Filling a Community Need
The Englewood area welcomed a new business in March of this year, when Grocery Outlet Bargain Market opened its doors. The discount market, located at 606 Taywood Road, is part of the Grocery Outlet Holding Corporation, a chain of supermarkets that offer discounted, overstocked and closeout products from name-brand and private label suppliers. Fittingly enough, the store is situated in a former Big Lots location.
This is a family business, owned and operated by Mayram Jones-Hamilton, her husband Paul Hamilton, and their son, Eric Jones. The family previously lived and worked in California, but Paul did some of his Air Force service in the Dayton area and has family here. The Gazette recently sat down with them to learn how their relocation came about. “Around 2010, we became familiar with the concept of Grocery Outlet,” Mayram said. “I shopped there for many years and the minute I walked in I thought ‘This is what we’d like to do.’ I was in the restaurant business for many years, and I ran five restaurants at LAX. My son Eric graduated from college in California. Once we had an opportunity to locate here, it seemed like the right move. The very first minute we stepped off the plane at the airport I knew this was the place to be. There are opportunities here to be part of the community.” Each store in the Grocery Outlet chain has flexibility in its product offerings to serve local tastes and demands. Inventory comes primarily from overstocks and closeouts of name-brand groceries or seasonal merchandise. The stores also carry food staples such as fresh meat, produce, dairy, and bread.
“They have a partnership with name brands like Campbell’s soup, Nabisco, things like that,” Eric explained. “Grocery Outlet will buy foods from major retailers. Because some foods have packaging that’s seasonal, some stores won’t sell it, but we will. We had products that were tied in with the Super Bowl and when it was over, many stores sent it back to the distributors, but we sold it at a discount price. Not all brands are like that, and we also have your normal everyday products in stock. All of our produce comes from partnerships with other outlets, and we utilize local resources, too. We’re partnered with outlets in the Cincinnati area, which gives us more bargaining power.” Grocery Outlet has developed a niche for health-conscious customers. One of their most popular sections is labeled NOSH (natural, organic, specialty and healthy). Because of this, they have attracted followers who want to buy vegan and/or plant-based items on a budget.
“We provide specialty healthy foods that are organic and gluten-free,” Mayram said. “We have people driving from out of town to get gluten-free and healthy choices from us. We’re reaching out to fitness groups and certain niches. Folks from Planet Fitness next door will come in looking for healthy snack and beverage choices. We want to target specific customers like that.” When the Hamiltons were ready to take the plunge into store ownership, they completed a training program to become operators, then submitted a proposal to get help finding a location. Grocery Outlet suggested the location and helped them get set up here. “We met with the other operators in this part of the state to get a feel for the area,” Paul said. “I knew the area was very nice, and when I was stationed here, I was able to attend the festivals and local activities to get a feel for the community. There was really great support. We borrowed shopping carts from the Cincinnati and Columbus stores for our grand opening, and we help them out, too. This is a good vibrant community. Being close to the housing areas, we want people coming here first to get their basics. Make us your first stop, then go to Meijer or Kroger for what you didn’t find here. We’ll try to accommodate what the customers want.”
“Customers can ask us ‘Hey, can you order a certain flavor of Campbell’s soup?’ and we generally can,” Mayram said. “That’s something you don’t get with the bigger stores. We want to make shopping easier, not like a chore. Customer first is our rule. Our layout is more customer friendly for finding items. We don’t want people waiting in line to check out, we want them to check out quickly and have a good experience here.” Their efforts have apparently paid off, resulting in positive word of mouth and increased traffic.
“The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, more than we expected,” Eric said. “We had challenges at first, because people didn’t understand the model or what we offer. Now we’re hearing ‘Thank you for being here,’ and ‘Thank you for having this or that product.’ Everything will be 40 to 70 percent off what the competition charges, but we still have to get our produce, meats and dairy at market price. It’s the opportunistic prices on goods that make the difference. When we opened in March, we probably had the best price on eggs in the region, because we worked a deal with the egg supplier. We try to find those deals when we can.”
Grocery Outlet Bargain Market is located at 606 Taywood Road, Ste. 8, Englewood, Ohio. Their phone number is 937-771-1520, and their hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. For more information or in-store specials, visit www.groceryoutlet.com, or follow them on Facebook.
