bakery, a deli counter well-stocked with ready-to-eat foods, a visiting nutritionist and an experienced staff headed by Bud Kennedy, the manager for 46 years. 

Nichols (www.nicholsliverpool.com) owes its neat and orderly appearance in part to its staffing philosophy. “It’s unusual that we do everything during the day,” Hennigan emphasizes. “In other words, we don’t run a night stocking crew. So, if you’re in the store, any day of the week, during the day or the evening, nine times out of 10, there’s going to be someone that I’ve worked with in the aisle so that if you have a question, they not only can answer it, they can take you right over to show you what you’re looking for. That has gotten unique. The meat-cutting room is wide open, so if you want to talk to a butcher, they can come right over and help you.”

Nichols’ array of Italian food specialties, including sauces, pastas and jars of olives and peppers, is impressive, surely one of the best in Central New York. “At our deli we really try to serve our Italian customers and those who really appreciate Italian food that happen not to be born Italian,” Hennigan says. “That’s certainly a focus of ours, whether it be an extensive variety of cheese that we import directly from Italy or our selection of cold cuts or our veal or the sausage we make every day in addition to the dry grocery products.”

West Side speciality: Nojaim’s carries plenty of food for its Latin American clientele, including fresh chicken feet and plantains.

Nojaim’s reputation for carrying an extensive selection of ethnic products is popular with its diverse West Side neighborhood and brings in customers searching for hard-to-find cuts of meat, like neck bones, pig ears and oxtails, a wide variety of greens and root vegetables, alongside an unparalleled selection of Latino products from Goya and other companies. “We’re trying to take this product mix and expand it to the point that we’re able to draw people back into it because it’s so unique,” Nojaim says. “We move through Central American, which is not our customer base at this point and is very different from Caribbean, and then you move to South American products, which are similar, but distinctive to that culture.”

With all three local supermarket families approaching their second century of operation, Hennigan neatly summarizes the philosophy that keeps them competitive in the hotly contested grocery world. “There’s no mystery to being successful in the retail food business,” he asserts. “Never take your customer for granted.”