Larry Baus has been involved in the grocery store industry in Lincoln in some capacity for nearly half a century, first as an employee of Hinky Dinky, one of the city's first supermarket chains, and later as owner of several small local stores.
Baus said the past few years have been the most competitive he's ever seen, with chains such as ALDI, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's coming into the city for the first time.
Those smaller chains, which focus on some of the same niches that small independent chains do, such as meat, produce and specialty items, have increased competition. But Baus said his store, A Street Market, is not only surviving, but thriving.
He said the key for small grocers is to "understand our role."
"We are a neighborhood grocery store, we don't try to draw from larger markets," said Baus, who co-owns the store with his daughter and son-in-law, Angela and Mike Barry.
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He said the store concentrates on things it does well and is known for.
"Our strength is our produce and our meat," Baus said.
A Street Market also concentrates on customer service, ensuring customers can get in and out quickly while also providing personal touches such as bagging groceries and carrying them out to cars.
Baus said he's lucky in that A Street Market, at 33rd and A streets, is relatively insulated from the larger grocery stores, especially the new ones that have entered the market.
In fact, the store's closest competitors are two of the city's other longtime independent grocers, Leon's and Ideal.
Chad Winters, a partner in the group that owns Leon's and Ideal, agreed with Baus that small independent groceries have to find their niche and do well in it.
Winters said he spent his first three to five years as an owner at Leon's in the late 1990s and early 2000s "kind of keeping up with the Joneses," which meant trying to compete on price and variety with bigger stores.
But he said he quickly learned that "trying to be just like everybody else is being a smaller version of nothing."
Winters said the focus at Leon's changed to things it knew it did well and was known for -- its fresh meat and customer service.
He said he also spent a lot of effort turning Leon's into a foodie paradise, with lots of specialty items you couldn't find anywhere else, such as pricey olive oil imported from Italy.
Then Trader Joe's came to town in December 2010, and suddenly "we were second best, at best."
"That was the first change in the market that affected us," Winters said.
Whole Foods, which opened in December 2013 was the "next big domino," he said.
But Winters found that his fears, for the most part, were overblown.
He said the arrival of those stores forced Leon's, located at 2200 Winthrop Road, to get better, which it did. Despite the increased specialty grocery competition, Leon's has increased its sales three years in a row.
Whole Foods has had an effect on one local grocer, however.
Open Harvest, which is celebrating its 40th year in business this year, has seen its sales fall every month since Whole Foods came to town in December 2013.
"They've hit us pretty hard," said Kelsi Swanson, the general manager of the co-op grocery store at 16th and South streets.
Swanson said it's not just competition from Whole Foods, but nearly every other store has beefed up its natural and organic food options over the past few years as stores such as Trader Joe's, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage and Whole Foods came to town.
"Everybody has upped their game a little bit," she said.
Swanson also said that a market study Open Harvest had done showed people are willing to drive across town for deals, which makes it all the more important for small grocers to cater to their customers' every need.
Emerson Trupp, a longtime customer of Ideal, said he remembers when the previous owners would happily order items that one customer requested.
Trupp, 30, grew up in the neighborhood around 27th Street and Capital Parkway, went to Ideal as a kid, worked there from age 14 to 23 and continues to go to the store "pretty much every day."
"That store changed my life in so many ways, I can't describe it," Trupp said.
Focusing on customers is one of the reasons the surviving independents have been around so long. Ideal has been in business since 1920, about a dozen years longer than Leon's. A Street Market has been around for at least 50 years, Baus said.
All have extremely loyal customers, and Baus said it's not uncommon for children and even grandchildren of customers to become regular customers themselves.
He said his customers run the gamut from people who do all their shopping at A Street Market to those who stop by occasionally to pick up a few items.
"I think there's definitely a market for a small grocery store if you pay attention and do what customers want," Baus said.
