2007 Officers
Gene Wade
Jimmy Welborn
Vice President
Jerry Mountin
Secretary/Treasurer
David Drose
Chaplain
Greg Adams
Immediate
Past President
Mountin’s Piggly Wiggly Is Mayville’s No. 1 Business
By Joel Nisleit
Reprinted with Permission from the Mayville News
Mayville’s little piggly is bound to do a little wiggly after winning the Mayville Area Chamber of Commerce’s first-ever Business of the Year award recently.
But for owners Jerry and Pat Mountin of Mountin’s Piggly Wiggly, or “The Customer Company” as their motto states, the quest for excellence is ongoing.
“If you’re satisfied, then you might as well hang it up because there’s going to be somebody over your shoulder,” says Jerry.
Ask the Mountins what drives their business, and they’ll chant “customer service.”
“That’s what drives us, Pat and I both, is taking care of the customer,” says Jerry.
It’s the things like buying seven cans of a certain brand of peaches in Oklahoma City because a customer has been asking for them. It’s not just pointing you to the refried beans; it’s walking you over to the products and asking you if you have a particular brand in mind. And it’s only standard that every time you buy groceries at the Pig, an employee, sometimes even Jerry himself, offers to take them to your car for you.
That’s the way Jerry likes to run the store because he’s had the same experiences every frustrated consumer has had.
“Customer service in so many places is so bad that when people get good customer service they really appreciate it,” he says.
The challenge of pleasing customers is one the Mountins have endeavored to meet since opening their first Mayville store in 1985.
“I saw a community that was under-served for a grocery store,” says Jerry, recalling his vision for a supermarket.
“We saw a need for a nice supermarket in the community, and it was certainly our goal to give it to them. It’s just that it took us three steps to get to where we are today,” he says, speaking of the number of times the store has been remodeled and expanded.
“We love to change with the times to offer our customers the latest and the best,” says Jerry, a passion in his voice.
“Make it exciting for the customer to come in. Every time they come in, they see something they didn’t see the last time they were here,” he says.
“You have to be different. That’s why we offer so many things that you can’t get in the big box stores,” he adds.
The Mountins extend service beyond just shoppers, becoming supporters of the community by donating their time and products to local fundraisers, including EMS brat frys. On top of that, the Pig hosts events like Kids Day and seafood and wine seminars.
In fact, Jerry says that’s one of the reasons he and Pat chose to open a Piggly Wiggly in Mayville. They could have opened a Roundy’s or Super Value, he said.
LibertyCounty Grand Opening
By Richard Ramsey
The Ramsey Family opened a new 25,000 square foot Piggly Wiggly May 16th, 2007. We elected to have a soft opening two weeks before having the Grand Opening blow out. Now with the new store opened only 6 miles away from our other store, we were surprised to learn that the customers are dramatically different.
Blountstown is a morning store while our new store in Bristol (LibertyCounty) is an afternoon store. Heck, in Blountstown, customers are waiting for us to open the doors at 6:00 am, while in Bristol we have a hard time closing at 10:00 pm. The Bristol customers are younger and buy more frozen prepared meats and steaks on the weekends. Blountstown customers are much older and buy fresh chicken, flour, etc. Bristol appears to have more two income families (which accounts for the later business) while Blountstown has more retired customers.
While 30% of Blountstown’s business came from LibertyCounty, opening our new store only cut Blountstown’s volume 20%. Some of the older customer’s said they knew where everything was and they had traded there for 20 years and that this was their store. Bristol’s electric bill should be $60,000.00 per year less than Blountstown’s, because their utility company’s rates are much less.LibertyCounty is growing very fast with new industrial development and has three new housing developments very close to the new store. Blountstownhas a stagnant, but stable economy. It is amazing that I have served these customers for over 30 years and did not realize how different the make up of LibertyCounty is.
Richard Ramsey (pictured above center in the navy jacket and khaki pants) standing next toChad Ramsey with Piggly Wiggly associates, family and friends of the Pig at the ribbon-cutting for his Grand Opening.
“Operators helping operators is what it’s all about.”
-Richard Ramsey
Market research is necessary for a retailer to keep up with his customers.LibertyCounty’s Piggly Wiggly’s sales volume will be close to what I projected, but less than what the market researcher projected. I miss Piggly Wiggly’s market research department, because they provide me with more detailed and accurate data.
Perhaps we need to think outside the box and get a fresh set of eyes to look at our operation. Too often we think we know the correct answer, but we may be out of touch and not be aware of all the things that have changed. Every operator needs a focus group to help him better meet his customer’s needs.
Danny Manning and KC, operators from Mobile, Alabama, came by and really helped us with their suggestionsas did Dennis Stewart and Jerry McCann. I think they took home some good ideas too. Operators helping operators is what it’s all about and that is why we need the National Piggly Wiggly Operator’s Association.
Inside look at Richard Ramsey’s Produce Department at his new store in LibertyCounty
Mr. Pig Makes a Big Hit at This Year’s Easter Classic Baseball Tournament
By Kenny Honeycutt
TarboroHigh School held the first Tarboro Easter Classic Baseball Tournament in 1993 at the historic municipal stadium with teams from local schools, as well as, teams from Ohio, New York and Maryland. The classic continues today during the school’s spring break each year and attracts fans of all ages. In addition to the baseball games, there is a home run derby, a pig picking for everyone on the first day and some of the best hamburgers you’ll ever eat.
Our municipal stadium dates back to the 1940’S when it was home to minor league professional baseball and semi-pro ball that was very poplar in North Carolina following World War II. In the late 1990’S, the town of Tarboro took over operation of the stadium and made some major improvements adding a new concession stand, modern restrooms, new lighting and improved fencing. The field itself is picture perfect and a joy for the players to play on and pleasing to the eye for all the spectators.
Mr. Pig (pictured
with a few of his new friends) made his appearance at this year’s classis on Thursday and Friday during the tournament and was a big hit!
Mr. Pig is a well recognized personality in and around the town of Tarboro, North Carolina. The Honeycutt’s make sure of it by consistently using this familiar and loveable character at various store functions and community events.
After all...no one else has Mr. Pig!
Growth Continues in 2007 for Piggly Wiggly
By John Matlock
After completing 2006 with 34 new locations opened, 2007 is off to a fast start as well. As we near the midway point of the year the following activities have occurred or are in the process of opening.
Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Company has 16 projects on the board. In January Donnie Summers rejoined the Piggly Wiggly Family when he reopened a location in Coffeeville, Mississippi. Jody Shaw opened a second location in Columbia, Tennessee.
In February the Milligan family relocated one of their two existing locations in Lagrange, Georgia to a much larger facility.
In March we added two new owners to the system. Eric Habel and Andy Haynes opened in Shelbyville, Tennessee and John Ragland opened a Piggly Wiggly Xpress in Huntland, Tennessee.
Two April openings included Rob Watkins’ fourth overall Piggly Wiggly, which was located in Oneonta, Alabama, and a new owner to our group Spence Millican who converted his Lindale, Georgia store.
We had five May openings starting with new owner Ken Hong in the Atlanta area and the Milligan family’s first Opelika, Alabama location. We added another new owner to our system when James Harber opened a Piggly Wiggly Xpress in Lewisburg, Tennessee. Naseem and Basim Ajlouny opened two additional locations in the Birmingham, Alabama area.
We have four additional stores scheduled to open this June. Ken Kelley will grow his store count from two to four with the openings of two Nashville, Tennessee acquisitions. The Ramsey family is opening a new store ground up in Bristol, Florida and another new store ground up will open in Richland, Georgia. The Richland store will be the second operated by Barry Buchholz.
Our Affiliated Little Rock supplier has also had an active year with a total of seven locations being added or in the process. In February Skipper Jones opened his 6thBaton Rouge, Louisiana area Piggly Wiggly and we added a new owner to the group as Brian Owens purchased an existing facility in Muldrow, Oklahoma and converted it to the Piggly Wiggly banner.
Another new owner to the system was added in March as Keith Inness, Jr. converted his existing location in Vacherie, Louisiana.
Paul Durnin opened his second Piggly Wiggly store in May in the town of Loranger, Louisiana and has a new store ground up planned for December in Hammond, Louisiana.
Kevin Doucet has a second Opelousas, Louisiana location scheduled to open in August, and another new owner to the system Johnnie McCool is in the process of opening a location in Batesville, Arkansas around that same time period.
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company continues to do major upgrades to their existing store base and also has a new location ground up that opened this past June in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Our growth for the first half of 2007 has had a good mix of our existing owners finding additional locations, and at the same time nine new owners coming aboard with multi store capabilities for the future. With the consolidation occurring from chain store fallout, additional opportunities will continue to present themselves. Our aggressive base of storeowners who possess the qualities of a strong management base and being financially sound will benefit from these future acquisitions.
VENDOR OF THE MONTH
A BIG HIT IN WISCONSIN
by Jerry Mountin
Mountin's Piggly Wiggly in Mayville, Wisconsin started a Vendor of the Month program in 2006. Although this program is still in its first year, the cooperation and feed back from the vendors has been outstanding.
Curt Schmidt, Store Manager, came up with the idea to highlight all the vendors that supply his store. So often the little guy gets squeezed out by their "Big Brothers." Schmidt went on to say that he and his Assistant Manager, Tim Patterson, select 3 vendors for each month. For example, there could be a pizza company, a processed meat company and a snack company. This way there are no duplicate products promoted at the same time.
Each vendor receives a special area in the store, usually in a high traffic location, to promote their products. This is then backed up with demos, special pricing and PA announcements throughout the day. The net results have been increased sales for the vendors and happy customers.
This program has been so successful that after starting it, the vendors are asking how they get to be Vendor of the Month. If you would like more information regarding this program, call 1-920-387-3220 and ask to speak to Curt Schmidt or Jerry Mountin.
More and More Customers are Surfing Our Web
We are now getting over
1,000 consumers a DAY
viewing our website!
When a customer visits the site, they can key in their ZIP code to access your store’s contact
information. And, if you have your own unique web address, we can link your customers to your site direct from your store address.
If you would like to have us link to your site or have any comments or
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