Store Profile

by Cynthia L. McGowan


A commitment to serving the community helps keep customers coming back to The Grand Food Center in suburban Chicago, Ill. It also has helped fuel healthy growth at the independent store’s full-service floral department.
The Grand Food Center serves Winnetka, Ill., a tree-lined, affluent community on the shores of Lake Michigan. Winnetka may be small—in the 2000 U.S. Census, its population was 12,419—but it has enviable demographics. Its median household income in 2000 was $165,458, compared with the U.S. median income of $48,201. The median home price was $765,500.
Dan Klebba, who along with two partners owns the store and a smaller one in nearby Glencoe, Ill., acknowledges that The Grand Food Center caters to wealthy customers, but, he says, “We’re careful not to take advantage of that in pricing because they’re value conscious. We’ll never take advantage of our location.”
Instead, the store makes sure it is seen as a neighborhood supermarket where customers can find all the services and products they need. “We like to be one with the community,” Mr. Klebba shares. “Our motto is, ‘Our family serving your family.’”
That means a deli that offers high-quality prepared meals for high-achieving, busy families; a bakery that prepares delicacies from scratch; an extensive organic selection in the produce department; and wine tasting in the liquor department. The service-oriented store also delivers groceries and florals to customers’ homes for $7.50 a trip, dropping the fee for three months after a new mother has her baby.
Customers never wait long in line, either, says Susan McDonald, floral manager/designer. “There’s a tremendous amount of front-end staff,” she shares.
The commitment to being a neighborhood store also means donating money, services and products to numerous community organizations in Winnetka. “I don’t know that there’s a local organization that we don’t contribute to,” Mr. Klebba says.
 

	the grand food center
	LOCATIONS Winnetka and Glencoe, Ill. OWNERS Dan Klebba, Christopher Barber and Kevin Salus COMPANY'S SALES VOLUME $14 million in 2006, according to the Directory of Supermarket, Grocery & Convenience Store Chains ESTABLISHED 1977 EMPLOYEES 185 STORE'S SIZE The Winnetka store is 18,000 square feet; Glencoe is 10,000 square feet FLORAL DEPARTMENT size 400 square feet FLORAL SERVICES Full-service floral department in the Winnetka store, offering custom designs, weddings, events and delivery; cash-and-carry florals in the Glencoe store FLORAL'S CONTRIBUTION TO STORE SALES Exceeds 4 percent FLORAL MANAGER/DESIGNER Susan McDonald FLORAL EMPLOYEES Four; one full time and three part time BIGGEST FLORAL HOLIDAY Thanksgiving WEB SITE www.grandfoodcenter.com

floral’s role in the community
Community service is important to the floral department, too, helping to both bring in new customers and build loyalty. Winnetka opens several of its multimillion-dollar homes for public tours at least twice a year as community fundraisers, and The Grand Food Center floral department designs the arrangements for one of the homes on each tour.
Ms. McDonald says she and her staff of three part-time designers use as much as $1,500 in florals when they design for a house tour. The store donates the department’s services and the florals although it sometimes sells some of the flowers at the end of the tour. “It’s excellent advertising because about 500 people will go through” the houses on one tour, she explains.
Mr. Klebba concurs on the promotional aspects, adding, “It’s tremendous exposure for us.” The florals have signage saying they were designed by The Grand Food Center, and the programs list the store as the floral provider.
The department also seeks to forge ties with the community by offering a 20 percent discount to local churches for all their floral needs including weekly altar flowers. The bills go to the churches once a month, allowing members to pick up the flowers without paying.
In addition, the store caters to local schools. Winnetka has a strong school system—its New Trier Township High School is consistently listed as one of the nation’s best—and the community has a lot of school pride. “The parents around here are most generous,” Ms. McDonald says. “They’re always giving the teachers flowers and plants; it’s amazing.” With the volume, she jokes, her biggest challenge is to make sure the department doesn’t duplicate the arrangements it creates for teachers.

upscale designs
The department does private event work, too. Ms. McDonald and her staff will go to people’s homes for free and offer suggestions for the floral décor for parties or events they are hosting. Those free consultations pay off—the department often provides as much as $2,000 to $3,000 in flowers for the parties.
The floral department creates upscale designs for its discerning clientele. “Winnetka is very trendy,” Ms. McDonald says. Customers “like something that’s different. If it’s in Martha Stewart, you can guarantee they’ll ask for it.”
And they don’t mind paying for quality. “It’s not uncommon to sell a $200 arrangement,” she shares.
Customers keep coming back, as well. Some spend an average of $50 every week on florals for their homes, Ms. McDonald says, and then there are standing orders. For example, one client receives five dozen long-stemmed roses every Monday.
The department’s community-service and event work, high-end florals and customer loyalty generate valuable publicity for the store. For floral, “Our number one avenue of advertising is word-of-mouth, without question,” Mr. Klebba says.
As a result, the department contributes more than 4 percent toward total store sales, Mr. Klebba shares. “It has been realizing, under Susan’s command, a double-digit growth rate year over year,” he says.

good location
The 400-square-foot department is in a highly visible area near the checkout stands. An outside wall holds plants and containers, and inside the department is where consumers see bouquets, consumer bunches, vases, an open cooler and a small work station. All arrangements are made in-house, and customers can place orders and shop while their designs are created.
Mr. Klebba says the location also helps sell flowers. “I’ve sold more arrangements by people looking at custom arrangements that were made for someone else,” he explains. They’ll see the beautiful designs in the department, take pictures with their mobile phones and then bring the photos back when they need the arrangements.
The department receives flower shipments every day except Sunday from local wholesalers and Canada and Wisconsin growers. Ms. McDonald, who does all the buying, says having deliveries nearly every day means fresher flowers and contributes to her floral department’s success.
The best-selling cut flowers are white ‘Casablanca’ lilies at $21.99 for five-stem bunches and pink ‘Rubrum’ lilies for $19.99 for five stems. She estimates she sells 120 stems of the ‘Casablancas’ a week and 100 stems of the ‘Rubrums’.
Another favorite is roses. The department sells about 75 dozen-rose bouquets a week for $11.99 each.
Ms. McDonald sources ready-made bouquets from a local wholesaler. A top-seller is an all-white design composed of lilies, Hydrangeas and roses that retails for $13.99.
The department sells about 20 potted Phalaenopsis orchids from Ontario, Canada, a week, at prices ranging from $29.99 to $45.99. Potted Hydrangeas from California also sell well.
Many customers buy flowers or plants as gifts, and the designers will wrap the flowers or put the plants in clear bags with bows for free.

the value of training
The store offers training to make sure its designers are able to give customers the trendy floral creations they want. “The owners are very generous with courses,” Ms. McDonald says. “All we have to do is ask, and we can go. They’re most anxious to keep us up to date with everything.”
Mr. Klebba agrees that’s why he sends floral staffers to trade shows like The Super Floral Show (which both Ms. McDonald and another designer attended this past June) and seminars. “Education is paramount,” he comments. “I will never stand in anyone’s way in my company who wants to learn, and especially in an artistic or creative department like floral or bakery, where creativity is so paramount.”
That training, fresh products, community and event work, and upscale designs have combined to create a thriving floral department that Ms. McDonald describes as a full-service florist inside a grocery store. With well-deserved pride, she says, “We’ve had florists in the area say that we’re their biggest competition.”

All photos courtesy of ATI Graphics, Chicago, Ill.


You may reach Cynthia L. McGowan by e-mail at cmcgowan@superfloralretailing.com or by phone at (800) 355-8086.