Downtown Muskegon Blog

Behind the Scenes – Family Foods Expands Grocery Offerings

While you might have not notice major changes driving by the Muskegon Family Foods location at 1157 Third St, for those who have ventured in recently the changes would be impossible to miss. The most exciting part for downtown residents and patrons is the expansion of grocery products offered, to include fresh meats, vegetables and fruits. Muskegon Main Street visited Chris Kado at his store and caught up on the changes.

MS: Very nice improvements Chris. What exactly did you undertake?

CK: We closed the store for over a week in the fall and remodeled from top to bottom. We put in new flooring, new expanded shelves, new coolers, a meat counter, a veggie cooler, a new public restroom, upgraded surveillance systems, a new bottle return machine, and opened a week later with expanded hours each day from 10:00 a.m. till 10:00 p.m. Our goal was to improve the experience for our customers with a brighter, cleaner environment along with improved convenience.

MS: What has the reaction been?

CK: Our customers love it. Many of our customers are from the near downtown neighborhoods and they have been unanimous in agreeing that is brighter, cleaner and more convenient. For example I just spoke with Ms. Johnson from Muskegon Avenue who has been a customer for 10 years and she told me that she now feels safer and this is the only place she now needs to shop at during the week.

MS: I especially like the meat and veggie expansion. Can you tell us more about that?

CK: Sure, we found that a lot of customers were having to travel a number of miles to a supermarket each week for these products so we studied the issue some and thought that it would be a win-win to add a counter for each of these items. We receive fresh shipments every week, and we have a butcher manning the meat counter every day. Beyond the produce and meat offerings, we recently were accredited for the WIC program, which meant we had to beef up our other grocery offerings as well, so we have more foods and staples in stock.

MS: Now that you have finished up this expansion, are you looking at any other improvements?

CK: We are currently studying the feasibility of delivering groceries to the homes of nearby senior citizens. We have a number of issues to work out including processing orders, payments etc, as well as program details, but we know there are a lot of seniors who live in our neighborhood who might find this service useful.

MS: Well thanks for your time, and congratulations on your expansion and the improvements. Those who have seen them certainly are impressed.

CK: You're welcome.

Check it out on the web

Muskegon Family Foods Business Directory listing

Labels: Downtown Muskegon E-News

posted by Dan & Sarah @ 1:04 PM