Ron Evert can`t much blame his customers or employees when they stop at the north end of his 7,000-square-foot store and gaze out the window for a moment or two. Forty-four floors up in the John Hancock Building and overlooking Oak Street Beach, the Hancock Market has a view that`s
spectacular, at least as far as grocery store vistas go. And Evert himself has been guilty of taking in the sights at times.
”One of the hard parts, in the beginning, was trying to get back into the work mode after eating lunch and watching the people down on Oak Street Beach,” laughs Evert, who owns and manages the store.
But don`t plan on stopping by the Hancock Market for a soda pop and an aerial look at the North Side. Only residents of the Hancock Building are allowed to shop in Evert`s full-service grocery store, which did more than $1 million in business last year.
While that number may pale in comparison with sales figures for the local chain grocery store, small food markets like Evert`s and countless others located in the high-rises and apartment complexes around the city do thrive by focusing on service, quality and convenience. Most don`t share Hancock Market`s strict tenants-only policy, but even so, they`re usually not the kind of place that attracts a lot of off-street traffic. Public or private, the stores are there primarily for tenants.
And if a little convenience can make shopping more palatable, it`s a good thing, because statistics don`t lie: We hate to shop for groceries. In fact, grocery shopping ranks second to last-just ahead of house-cleaning-in popularity among 22 daily activities, according to American Demographics magazine.
It adds up
Despite our sentiments, we go to the store for a major food shopping excursion once a week and spend 66 minutes in the store. And then, as if an hour and six minutes of pushing around that cart with one wobbly wheel weren`t enough, we go back one or more times a week for an average of 16 minutes per trip to roam the aisles, according to a joint study by Campbell Soup Co. and People Weekly.
So how come most people don`t think about grocery stores when they`re out shopping for an apartment? Whether you live in the Loop or Schaumburg, you`ve got to eat, so you might add it to your list for the next time you`re in the market for an apartment.
Check out apartment ads and you`ll find little mention of grocery stores, usually just a generic line stating that the complex is ”just minutes from,” ”walking distance to” or ”conveniently located near” shopping. Be sure to ask your prospective landlord how many minutes or steps, and just how conveniently located the food store is. Except, of course, if there is a grocery store right in the building. Then the landlord will be sure to tell you.
”It`s perceived as an amenity and, if possible, we like to give away as many amenities as we can,” says Michael Robillard, senior vice president of the Habitat Co. At 10 of Habitat`s 16 downtown properties, grocery stores are a part of the building`s mix. ”A lot of people who live downtown don`t have cars, and (the stores) are the ultimate convenience.” he says.
Out of the cold
In fact, the ease of shopping trips done via elevator do make a difference, especially during long Chicago winters. Stroll off the blustery winter streets into the Presidential Market at Habitat`s Presidential Towers and you may find shoppers adorned in shorts, sandals and T-shirts. And note the sign in the window that lists the major credit card accepted in the store, not something you often find at major markets.
Being small does have its advantages. With a limited but faithful base of upscale customers, Evert says he can sell higher-quality products-he even has a full-time butcher on his staff of nine-and that he can be more service-oriented than his bigger competitors.
”It`s nice to know your customers on a first-name basis, and if a customer asks for something like a new product they`ve seen advertised, we try and accommodate them,” he says.
Often, the store begins to reflect not only the building, but also the tenants who live there at a particular time. ”There are certain differences in what we sell at our different stores,” says Jack Smith, a former Jewel manager and current partner in Tower Markets Ltd., a venture that owns and manages grocery stores in four downtown buildings.
”At our River City store, residents are single and generally more health-conscious, so we move more of the juices, bottled water, yogurts and other health foods. At our Lake Point Tower store, we tend to sell more meats and fresh foods. We don`t really try to sell different things, but people tend to buy that way.”
But that accommodation usually comes with a cost, admits Evert. Without the buying power or storage space of a major supermarket, sales items are fewer and farther between. And prices on many products may be 5 to 9 percent higher, according to estimates.
”Overall, the price is a bit higher, obviously,” says Evert, ”but people pay for the convenience and the quality. Where else could you run downstairs, shop, write a check and have it delivered to your door in 10 minutes?”
To answer Evert`s rhetorical question, not too many. While the major supermarket chains often offer delivery service, in most cases it`s determined on a store-by-store basis, and customers often have to go to the store and shop before the store will deliver the goods.
When you start adding up the cost of transportation to the store and delivery fees (about $6 for $100 of groceries at the large grocery stores), that 5 to 9 percent price difference begins to evaporate.
But with new computer shopping services like Prodigy, used by 11 Dominick`s stores in the area, and Peapod, which serves Wilmette, Evanston and Kenilworth through Jewel-Osco, shoppers can spend time on-line, not in-line, by ordering their groceries on computer and sending the order in via modem.
The store receives your order, someone shops for it, the store bags it and then it`s delivered to your home, for a fee that ranges from $5 (for Peapod) to $10 (for Prodigy). With the Dominick`s/Prodigy grocery service, customers have the less expensive option of picking up their own order.
Also jumping on the convenience bandwagon recently was Eagle Food Centers Inc., which just added a home shopping and delivery service in the suburbs.
Shop-aholics
Of course, statistics, software and other sentiments aside, some people just love to shop. And if the exception proves the rule, then James Burnett, a North Side resident, is an exception.
”I couldn`t imagine going to the grocery store just once a week,” says Burnett, who hits the local Treasure Island four or five days a week in pursuit of the freshest vegetables, meats and seafood.
”When you don`t have a car, you`re very much limited to how far you can walk and how much you can carry,” he says. ”Besides, after you get to know the people in the store, the baker will tell you what she baked today or the butcher will prepare meat specially for you.
”You`ve got to roll into a neighborhood and meet those people in the local grocery store. That`s part of living in the city,” says Burnett. ”The people who do that reap the rewards.”
