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On the Road with Member Services Representative John Leemkuil
4/22/2011 The WGA's Member Rep(s) JOHN & PEGGY LEUMKILL'S started the 2011 Great Adventure with a stop at Capitol Centre Market in Madison to visit MITCH EVELAND and his crew. The store looked outstanding and was quite busy. A sign in front of a large empty section with a sign saying that bulk foods are coming soon.
Mitch said he had many requests for this category and is proceeding to make them available to his customers. He also noted that this summer he is replacing all of the dairy cases against the wall with new larger more energy efficient cases so he cam offer more variety and save money at the same time.
He is also removing all of the floor tiles and replacing them with a concrete floor that is virtually maintenance free. The company doing it has some type of machine that lifts the shelving condolas off the floor to allow removal of the tiles and installation of the concrete with far less mess and labor.
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JOHN & PEG LEEMKUIL'S Great Adventure continued in Wautoma and stopping at Stoneridge Meats and Country Store. "What a surprise!! It is a uniquely styled building on the outside and it continues throughout the inside with a large and beautiful store that was in the midst of an entire store reset as every aisle was full of people moving product and resetting shelves. The entire main drag in Omro was decorated for October fest and Halloween as was STEVE SALFAI'S Piggly Wiggly. They had just had a very successful Octoberfest promotion the previous week with all kinds of activities at the store including a polka band last Saturday. On to Berlin and the Church St Market to meet with the newly promoted assistant manager MARY SIMON. We met with JERRY TROCHINSKI at the J&T Foods store. There is concern with Walmart being switched over to a Super Walmart sometime next year."
John Leemkuil with Steve Salfari
Church Street Market
J&T Family Foods
John with Jerry Trochinski
Mary Simon and John Leemkuil
The Pig Stop, Omro, WI
Stoneridge Meats
After being abducted by aliens late last week and being forced to play customer golf multiple times...
the Great Adventure finally got back on the road visiting with CHARLIE GALLE in Prairie du Sac ...
and then to the Sauk Piggly Wiggly with JOHN OPHALE.
On to Oregon to talk with BILL FAUST at Bill's Food Center about defibrillators for emergency use in grocery stores as he is seriously considering one, had priced them and found them to be affordable at about $1,500. Bill was curious to know if other WGA members have them in their stores.
On to Edgerton and had a nice chat with WGA Board Member and Piggly Wiggly owner DAVE KOTWITZ...
and then to Ft. Atkinson to meet with JIM VOS.
Oconto was the next stop to meet co-owner MIKE THOMPSON who took over the store with his brother KEN last year when MARK retired.
On to Peshtigo to meet with LEE MYLENER at Lee's Family Foods (a 2010 WGA EIO Award Winner) and then...
to Marinette and to Angeli's Central Market – a gorgeous store that has been in remodeling since January - the liquor store was having it's grand opening this week.
On to Ripon meeting with ROB WEBSTER and his daughter CANDIE BAKER who is in the process of a succession plan to take over from her dad in the future. Very nice store and very busy. "Rob said he really enjoys giving back to the community," was the report from the field team.
Cottage Grove Sentry
Joe Wirag, Cottage Grove Road Sentry, poses with WGA's John Leemkuil.
This week on the road
JOHN & PEG LEEMKUIL’S Great Adventure continued by going to the Cottage Grove Road Sentry where they spoke with JOE WIRAG.
Dave Shommer at Schommer's Piggly Wiggly, Cottage Grove
Then they traveled on to see DAVE SCHOMMER at the Pig who is about to enter his 11th year there with a big 11th anniversary sale at the end of August.
Dave went on to say that business has been decent with the customer count staying steady or even growing some but the sale per customer is down due to people buying more house brands and looking for less expensive alternatives. He feels this is due to the economy not recovering quickly enough. It turns out that this same issue was stated by most of the retailers that we visited. The other common issue was their growing concern and confusion regarding health insurance.
Brian Conrad at Lake Mills Sentry
Their next stop was to the Lake Mills Sentry to meet with BRIAN CONRAD. Brian has a 20% off meat sale coming soon and is looking forward to it as it generates a lot of traffic. He also runs at least two 20% off Crystal Farms cheese sales a year due to the company being located in Lake Mills and it is also a very successful promotion.
Mark Thompsons first CD
Cuba City Supervalu, Mark Thompson, owner
Mark Thomson at the Cuba City Supervalu
On to Cuba City to meet with MARK THOMPSON at the Supervalu store. Mark has just started a customer rewards card program and is hoping it will generate additional sales. As we were leaving the store Mark handed me a musical CD that he had made and is selling thru his store and donating all of the money to his church. The group is called "St. Rose Music Ministry" and the CD is titled "Come To Jesus." This is the second one the group has done and seems to be quite popular as Mark said he had just sent another check for $1100 to the church.
After a quick meeting with CHRIS FINK at Ed's Family Foods in Richland Center they went on to Spring Green and met with JERRY BARYENBRUCH.
Jerry Baryenbruch of the Hometown Supermarket in Spring Green.
The Great Adventure continues north.
Brian Wohfeil, Piggly Wiggly, Watertown
John Leemkuil with Mitch Eveland, Owner of Capitol Centre Market, Madison.
WGA Membership Rep JOHN LEEMKUIL and his wife PEG continue to meet with WGA members on The Great Adventure. John met with MITCH EVELAND owner and operator of the Capitol Centre Market in Madison (John sold the store to Mitch many years ago). Mitch reports he is pleased with the WGA’s Emergency Procedures Manual and was very happy with the job the WGA is doing. He said he is going to be adding a 10’ multi-shelf gourmet cheese case and is adding a lot of bulk items to the grocery department. He is very happy that the construction on Broom St. is going to be finished this week as it has been very difficult to get to his store all summer.
John Leemkuil with Mitch Eveland, Owner of Capitol Centre Market, Madison.
VIC HINKES, OWNER, HINKES PIGGLY WIGGLY, FOND DU LAC
KEVIN MEY & JIM WIESER, OWNERS, PIGGLY WIGGLY, PLYMOUTH
BILL SCHLEH, OWNER, SCHLEH'S PIGGLY WIGGLY, HOWARDS GROVE
MARK BEITZEL, OWNER, BEITZEL'S PIGGLY WIGGLY, KIEL
MARK STELLPFLUG, OWNER, STELL'S PIGGLY WIGGLY, NEW HOLSTEIN
SCOTT CHRISTEL, OWNER, CHRISTEL'S PIGGLY WIGGLY, VALDERS
ROB HOLLEN, OWNER, ROB'S FAMILY MARKET, MANITOWOC
BOB FOX, OWNER, PIGGLY WIGGLY, TWO RIVERS
JOSH VANDERVEST, OWNER/MANAGER, PIGGLY WIGGLY, KEWAUNEE
CRAIG PETERMAN, OWNER, PETERMAN'S PIGGLY WIGGLY, ALGOMA