It’s taken more than two decades for Chris Bray to finally have her own convenience store. “For 19 years, I worked for Kwik Trip. When the company closed its Brownsville, Minnesota, location, I managed the store under a new owner for another seven years,” she said. When that owner decided to sell, she and her husband jumped at the chance to buy the store.
“Through my years in the industry, I’ve noticed that the bigger the company gets, the more difficult it becomes to customize to meet the particular needs of its customers. My dream was to individualize my store based on customer needs and wants,” she said.
More than a year ago, she had the opportunity to put into practice all the training she received with Kwik Trip in her own store, and The River Station was born.
Making Changes
To put her stamp on the store, Bray began with the essentials of cleaning the store and freshening it up with new paint. Then she focused on food. “We added a lot more food options and grocery items because we’re in a little town without a supermarket,” she said. The River Station carries “a little bit of everything” in groceries to serve as both a fill-in shop and a weekly stop for customers.
The eclectic mix of items makes the store “tricky to set. We have sage, garlic salt, cake mixes and bags of chips, and we have gluten-free options and diet items, too. It can be challenging to figure out where to put everything,” she said. It took her a few months before she finalized the planogram for the store.
But the main change had to do with the foodservice. “I knew we would need to really up the quality of the food we served to bring in customers, but we also needed to cater to our core clientele, which are a lot of farmers and workers,” she said.
To that end, she created a menu with an emphasis on quality, such as real roast beef sandwiches and homemade pizzas. “We do a lot of pizzas. Those have proven to be very popular,” she said. The menu also includes hot to-go meals a couple of times a week, such as fish dinners during the Lenten season, meatballs and hot roast beef sandwiches and mashed potatoes. “We’ll pick two nights each week and offer different hot meals for takeout, while our regular menu of sandwiches and pizzas stays available all the time,” she explained.
Fresh-baked muffins, donuts and pastries are available each morning. The grab-and-go case has prepackaged cold sandwiches, fresh-made salads and bread sticks. Bray has plans to expand the section to include more prepackaged options.
The River Station has one bar and one table for seating, but in nicer weather, Bray sets up tables outside for customers to linger. Future plans include adding a second story to the building to expand the seating.
If a customer asks for a particular product, The River Station puts it in stock for them. They'll even deliver orders.
Making Connections
With her background in convenience retail, Bray has been able to “cater to our customers instead of following corporate planograms. When our customers want a particular item, we can get it for them. If someone can’t get to the store, we can deliver their order. Because we’re a single store, we’re able to make each customer experience unique.”
She runs regular polls on Facebook and in the store to gauge customer interest in products, such as if she should bring in a soft-serve ice-cream machine (a resounding yes!). “This has become an easy way for customers to feel like they are integral to our store, and it gives us insight into what we should add,” Bray said.
My dream was to individualize my store based on customer needs and wants.
The store’s Facebook page has begun to get better traction since Bray turned over posting responsibilities to her staff, who shared more photos, and that has translated into a boost in store traffic. “For example, I posted a photo of our bacon long johns pastries, and we ended up selling 80 of them in a day—out of a town of 500 people,” she said.
Bray also brought in River Station merchandise, such as mugs and tumblers, which provide another way for customers to show their appreciation of the store—and advertise it to their friends and family.
With her close-knit ties to the community, she has found it easy to connect with customers. “I’ve been in the area a long time, so that helps when you know everybody,” she joked. The store helps with charity and benefits, as well as providing customers with good food and good service.
“I hope every customer leaves with a smile and a good feeling that this is a place that gets them,” Bray said. “Sometimes, I think I’m more like a bartender, listening to people and helping them to feel comfortable in our store. I remember things about them, like what’s going on with their family. I think it’s that personal connection that makes people want to come back again and again.”