By John Karolefski
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of a current article from Grocery Headquarters magazine, presented here for discussion.
When Shelley Broader presided over the ribbon cutting for the new Sweetbay Supermarket in Crystal River, Fla. on Aug. 29, the ceremony was more than another store opening. For the president and CEO of the 103-store chain in southwest Florida, it also meant converting the last store in the Kash n’ Karry chain to the new brand. It was the end of a three-year transformation of one of Florida’s oldest grocery chains into a vibrant and bold concept in supermarkets.
“Kash n’ Karry at one time was a strong brand and served as a pillar for the Tampa Bay community,” Ms. Broader said. “We wanted to treat Kash n’ Karry with respect and retire the company gracefully, and I am very proud that we have.
“Now our single focus is building a really successful regional supermarket chain. All of our effort and energy is now focused on improving and growing Sweetbay,” she said.
Before turning the page to the next chapter, it is important to recognize a unique accomplishment in grocery retailing. Taking a chain of well-established supermarkets and gradually closing their doors while simultaneously replacing them with entirely new stores had never been done.
Ms. Broader was the spirit and guiding hand behind the change. Because of her vision, enthusiasm and leadership, Grocery Headquarters is pleased to name this rising star as its Retail Executive of the Year. ??
“These were exhausting and exhilarating years of transition, and we couldn’t have done it without the dedication and resiliency of our entire team,” she said.
The first Sweetbay Supermarket was not a conversion but an exciting new store that opened in November 2004. Using that model, the company conducted thorough consumer research. Armed with the answers, Ms. Broader went about closing Kash n’ Karry stores and refurbishing them as Sweetbays or building new ones – 20 stores in 2005, 60 in 2006 and 23 in 2007. Along the way, seven stores were built from the ground up.
Ms. Broader says her biggest challenge was dealing with Kash n’ Karry’s different store formats and sizes. “We couldn’t have one standard plan to roll out to the entire chain. We had to do a lot of customizing, a lot of detail work and a lot of changes, depending on each site.”??
When Delhaize Group, wanted an executive to turn around Kash n’ Karry, Ms. Broader was chosen. When she arrived at the Florida chain, jaded veterans dubbed her “No. 9.” That’s because she was the ninth executive to lead the chain in the last 17 years. After that dose of reality, she dove into consumer research and filed an unexpected report to her superiors: A turnaround won’t work; start over with a new brand. Fortunately, the company agreed.
Her chief retail competitors were Publix and Winn-Dixie, with Wal-Mart lurking in the background. Since Publix owns service in the mind of the consumer and Wal-Mart owns low prices, Ms. Broader set out to make the Sweetbay brand stand for outstanding quality in food.
“As we started to build a positioning statement, it became apparent that Florida is getting younger and more diverse by the year. Florida consumers have a passion for food, and we wanted to develop a company that mirrored that vibrant state. Those are the key brand attributes that differentiate Sweetbay in the marketplace,”? she said.
“We saw that we had to be an elastic brand for what is becoming a more diverse community. I wanted each Sweetbay to feel like Sweetbay, but at the same time feel like it is tailored just for certain consumers and their needs,” said Ms. Broader.
Discussion Question: What do you think of Grocery Headquarters’ choice of Sweetbay’s Shelley Broader as its “Retail Executive of the Year?” What do you see as the opportunities and challenges facing Ms. Broader and Sweetbay now that the Kash ‘n Karry conversion has been accomplished?
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I have had the chance to visit some Sweetbay stores on my trips to Florida. Anytime you can take an established brand and make it in a lot of respects better and more relevant in the marketplace you should be commended. I think she is an excellent choice.
Sweetbay’s Shelley Broader as “Retail Executive of the Year” is a good choice for all the reasons discussed in Grocery Headquarters, but most of all because the chain executive team is working hard to give Sweetbay its own “feel” so that consumers know the difference between this store and others.
It’s clear that Delhaize is proud of both Food Lion’s and Hannaford’s performance. Sweetbay is the remaining U.S. division, and now it’s up to them to perform. It must be awful to be boss #9. Shelley Broader was given a double challenge: turn around a business and gain leadership credibility internally when 8 other folks couldn’t. If Sweetbay reaches its financial goals, Delhaize should sell the movie rights because a comeback like this would be almost unique.
With this choice, GHQ is making an important statement about the current problems of the supermarket industry and the potential solutions.
Why is everyone so concerned about the pending entry of Tesco to the American marketplace? It’s because the U.S. supermarket industry has lost its way. The consumer desires an interesting and enjoyable place to shop for fresh, nutritious, quality food. The industry tends to view fresh food as just the shopping appetizer to endless monolithic aisles of packaged goods, non-food, and other merchandise to provide higher margins.
When grocery stores began selling lawn chairs and luggage, consumers began deserting them. They need to go “back to the future” and refocus on the consumer.
I was fortunate to hear Ms. Broader speak earlier this year and think she deserves a ton of credit for the Sweetbay conversion. She has a clear vision of how to compete in that marketplace and what will allow her stores to stand out and thrive. If clarity of vision and the energy to rally an entire company around that vision and execute against it is the measure of success for a corporate leader, then she certainly deserves the honor.