Company Blog

If You Had to Choose

by Adam Zack — December 27, 2017

Would they choose our store?

Do you ever play out the scenario “If you had a gun to your head and you HAD to choose…” followed by something like one food to eat the rest of your life, or one album to listen to, or which kid is your favorite? Kind of like Sophie’s Choice*, but without the death consequence for the child you didn’t choose. When it comes to shopping, a loathsome chore in my book, I used to have discussions with my two daughters about shopping and my strong aversion to malls. I told them that I could be happy for the rest of my life with only two stores – Jensen’s (our grocery store) and Target (for clothes, entertainment, housewares). Home Depot might be a close third. The scenario would never play out in real life, but it got me thinking about the question that if someone had a gun to my head and I could only choose ONE grocery store to shop at for the rest of my life, what would it be? All things would have to be considered – prices, selection, quality, service. No longer would I be able to get paper towels and foil at Costco and potstickers at Trader Joes and fresh meat at Jensen’s. It would be all in one til death do us part. The more interesting part of the question would be what would our customers say if that gun were pointed to their temple and they had to make a single life-long grocery commitment. Would they choose our store? Would they choose our competition? Would it be an incredibly difficult decision or an obvious choice? It’s an interesting question to ponder with your management team. Are we doing everything within our power to make the decision on where to shop be a no-brainer for our customers?

*Sophie’s choice starred Meryl Streep in an Academy Award winning performance as a Polish immigrant who had to make the choice at the Auschwitz concentration camp which of her children would go to a work camp and which would be sent to the gas chamber.