I took about 10,000 photos this year, not counting my kids, cats and dinner, from about 250 retailers. You could call me a bit of a store check junkie. So what really stands out and makes a Top 10 list?
I picked stores that I talk about weeks and even months later. I'm leaving out my trip to Switzerland, Austria and Italy from this list because I'm sticking to just the U.S., stores you can easily see for yourself.
I stopped by the newest store on a Saturday morning, a few days before opening. There was not a single produce item on the racks, but the energy and buzz was there already. Director of produce Alfonso Cano gave me a behind-the-scenes tour as he was laying out the final details before the crew stocked shelves, and the prepared foods and in-store dining look phenomenal.
If you don't know the GodfatherOfFresh, you need to meet Alfonso Cano, Northgate's produce director. He's going to single-handedly #makeproducegreatagain. Follow him on Instagram. Really. He's awesome. I stopped by this store back in July, just before they opened. It's huge, and with every new store, Alfonso carves out more room for fresh. This store is just down the road from the original Northgate Gonzalez Market in Anaheim. It's a bit different, though -- probably three or four times bigger. Prepared foods have become a hallmark for Northgate Gonzalez, and this new store has expanded offerings, with elaborate deli, aguas frescas, fresh guacamoles and a full bakery.
I spent a lot of time dogging Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s produce departments this year. When it comes to produce clerks, inventory and rotation, they have a long way to go, but this store gave me a glimpse of the produce department that Wal-Mart could be. Shelves were stocked, produce was rotated and employees were readily available. More of these, please?
I feel like this produce department hits the exact sweet spot for Wal-Mart. It's just big enough, but not too big that they can't keep up. Would you look at how full these displays are? This is definitely not your typical Wal-Mart store. And no, they didn't know I was coming. Merchandising was creative, but not over the top. I've seen some crazy stuff at Wal-Mart this year, but a subtle bump-out like this featuring the basket-weave RPCs is easy to maintain. It was about 7 a.m. when I stopped by, and they weren't done filling displays yet, but they were close.
5. Dave's Marketplace, Warwick, R.I.
This was my first store check of the year. Dave's will blow you away with the store design and décor, but the real star is produce. Wrapped pears, abundant cross-promotions and stellar in-store prepared foods were just part of the package.
The guys at Dave's (minus Ken -- too shy, I guess?) humored my selfie. Dave's is one of those stores that earns cult status among local shoppers. The decor was noteworthy, but the people were really what made the Rhode Island-based chain shine. We have to talk about this decor. The high ceilings at Dave's gave the retailer room to build a (not to scale) model of the neighborhood around its store. Look at the local landmark theater above the humble rutabagas. Don't be fooled by the apparent empty aisles. It was 7 a.m., and I'm like a store photography ninja. I could make it look like no one shops Pike Place Market on a Saturday.
So, they knew I was coming, and everything looked exceptional, but I think I could have stopped in at noon on a Tuesday and found the store much like this.
4. Yoke's, Spokane, Wash.
Larry the produce clerk, you are my hero. You're a lot of people's hero. I watched people wait in line to talk to Larry on a busy Friday morning, as he trimmed lettuce and put together one of the tightest wet racks I've ever seen, all with a smile, a hug and a kind word for everyone.
This is Larry. He not only wears this awesome hat every day (EVERY DAY). He puts together a wet rack that looks like this EVERY DAY. Larry had no idea I was coming. He just keeps plugging along with this rack while talking it up with customers. They seriously wait in line to talk to him. Let's not forget about Greg, though. Greg does an amazing job at Yoke's, too, and told me all about this crazy cabbage, which for a popular dish local to the Spokane area. They had a whole bin of these cabbages. Yoke's recently remodeled this store, which was in what I'd consider a "transitional" neighborhood. It was a beautiful layout and started to get pretty busy as we were leaving.
So, that's it for part 2 of my store checks. Stay tuned for part 3, where I reveal my No. 1 Store Check for 2016.
