Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 16, 1993 TAG: 9309160318
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The big one is the ownership of the store. In June, businessman Sukhdev Singh purchased it from the owners who had run it for the last 19 years.
The other changes are everywhere, lots of little things that the store's new manager said will spruce up the neighborhood grocery store and make it more convenient for customers.
"There's a lot that needs to be tended to," Mikki McPherson, the store's manager, said. She took over the store after managing the Colonial Avenue Uni-Mart, also owned by Singh, who moved to Roanoke from London 10 years ago.
The store, which has operated - under different names - for almost half a century, "needs to be overhauled, more or less," she said. A grand opening was held earlier this month.
"After six or seven weeks, I'm still learning how to turn the light switches on," McPherson said, in between answering a ringing telephone every few minutes.
Some of the nuances McPherson has applied include a fresh splash of red paint on the storefront. (McPherson did it herself; her stepfather was a painter.)
Several food and beverage distributors have set up stands displaying their wares at the ends of aisles. The supermarket's pricing on individual items has been revamped, and those items have been rearranged. McPherson hopes to set up a deli around the end of the year.
The store has added beer to its selection, an addition that riled a few customers. But McPherson counters, "Where are you going to find a store that doesn't sell it?"
Perhaps the biggest added convenience is offering home delivery to customers who purchase $25 worth of groceries and live within three miles. The service is free to the elderly - who form the bulk of the store's clientele, McPherson said - and $2 for others.
Soon after Singh took over the store, McPherson said, he noticed an elderly woman waiting outside for a cab to take her home after buying groceries. The owner told McPherson to drive her home.
Now it's a service in itself, one that few groceries in Roanoke offer.
"I know where most of them live," McPherson said fondly of her elderly customers, whom she often drives herself. "They talk to me as if I was their daughter or grandkid."
She joked about having to fend off tips.
"They get real feisty with you if you don't" accept tips, she said. "I find money all in my car," left there for her to find.
She sees the service as more of a convenience than any big marketing ploy.
"It's pointless for someone to sit there and wait," she said.
Anyway, the store isn't trying to put itself in competition with the larger chain supermarkets in Roanoke, she said. Thriftway - which has retained the name, but is not linked to a franchise - can't afford to buy in huge volumes like Kroger or Food Lion. While customers might pay a few more dollars for their groceries, they get it back with the ease of going to a store right down the block.
Ann Johnson, who lives on Denniston Avenue a few blocks away, is typical.
She knows most of the people who work at Thriftway, and has been coming there for years, she said.
"The people are nice [and] I enjoy shopping here."
by CNB