A couple of years ago, David Speigelhoff, owner of Gooseberries Fresh Food Market, in Burlington, Wis., found himself in a situation that’s familiar to many independent grocers.
“Gooseberries had been open since 2006, and it was at the tipping point of either reinvest and get yourself more niched in the market, or just don’t do anything and eventually die a slow, slow death,” he recounts.
Speigelhoff chose to invest $1.5 million to remodel the store to emphasize the perishables departments.
“We’re really focused about having our customers enjoy themselves and have fun,” he notes. “We want to offer a value, but we are not out there saying that we’re going to be the cheapest on pretty much anything. Come and have fun, come and enjoy yourself, try the food we offer. We really focus on having fun in the business.”
Customers walk into the store through the produce and floral departments before passing through sliding doors that lead into the deli, meat department, bakery and sandwich bar/hot food area before looping around the “food experience” to the wine shop and grocery center store.
“We have groceries, but it’s not a focal point for us anymore,” Speigelhoff says, although the store does a good business in ecommerce, which it introduced about five years ago, and which has taken off in the past year.
Gooseberries has also invested in catering, making the store a one-stop shop for customers planning parties, especially weddings. Party planners are situated at a kiosk in the store to answer phones and take all orders, in addition to helping customers coordinate all of their party needs across the various departments. When Gooseberries first introduced party planners in 2006, the business supported one part-timer. Now, four full-time staffers work with customers and also stop by the events that the store caters, to make sure that all is running smoothly.
New Possibilities
Along with the remodel, Gooseberries acquired a liquor license that allows alcohol to be sold and consumed on premise, which helped open up new possibilities. The prepared food department — with a sandwich bar (that doubled in size with the remodel) offering 28 named sandwiches, a full-service deli with a variety of Boar’s Head lunchmeat and housemade salads, a growler bar, and a hot-food station offering five soups daily — features an expanded seating area for up to 55, with all products developed by the store’s executive chef.