By John Kriz
The General Store, with its wide porch and rocking chairs, a woodstove inside with a few upturned peach crates nearby, and shelves creaking under the weight of wares, is a New England classic. Overseeing it all is the cheerful shopkeeper, always there to help, or just visit with well-known customers.
While New Canaan has no general stores left, there is Stewart’s Market, www.walterstewart.com, an anchor on Elm Street, owned and operated by brothers Alex and Doug Stewart, which carries the same general store DNA of personal service.
History
Irish-born Walter Stewart started his grocery on Main Street in 1907, later establishing eight more in nearby towns, which were lost when the Depression hit. His son, another Walter, took charge in 1933 and expanded the market, moving it to its current location and overseeing the construction of its iconic building in 1957, designed by noted architect Victor Christ-Janer, with its domes meant to resemble a French farmers market.
The next generation, son Bailey, expanded the building, adding a wine and liquor shop. The fourth generation – Bailey’s nephews Alex and Doug – took over 26 years ago. They have redesigned and upgraded the store, moved the wine shop across the parking lot, and expanded the fresh produce section and prepared foods kitchen.
“Our brand is very important to us,” noted Doug. “Walter Stewart’s Market—that’s our family business. And I think it’s a brand that means something in New Canaan. So for us, it’s really important to have that independent identity.”
Service “Part of Our Fabric”
”We’re not a big chain. We don’t have the corporate backing and buying power and all that,” acknowledged Alex. What to do? “We really focus on the experience, and taking care of our customers and making sure that it’s an enjoyable experience to come in here, shop.”
A key means of delivering that experience is the market’s team. “We put a lot of effort and investment into bringing our team together,” continued Alex, “and bringing good people on board. I mean, that’s the backbone of our businesses.” Furthermore, “we are able to be responsive to customer needs. We don’t have to wait around until corporate decides whether something makes sense.”
“There are things throughout the day, every day,” said Alex when discussing service, “odd things that we don’t really think too much of. Maybe giving somebody a ride home because they lost their keys or locked the keys in their car. Or somebody is housebound and running a delivery to them.”
Another aspect of service is getting people in and out. While a chain grocer might have fifteen checkout lanes but only two open, Walter Stewart’s Market has four always-staffed lanes and two express lanes, plus baggers. “Everyone understands the importance of getting people in and out quickly,” stressed Alex, with Doug adding that the “parking lot’s not getting any bigger.”
“The convenience piece is a big part of what our business model is and what our customers appreciate,” remarked Alex. “They know we’re going to … I mean, we’re going to do our best to get people in and out quickly, help them find what they’re looking for.” If that means asking Doug or Alex – or anyone on staff—for help finding an item, or special ordering one, it’s done.
Merchandise
Many of the decisions about what to stock on the shelves are made at the department level. “Our department managers, we encourage them to operate their departments like an entrepreneur, like that’s their business,” notes Alex. “We don’t need ten different [varieties] of one type of ketchup. We want to pick the best items, what the most important items are for our customers. We’re always looking for something that’s new, potentially trendy.”
Continuing on the topic of customers seeking unique, unusual, premium products, Doug and Alex highlight the large cheese selection, with Alex stressing the grocer’s talented butchers “who could break down a whole animal and probably would love to if we’d allow them, but they know how to.” Custom cuts to meet customers’ special needs are also part of the comprehensive service ethos. Prepared foods have also become more popular.
“During the summer we try to have as many local farms as possible” supply produce, added Alex.
Challenges
“The biggest challenge has got to be the human resources piece, the personnel, the people, at least it is for us,” said Alex. “And with any small business, I think everything from staffing to development to retention; the people are what drive the business and that’s a big focus for us.” He went on to note that “it’s been hard over the last couple of years if we’re just reaching out sort of blindly trying to find people. We’re fortunate that our team… in a lot of ways, our team members are ambassadors and recruiters. And so a lot of the people—key people—in the store that we have, have been brought in by friends or family who worked here or knew us.”
Doug added that “we have a really good staff, and I think Alex and our managers do a pretty good job of hiring people.”
Eco & Civic Mindedness
“We’ve been doing composting for I think about four or five years now,” noted Doug, adding “spoiled produce will go to the compost.” The market also provides compostable produce bags to customers.
“Our prepared foods—if it’s still good to eat, but it’s on the last day—we’ll donate that to Food Rescue, www.foodrescue.us, for local food pantries. [Food Rescue is a charity focused on keeping nutritious food out of landfills, and providing it to social service groups to help people with food insecurity.]
Some about-to-expire food is sold to Too Good to Go, www.toogoodtogo.com, which aggregates it and sells it at a discount to people, also helping keep food out of the waste stream. It has 120 million registered users in 21 countries.
First choice is Food Rescue, then Too Good to Go, then composting.
The market also has shelving on the right as you exit where customers can leave food donations, which are directed to New Canaan’s Food Pantry. The market partners with the town’s highway department, which comes by at least weekly to collect donations and take them to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, which hosts the Food Pantry.
In addition, the market runs promotions with its T-Bill frequent shopper loyalty benefit program, with customers donating those store credits to local charities. Doug and Alex also offer discounts or in-kind donations to charity fundraisers.
Doug noted that “New Canaan is a big volunteer town,” and the market wants to support the groups its customers care about.
In addition, the market has been a regular supporter of the New Canaan Scholarship Foundation, ABC House of New Canaan, Filling in the Blanks, the Young Women’s League of New Canaan, and the New Canaan Community Foundation, among other charities.
Civic support goes on. Doug and Alex have both served on the board of the Chamber of Commerce. Doug is currently on New Canaan Library’s board, and Alex is on the board of Lakeview Cemetery.
What’s Next?
Besides the daily tasks of acting on customers’ ideas and constantly trying to be better, not much came to mind to Doug and Alex. That said, there are many children, nieces and nephews, and it is Alex’s and Doug’s hope that “somehow we’re able to keep this in the family, and keep it going.”
“I’d say it is an awful lot of fun,” said Alex. “There are different challenges that come up every day, and we meet some terrific people—really interesting, thoughtful people, both on our team side and with our customers. We’re fortunate to be able to be here, serving this community. And I don’t know… this is a good business for me. I don’t like to sit still and there’s always something to get your hands on and rearrange, change, improve. We’re always trying to improve. And for me, that’s fun.”
Concluded Doug, “it’s an unusual thing to be able to continue a family business through generations. And I think it really speaks to the people that we have working for us, but also the town. New Canaan’s a special town.”
