Lucky One Lemonade. Zipper Coolers on wheels. Mike's Hard Blueberry Lime. New seafood salad—sold fresh—and Walnut Creek Cinnamon Toast Bread.
These foods, beverages and general merchandise items are just a few of the items on display on Shawnee Grocery’s Facebook page in July, a social media vehicle Carrie McCaw takes full advantage of to support the fortunes of her 1,500-square-foot convenience store in Stout, Ohio.
McCaw makes it a daily obligation to post compelling store items to draw not only locals but people living outside Stout. She stays focused on Facebook rather than engaging with Instagram or TikTok.
“Facebook does an amazing job for us—I post items and get quick response. It’s a really good form of advertisement and it’s free,” said McCaw, who operates the legacy store with her husband, Zach. The couple took control in 2007 after Carrie McCaw’s parents, who had owned it since 1993, retired.
Custom deli a draw
The rural independent convenience store with low competition sells everything from deli meats and novelty confection to firewood and plumbing supplies. It also issues hunting and fishing licenses. Social media plays an instrumental role to complement word-of-mouth interest in all its merchandise.
“We try and post something every day, and I handle all of that. We get hits from out-of-town people in Ohio and Kentucky. We’re about 100 miles in several directions from Cincinnati, Lexington (Kentucky) and Columbus (Ohio),” said McCaw.
On Facebook, Shawnee Grocery’s daily postings are well populated by a broad product line from Walnut Creek, a northern Ohio wholesale supplier who serves as its provider of deli-related products and more.
Also offered are soups, chilis and hot food that can be consumed on-site, at several picnic tables outside. “We grow foodservice 10% every year, mainly driven by deli.”
Custom-made deli sandwiches are the draw, said McCaw, who has five full-time employees. “The food is unique in that nobody else in this region offers pre-made sandwiches, which sets us apart. It’s more labor but it’s paid off. We’ve met people across the state who go out of their way for them, and Facebook helps tremendously.”
Cold vault re-vamp
The hot summer is providing a beverage opportunity for the McCaws.
“We typically stick with the tried- and-true beverage segments such as beer, energy, soda pop and sports drinks,” said McCaw. “Local customers don’t have an appetite for protein shakes or functional brands with vitamins or minerals.”
To increase overall store flow and spark impulse sales, Shawnee Grocery re-vamped its 10-cooler beverage department based on what was selling and what was not—expanding on hot sellers and helping to free up needed space by eliminating product from one major beverage supplier based on unappealing terms of its merchandising contract.
“We designed it so customers would pass more of our 10 cold vault doors to get to the most popular beverage segments. From left to right, we put beer first, then energy, soda pop, sports drinks and at the far end is dairy and juice. It’s a better flow and gets them walking more across the store. Our store at 1,500 square feet, and too small for warm floor beverage stock,” she said.
Offering an occasional foodservice bundle offer that includes deli with chips and drink, the owners tend to package 1- or 2-liter carbonated soft drinks with these offers rather than 16- or 20-ounce bottles. They don’t offer a fountain program due to space constraints.
Outside at the modest-sized forecourt, unbranded fuel is available from a single multi-pump dispenser, with gas throughput amounting to about 8,000 gallons per month.
At the pump, Shawnee doesn’t have card readers, So, customers must enter the store to pay for fuel. While there, they can sample deli foods and a slew of other products that might have been featured on Facebook. Shawnee Grocery also sells a robust supply of propane and kerosene, relying on Weaver’s Gas and Oil, West Portsmouth, Ohio, for its weekly or bi-weekly drop.
McCaw grew up with grocery/c-store in her blood, which made the decision easy to succeed her parents in ownership. But the couple almost sold Shawnee Grocery a couple years ago before developing seller’s remorse, and thus kept it.
Those selling sentiments could recur if another right offer came along, she said “We love this business, and my kids love the retail environment just as I did,” she said. “But we want to travel more, so we’ll have to see what the future holds.”
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