Martin's Super Markets tries the 'Express' way

When Martin's Super Markets unveils its "Express" banner on a new small-format store Thursday in Goshen, area shoppers should know the concept is more than a trial run or test.

And the store's potential extends far outside the Goshen city boundaries.

The express concept is not a sweeping new strategic initiative to replace traditional-sized Martin's stores. But Rob Bartels, Martin's president and chief executive officer, says it could offer the South Bend-based company a way to reach more customers with future store development or redevelopment.

Bartels sat down last week for a one-on-one with Market Basket to discuss the Martin's Express store, which replaces a Save-A-Lot store the company operated. He also talked about what success in Goshen could mean as the company looks ahead at growth both inside and outside the regional market. Martin's currently operates 21 stores and employs about 3,400 people. These are excerpts of that interview:

Q: What prompted you to develop an "Express" store?

A: Looking at the market, we were doing OK as a Save-A-Lot. But we thought, boy, wouldn't it be interesting if we took a shot at a small conventional store.

Save-A-Lot is a traditional, limited-assortment store, so it has a good array of staples. But it doesn't have a lot of selection among brands and it's very low on service. We haven't done a small store since the '60s or early '70s, but Goshen was a good, interesting "neighborhood" location. And we already owned the building and the land. So we turned the team loose — and what fun.

Q: What's the difference between Martin's Express and a traditional store?

A: It will have an entirely different kind of personality and be very approachable. The cashier can see the produce clerk. The guy at the service meat counter can see the front door. We made the aisles a little more narrow and a little taller.

Going from 50,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet, there are a lot of compromises. The important items in each category are there, but size selection has been reduced and in many cases some brand choices have been reduced.

This store will still support our ad and it'll have an emphasis on customer service. We hung on to the fresh side of the store with a robust produce department, Side Door Deli, and we're doing Starbucks, tucking in a little cafe area. But this one's a pit-stop, not a hang-out-and-do-your-homework place, necessarily.

Q: Given industry trends toward small stores, had you been waiting for the chance to try it out?

A: This wasn't us going out and acquiring property specifically to develop a new store format. And this wasn't us saying we really, really need one of these things to stay alive. But it's also more than a try, we're committed to it. We didn't build it out of cardboard.

We had a store where redevelopment made a lot of sense and we made a choice to put in a store that is more representative of what Martin's does than Save-A-Lot's limited assortment. That's going to give us the opportunity to explore something that we otherwise wouldn't be able to explore.

Q: What do you hope to learn from the location?

A: As it turns into a successful operation, we're going to learn tons. We're going to learn things we've forgotten about running small stores.

We have stores that we need to redevelop, and this will make us smarter on how we merchandise larger stores. We'll learn how customers respond to a small store with a heavy focus on service. When they help us sort that out, we'll figure out what to do with it. We have about a year of measuring and looking and tweaking and adjusting.

Q: Could this lead to more Martin's Express stores?

A: I don't know yet. It's not our strategy. It's not our strategy now. But it sure as heck might be depending on how well this works. And I don't necessarily have a foregone conclusion until this pans out. It's not what we have identified as a key strategic necessity to serving our market well.

Now if this turns into a barn-burner, and it works, then that makes us flexible in ways we haven't been before. As we learn how to put more product and more programs into the smaller footprint, it will give us a different look at how we're using space and serving our communities.

Will this give us a chance to look at our current market differently? We sure hope so and think so. It will give us a different look at how we put our market together.

In the places where we have tired stores — stores that are older — we are looking for opportunity to improve our level of service. We are also looking at the best way to serve our current markets and potential markets. It will give us the opportunity to learn more, then we know more, then we can serve our market better because we can look at locations and store size differently. I know our communities are looking for momentum. We are, too.

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Heidi Prescott’s column runs on Wednesdays and Sundays. Contact her at hprescott@sbtinfo.com or 574-235-6070. You also can talk retail at Facebook.com/thebasket and at Twitter.com/marketbasket. Hear her weekday reports at 6:52 a.m. and 8:52 a.m. on The WSBT Morning News with JT at WSBT-AM (960) and WSBT-FM (96.1).