Smillie's IGA thrives with loyal customers

And for his efforts, Smillie is being recognized as one of the finalists for the 2007 W. Curtis Strube Small Business of the Year Award, presented by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Council.

Though he declined to disclose company revenues, Smillie said they’ve stayed pretty level for the last two years.

“We always say location is really important for business, but once you get people in the store you have to take care of them,” Smillie said. “Customers come in here expecting quick in and quick out, park at the door, fair prices and good quality, and all of those things have been part of what has kept our head above water.”

The strategy has paid off, not only in a loyal customer base, with many of the regular shoppers living within a few miles of the store, but also in a loyal work force. Of the store’s 21 employees, five, including Smillie, have been working there since 1992, when Smillie purchased it from former owner Consumers Supermarkets.

A family atmosphere

Phyllis Ridder, who is in charge of the store’s pricing, said she and her husband, Steve, who manages the store’s meat department, feel like part of a big family at the store.

“My husband and I have been here 15 years, and our daughters both worked their way through college here as night managers,” Ridder said. “(Smillie) is just very good to work with, with school schedules and outside activities and letting us work when it’s convenient for both of us.”

The big test, she said, came when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. She spent six months going through chemotherapy – and the company never stopped supporting her.

“They let me come in for an hour a day if I wanted to, just to keep my foot in the door and keep my job,” she said. “They bent over backward to help my family. They’re just very good people, and I can’t say enough about them.”

It seems the feeling is mutual – Smillie said he’s dependent on his employees.

“I like to say I’m a generalist, not a specialist,” he said. “We’ve got specialists working in all of our departments of the store – they all know what’s going on. I always say I’m the holler guy – I’m up front, trying to meet people, let them know that we appreciate them.”

A changing industry

Smillie is well aware that the big-box retailers are changing the grocery business. Where the old system saw vendors give stores money to spend on pushing products, the new-school approach is to force vendors to offer the lowest possible price.

“(The big-box stores) run loss leaders as a matter of fact,” Smillie said, referring to items that larger stores can sell below cost. “It costs $1.65 for us to buy peanut butter, and they sell it for $1.50.”

The only way to compete, Smillie said, is to “out-service” the bigger stores.

“They’re mostly impersonal and pretty much cold places to shop,” Smillie said of national chain retailers. “Having a professional meat cutter, someone at the check stand asking how they can help, is different.”

He points to Albertsons, which once had a hold on the Springfield grocery market but lost its market share due to what Smillie said was an inability to adapt to local tastes and shopping habits.

“They came in and tried to tell us what we needed instead of listening to what we wanted,” he said. “You’d tell them, ‘I want a red one,’ and they’d say, ‘No, you really want a green one.’ And I’d say, ‘Well, that store down the street has the red one. I’ll go there.’”

Sticking around

Tim Bellanti, vice president of Smillie’s vendor Associated Wholesale Grocers, said Smillie should serve as an example for other small stores.

“We have a very good relationship with Bill,” Bellanti said. “He’s a great example of an independent retailer surviving in a world filled with change.”

Despite the difficulty inherent in operating a business in such a large, competitive industry, Smillie said he has no plans to stop soon.

In fact, he’s in negotiations with landlord CRW Properties for another five-year lease, which would give him 10 more years on South Glenstone.

“I’m 61 years old,” Smillie said. “You never know what the future holds – we’ve enjoyed good health, and good health brings a good attitude. When you can get up and go to work and do what you want to do, it’s great.”[[In-content Ad]]