Niche Market Smaller Food Stores Are Doing What They Can To Carve Out A Niche In The Highly Competitive Retail Grocery Marketplace

The potatoes are piled chin high at Bargain Giant Foods, where shoppers navigate narrow aisles.

Lettuce, broccoli and tomatoes are going fast.

One woman, who has been speaking Russian to a friend, asks the owner to put a 50-pound bag of potatoes underneath her cart.

This small neighborhood grocery store at Empire and Crestline resembles a Middle Eastern bazaar.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are one of the draws for Bargain Giant shoppers. Owner Dave Roark and his 32-year-old sons, twins Kevin and Kerry, may not be able to compete with the big supermarkets on items that can be sold in bulk.

But on stuff with legs - produce and meats - they can give the larger stores a run.

Like other small, independent food stores on Spokane’s North Side, Bargain Giant has found its niche - the key to small-store survival in this era of giant supermarkets.

“People know they can come in here and buy a head of lettuce and it’s going to be nice. It doesn’t sit around,” said Kevin Roark, who with his brother will take over the store in a few years.

“People that are going to Safeway are going to Safeway. I don’t compete with them,” said Craig Williams owner of Munchkin Market at Napa and Mission. Munchkin started as a convenience store selling cigarettes, beer, bread, cereal, milk and other items that customers want to buy without waiting in line.

The store at Mission and Napa carries whatever the market demands.

There’s an entire aisle of video movies for rent. If you don’t have a VCR, you can rent one. If your VCR is broken, Williams can get it repaired for you.

The store also provides Western Union and fax services and sells Lotto tickets.

“It all adds up,” said Williams.

For Otis Byers, owner and operator of Crown Foods for 40 years, his role is clear: bulk meat.

“The people going to Safeway are buying one steak at a time,” said Byers.

In addition to selling meat, Byers can custom cut fresh kill for hunters.

One day two weeks ago, a man came in from Bozeman, Mont., with a 480-pound elk. Byers had it hanging in his freezer to be hand boned and ground.

“That’s a lot of work, but that’s what we’re here for,” Byers said.

During hunting season, pickups are lined up as the store opens, their occupants waiting for Byers and his wife, Gwen, to begin their 18-hour day.

Crown handles 800 game animals each hunting season and has shipped processed game to Alaska and Pennsylvania.

Some of the smaller groceries have been aided by location.

Glenn’s Foods in Mead is five miles from the nearest chain store.

Bargain Giant, Munchkin Market and other small neighborhood stores, such as Mauro’s Grocery, 3404 E. Euclid, and Piccolo’s Market, 2002 E. Mission, are convenient to the elderly and others who prefer to walk or to take the bus.

Many customers are loyal to the small stores.

“When I’m not shopping, I’ll come in just to say, ‘Hi,”’ said Jaydean Gillespi, 35, who was shopping in Piccolo’s last week with her husband and baby. “I like it here. It’s a home away from home.”

“We’re seeing some of our original customers come in with their children and grandchildren.” said Gwen Byers of Crown Foods. “When I pick up the phone, they’ll just say give me the same thing as last time.”

All this, however, doesn’t dim the reality of the chain stores.

The small independents are “a dying breed,” said Kevin Roark. “Over the years you see fewer and fewer of the small stores.”

Owners of small stores must cultivate ties with wholesalers to keep down costs, work long hours and act as their own handyman and employee counselors.

Roark paints his owns signs and still formats the store’s weekly newspaper advertisement. And because he’s had the same produce wholesaler for 20 years, he can cut price deals and get midday shipments of fast-selling items.

Piccolo’s Market started out as an Italian food specialty store. Now it sells everything from deli sandwiches and espresso to dolls and brooms, spices and produce.

Dog and cat food are available in bulk near the front door, and espresso is made to go near the back.

Manager Dale McKee said the store contracts with wholesalers to sell surplus goods. For example, he was able to offer grapes recently for 69 cents a pound.

“Some people come in looking for the thing they got last week and ask where it is. It ain’t,” said McKee. “It was a discontinued item.”

Munchkin Market is open until 11 p.m. every day, including Christmas.

“It’s our busiest day,” said Williams.

Bargain Giant closes at 8 p.m. and is not open Sundays. Roark even closes his store for a week between Christmas and New Year’s Day as a gift to employees, who stay there on average 12 years.

“You don’t have to be open all the time,” said Roark. “You have to have what (customers) want.” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)