Butcher Shoppe Expands Space, Reputation, Sales

ROSEANNE HARPER

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — The Butcher Shoppe, a small, family-owned business here, has expanded in more ways than one — footage, product variety, volume and sales. While staying open through months of construction that added on 13,000 square feet, bringing the total to 32,000 square feet, and disrupted operations somewhat, the company managed to keep sales steady.

“And just since January, when everything was completed, sales are up 20%,” Marketing Manager Adam Keath told SN, adding that he hopes to make that figure 40% by the end of this year. Expansion and the addition of 1,500 grocery dry SKUs, as well as a new tasting kitchen and a fresh-to-go department — an additional take on its prepared food program — has changed the looks of the store, but hasn't changed its core identity, Keath said. He attributes that to commitment to its customers. Communicating to them what was going on all the way through the process was key, he said.

“We took a risk making the changes, but we kept our super customer service, and that has kept our customers.

“The store is different, but better. Customers tell us we still smile, help them and, what's very important to them, they can still buy the same [best-selling, store's own recipe] ham salad they've been buying from us for 30 years.”

The family's store had evolved over the years from primarily a butcher shop with some fresh foods to what is now “a fresh food market and community grocer,” Keath said. “We want to be people's first thought when they think of food in Chambersburg.”

Expanding enough to add grocery items and to ramp up its perishables departments has set The Butcher Shoppe up for the future.

“We now have everything anyone would want for a meal,” Keath said. “We don't sell deodorant or dog food, but customers now can get all their food here.” The Butcher Shoppe, with a staff of seven butchers, has served this small town and its surrounding area since the family moved a smaller business to its present site in 1977. Slowly it has morphed into more than a butcher shop.

“Customers would ask us why we don't have bread and milk, so we added those. Then, as time went on, we added more, always driven by what customers asked for.” But it wasn't until last year that Keath and his parents, Frank and Mary Sue Keath, the stores' owners, decided it was time to become “Chambersburg's food store.” That's when the family struck up a relationship with Minneapolis-based Supervalu.

“We added dry groceries primarily through Supervalu. We liked their products, but what was most important to us was how willing Supervalu was to allow us to stay independent,” Keath said. “We didn't have to sign on for more help than we wanted.”

Keath explained that the family used Supervalu for giving the store a new design — which gives the place a warm industrial feel — product selection, merchandising, “and they walked us through a lot of technology upgrades that have made us more efficient.

“We now have 10,000 products, including a lot more perishables. Our No. 1 best seller in the whole store is our ham salad. We sell tons of that.

“We're known for our own recipes. Many of them come from some of my grandfather's first employees,” Keath said, adding that the store's kitchen-prepared foods have always been popular, and now the menu will be ramped up.

The prepared food department and the meat department each account for about 22% of total store sales, Keath said. Now, with those, plus dry grocery, a produce department doubled in size, and a cafe tripled in size, the family feels it can stand up against any competition.

“We have, to some extent, rebranded ourselves,” Keath said. “We tell people, in radio spots and on television, that we still have everything they loved about us — and more.” While The Butcher Shoppe is located in downtown Chambersburg, with a population of 20,000, the store serves a broad region. “We're right off Interstate 81 and close to U.S. Route 30,” Keath said, emphasizing the store's accessibility. “But we're sandwiched between two Giants of Carlisle, and there are Food Lions and Weis stores nearby, and a Wal-Mart.”

Even during the worst of the recession, the well-located and locally revered business fared well.

“We didn't have a downturn. In fact, 2009 was a profitable year for us,” Keath said, “but we did see changes in shopping patterns.” For example, customers bought fewer tenderloins and more ground chuck and turkey, the latter a combo that has been a top seller for years. As customers enter the totally renovated store, the first element they see is the new, staffed, tasting kitchen. There, new products are demoed regularly, and creativity reigns. Earlier this month, Cecily Mukhtar, who oversees the tasting kitchen, staged a chili cook-off among employees. Customers had the opportunity to taste each and vote for a winner.

The next element in line is a full-service Fresh-to-Go bar, an additional take on prepared foods, which boasts 100 items for salads, sub sandwiches and take-and-bake pizzas. “We made it full service because we want as many opportunities as we can have to interact with customers,” Keath said.

In addition to 150 employees, the family is on the premises as much as possible. Keath's parents, Frank and Mary Sue Keath, work in the store, as does Keath's sister and her husband. And that, Keath said, helps keep up excellent customer service, a terrific differentiator in a competitive market.