My Mom once stumbled into a Grocery Outlet, an opportunistic grocery store operated by independant owners, and my folks were in love. I was 7, and my Dad left his 20+ year career as Store Director for the Walla Walla Albertson’s to move us in with my grandparents. My parents took over the spare bedroom and trained in Chehalis, WA to become Grocery Outlet operators. A year later, we moved once more and cut the ribbon with Kent, WA’s Mayor -- unveiling our very own Grocery Outlet. From age 8 onward, our family was a grocery family. Weekends into work with Dad and late nights waiting for Mom to get home from the closing shift. My under-the-table gig as the store’s cutest courtesy clerk (see above) evolved into real employment when I hit 16, working weekends at our new store in Grants Pass, OR. When Covid hit, I was a Junior in high school, and my parents needed me. Grocery stores were the only thing people left the house for, and our shelves were stripped bare every day. At the start of it I worked the frozen aisle as mindless muscle, but when the frenzy waned months later, I took great interest in the finer details. What people bought, at what price, and why? I absorbed this all day working beside customers. The freezer ended up being my favorite part of the business. Later, I stepped into managing the freezer. Every item on our shelves was ordered by myself, and Grocery Outlet’s “order guide” is the Wild West compared to a Safeway or Walmart. It’s new items, at different margins, every day. Combing for good deals and taking risks every day is something I still miss. You get a great feel for what qualities a product can have that’ll make it stick out on a shelf.
I’d bet big and sell a few thousand dollars of pancakes in a week, or get stuck with 60 cases of mac & cheese I thought people would fight over. Regardless of the outcome, I’d learn a hell of a lot about what makes people tick.
Now, I’m putting my first-hand experience to work in Advertising; selling ideas to people I’ve already sold groceries to.