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THE CLASSY COMPANY STORE

KOHLER, Wis. (FNS) -- Woodlake Market opened in this village community almost 13 years ago and is truly a "company store."Kohler Co. here, maker of kitchen and bath fixtures, owns the store and is reaping the benefits of its investment as total store sales of Woodlake Market now approach $7 million per year, with nearly 100 part-time and full-time employees.As part of a long-term business plan to

KOHLER, Wis. (FNS) -- Woodlake Market opened in this village community almost 13 years ago and is truly a "company store."

Kohler Co. here, maker of kitchen and bath fixtures, owns the store and is reaping the benefits of its investment as total store sales of Woodlake Market now approach $7 million per year, with nearly 100 part-time and full-time employees.

As part of a long-term business plan to develop the village of Kohler, Woodlake Market was designed to mimic large metropolitan stores. Its Atrium seating area, with its domed roof, was modeled after Irvine Market's popular in-store cafe in California, and the importance of color, design and cross merchandising shows throughout the store.

Indeed, Woodlake Market was the first grocery store to operate in Kohler Village in 18 years, when it opened in 1986. And even though store manager Ken Yurk's primary competition is the Piggly Wiggly in nearby Sheboygan, Woodlake's mission was to create a store worthy of competing with high-end specialty-food stores and delis across the nation.

Designed by Barry Berkus, Berkus Group Architects, Santa Barbara, Calif., Woodlake Market anchors an outdoor retail strip mall of 107,000 square feet. Not your ordinary strip mall, the buildings surrounding Woodlake Market are linked by timber-covered walkways, with landscaping featuring butterfly and wildflower gardens, and a grove of apple trees planted among the 600-car parking lot.

The effect is pastoral and surprisingly peaceful, considering that Kohler may draw more than 3,000 visitors a week during Design Center meetings, golf tournaments at the nearby Black Wolf Run or Whistling Straits golf courses, and other special events.

Upon entering Woodlake Market, shoppers pass by a gift center, tucked into a windowed alcove under a wood-framed arbor of faux ivy, where visitors can create gift baskets or have items wrapped and shipped.

Foot traffic throughout the market follows a crescent shape, with produce, deli and bakery departments wrapped around the central Atrium cafe, then widening into a larger rectangular floor space to merchandise aisles of grocery products, frozen foods, floral and card displays, and five checkout lanes. There are also the customer service and video rental desks, which may be commandeered into checkout lines during peak times.

The deli -- which comprises just 5% of the 27,000-square-foot store, but delivers almost 12% of total store sales -- caters to the many business visitors who come to Kohler for meetings at its Design Center, in addition to the village's 1,897 residents.

The store's grab-and-go deli cases feature items such as balsamic chicken and vegetable-stuffed panini sandwiches, as well as bratwurst, a popular item in Wisconsin. Echoing a national trend, Woodlake Market's deli manager, Mary Niemuth, came to the store from a local restaurant.

"We've had greater success in hiring people with food-service backgrounds," said Yurk. "The understanding of what we are trying to accomplish with our deli takeout is much greater."

Though Wisconsin staples such as macaroni with real Cheddar cheese, rotisserie chicken, and a salad bar help push deli sales to 12% of the store's gross, it's the specialty salads and side dishes that make Woodlake Market a destination for many visitors. Examples include wild mushroom pilaf, roasted garlic and red potato salad, marinated artichoke hearts with roasted red peppers and slivered Kalamata olives, Greek spices and lemon vinaigrette, Alaskan crab and shrimp salad, roasted corn, sweet pepper and black bean salad with spicy salsa, and more.

Carryout catering is strongest at the holidays, with the most popular items being the assorted hors d'oeuvres and dips trays, followed by sliced deli meats for sandwich trays. "We find that, year-round, sales of sliced deli meats drive the catering business, but at holidays, customers want more elaborate presentations," said Yurk.

To prepare for holiday parties, Yurk said, he schedules special training sessions with the chefs from the nearby American Club to come in and demonstrate unusual culinary presentations.

"On weekends, about 80% of the people who come to shop are tourists and visitors. Some people will visit the deli before going out on the golf course, to pack a picnic box for lunch," said Yurk. "But during the week it's reversed, with 80% of our customers being the local residents and business people who come in for a quick grab-and-go sandwich and beverage for lunch."

Yurk calls the produce section the "wood floor," after the shiny maple underfoot. Several islands yield seasonal produce on sale -- for example, an island of California strawberries is topped by a display of a strawberry shortcake torte, similar to those sold at the bakery at the end of the produce section.

Above the leafy greens case, a pair of bicycles -- raffled off in a Memorial Day promotion -- were parked on a soffit display.

"We hold large, two-day truck sales of seasonal produce from May through October, and we do holiday contests every year," said Yurk. "We try to tie into local charity events, too."

Such truck-load promotions typically triple storewide sales for that day, he added.

From the produce section, aisles turn into both the Atrium cafe and the bakery displays. A full 544 square feet are devoted to bakery, with fresh store-made pastries in 20-foot cases, as well as pre-packed items. More than half of the sales stem from savory and hearth grain breads.

One of the hearth breads is baked from a recipe by pastry chef Richard Palm, from the neighboring four-star resort hotel, the American Club.

"Some patrons of the American Club restaurants come here just to buy a loaf of the same great bread that they had with their meals the night before," said Yurk, estimating that the bakery sells about 250 signature loaves each week.

Signature loaves aside, even commercial bakery products, such as the Manitowoc Ovens whole-grain breads and muffins, sell well. Unlike other communities in Wisconsin, where sweet goods constitute the majority of sales, "our customer is more affluent, more likely to take care of personal health, and more likely to choose a fruit muffin over a Danish or a doughnut," said Yurk.

Still, gift-packs of Racine Danish Kringle or Miss Fran's Pecan Shortbread are popular with visitors, since both are Wisconsin-made products. The bakery department, under management of Polly Sharpe, generates about $400,000 in annual sales.

"Pure grocery" generated more than a quarter of total store sales, according to Yurk. "We have more than 27,000 items in the store, and we try to feature as many regional and specialty food products as possible, particularly items made in Wisconsin."

That translates into merchandising products in several ways, in several places, throughout the store. For example, the majority of the wine section is found in shelving units that wrap around columns that flank the Atrium's 44-seat cafe. Tile columns are inscribed with the names of the regions where the wines are produced.

To spur sales of higher-end wines, there is a special "Manager's Selection," with a rotating stock of quality vintages.

"Why settle for selling a $9 bottle of Merlot, when with some merchandising and sales effort, you can sell a $40 bottle of Merlot?" asked Yurk. "Since starting the 'Manager's Selection' we have increased the average sale price for a bottle of wine from $12 to $14.99, in about 9 months. By next year, we hope to have our average sale price for a bottle of wine reach $20."

Yet across the store, near the snack department, is a stand-alone display of the inexpensive Three Lakes fruit wines made in Wisconsin that make "nice hostess gifts," according to one sales clerk. And tucked into one of the display cases in the 220-square-foot seafood department is a bottle of Wisconsin cherry wine, flanking mounds of swordfish steak and Chilean sea bass, adding a splash of red color along with the plastic fruit.

"We use both fresh fruit and flowers, and plastics, in the seafood case," said seafood and meat department manager Jim Fenn.

Fresh seafood is flown in from Boston, Alaska and Hawaii, in addition to deliveries from Chicago about 200 miles to the south. Such a wide selection plus colorful displays helped to generate more than $350,000 in sales of fresh and frozen seafood last year, no mean feat in an area of the country where meat consumption remains high.

Poultry, beef and pork are the top-selling items in the butcher department, with few customers requesting lamb or veal. Woodlake Market promotes heart-healthy cuisine, and has always chosen purveyors of lean beef.

Laura Freeman of Laura's Lean Beef, Lexington, Ky., held an in-store tasting last month, replete with a $2 coupon on sales of extra-lean strip steaks. Though the setup for the table in the aisle was clear and uncluttered, an in-case merchandising display of Laura's beef tenderloin, surrounded by spears of fresh-steamed asparagus and red pepper strips, and jars of specialty mustards, made a stunning arrangement. Private-label sausages, salamis, jerky, bologna, smoked chicken and turkey, kippered beef and bratwurst merit their own bunker case, topped with a wooden sign that suspends salamis in their netting. "These sausages are made by a small, specialty producer in central Wisconsin who uses all natural fermentation starters and no MSG," explained Yurk. "The bratwursts are so popular that they were voted the No. 1 brats by the readers of the Sheboygan newspaper's food section." Old-fashioned German specialties such as thueringer, mettwurst, teawurst and others are sold in refrigerated cases, along with pre-packed deli meats.

Other mainstays for Woodlake Market are food and floral gifts. "We have an extensive selection of specialty jams, preserves, mustards, marinades, unusual blends of coffee and tea, and other gift basket items," said Yurk. And, even at higher price points, merchandise moves. A box of three golf-ball truffles costs $9, a bamboo basket holding calla lilies sells for $45. "We just try to stay away from direct competition with the specialty florist down the street," Yurk added. "Our bouquets are mostly under $10, and that's our standard sale."

Most of the regular customers shop three to four times each week at Woodlake Market, and spend an average of $18 at the checkout. "It's a more European style of marketing," said Yurk, adding that the expanded lunch and weekend breakfast business tends to drive the average checkout tab downwards a bit. And Woodlake Market offers relatively few of the convenience-oriented frozen foods that drive sales at major supermarket chains. For example, a nearby Piggly Wiggly features 60 feet of reach-in bunker cases displaying frozen pizzas, while at Woodlake there's an 8-foot selection in the upright freezers. "We did make the shift from bunker cases to uprights, and that gave us four times the freezer capacity in the same footprint," said Yurk. Other changes under way include expansion of organic food stuffs in grocery departments, and homeopathic remedies in the personal care products section. "We've added more than 12 feet of homeopathic treatments, including products aimed at seniors, since January," said Yurk. "Organic grains, baked foods, frozen foods, and packaged items are also in demand." And demand is what drives the product selection at Woodlake Market. From the most discerning cooks looking for powdered zataar for Lebanese flat breads, to the construction worker seeking a ham-and-cheese sandwich for lunch, they will find it at the "company store."