LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Nature's Bin, a small natural food market here, doubles as a training center for people with disabilities and, in the meantime, sells up to $1 million worth of fresh produce a year.
Cramped into a total space of 6,000 square feet, the store has nonetheless evolved into what appears to be a full-line mini-supermarket, complete with a chef-run prepared-food program.
There's uniqueness in the fact that the store is non-profit, and its full-time, experienced staff trains disabled people in the ways of the work world. At the same time, they're merchandising product and helping their customers.
Even though it's a non-profit organization, there's no lack of zeal for making money here. Executive Director Scott Duennes sounds like the supermarket veteran that he is. His background is in produce — at Kroger Co.
“We pay very close attention to merchandising. We're attentive to detail,” Duennes told SN. “That's particularly important since our business is driven by word of mouth. We do very little advertising.”
Duennes said the team is very aware that 60% to 70% of produce purchases are impulse buys. “So the display has to look good and smell good.”
The produce is bulk displayed, which Duennes believes offers the customer ultimate convenience.
“The shopper may want only one lemon or orange, but bulk merchandising is very labor intensive.”
But there, the trainees can be a big help and at the same time be learning how to evaluate produce.
Because the aisles are so small, special narrow carts have to be used when rotating product, but it's done at least two or three times a day.
While there's no advertising done, Nature's Bin does create events to draw people in.
“We have Senior Day, for example, every Wednesday,” Duennes said. “Anyone 55 or over gets 10% off all their purchases, everything except wine and beer.”
He said Senior Day has been a big sales grower, because people tell their friends about it.
The produce department carries 400 to 500 SKUs, most of which are organic, and much is local and in-season.
“Around here, local has reached the same importance as organic,” Duennes said. “We have arrangements with about 10 local growers and our buyers go to the Amish auction in Mount Hope every week.”
The store's sales of organics have not been diminished by mainstream supermarkets and even mass marketers putting in organic sections.
“When the big chains and even Wal-Mart started carrying organics, we wondered if that would be the end of this run, but it has actually increased our sales,” Duennes said.
He theorizes that people got exposed to organics at their mainstream supermarket and wanted more variety, which they can find at Nature's Bin.
In additional to local and natural and organic, Nature's Bin seeks out exotics, too, such as ugli fruit and Thai coconuts.
“Those Thai coconuts are green coconuts that have coconut water in them — very good for you — and we're selling those like crazy,” Duennes said.
Nature's Bin remained recession proof over the past year and a half. In 2008, the retailer's sales were 28% over the year before. While Duennes said they'd budgeted for a 5% increase in 2009, he was surprised to find that even then, sales had risen 9% over the previous year.
He attributes such success to giving customers quality and value, and also that customers feel good about shopping there. They feel they're helping out, being charitable.
“They know the culture of the organization,” Duennes said.