Ashland Shop’n Kart is the sponsor for the Ashland Food Project’s October food pickup. AFP Board Member John Trivers recently had the opportunity to chat by phone with Eric Chaddock, the Store Manager of Shop’n Kart. (Our conversation has been edited for clarity).
John: Hello, Eric. Thank you for taking the time to connect with our readers. Please tell us about Shop’n Kart and your work there.
Eric: I’m the store manager of Ashland Shop’n Kart. We opened our store back in 1988. The owner and I put it together. The building we are in came out of bankruptcy in late 1987. It was purchased in 1988. I was about 28 years old and the owner was 30 and we’ve been here ever since.
John: In addition to the Ashland store, wasn’t there a Shop’n Kart in White City at one time as well?
Eric: Yes, I want to say this was around 1992. We had some competitors open up here in Ashland and that really kind of knocked the socks off of us. At that point, the owner decided to pick up another store, so we bought the White City store from an independent grocer and turned into a second Shop’n Kart. The owner ran that store and I ran the Ashland store. We kept it for about seven or eight years.
John: The Ashland store has indeed been a local success story. How many staff do you currently employ?
Eric: We have less now since Covid. We used to typically have around 95 and I think right now we have around 75. Covid has definitely changed the landscape.
John: I’ve seen some familiar faces in the store for many years. For example, Jerry the Produce Manager I’ve known for close to 25 years.
Eric: He’s a great guy and plays a big role on our team. We’ve definitely got a mix of long time and newer employees.
John: Ashland has several grocers that are part of grocery store chains. What sets Shop’n Kart apart from these other stores and what makes it unique for Ashland?
Eric: Well, I’ll tell you an interesting story. So when we opened up in 1988, we were a conventional box store. We had conventional groceries, similar to what you saw in our White City store and other chain stores. We carried your typical items and Spam and toilet paper and frozen veggies… and then Albertson’s came in and opened the store across the street around 1993 and just kicked us in the teeth. They’re a big store with over 50,000 square feet. We’re half that size. At that point in time, we had to reevaluate who we were and we started listening to our customers more about what kind of items to carry. We started learning from scratch about natural foods, organic foods, and unique items, but applying box store pricing, volume pricing, and negotiating commodities. It morphed into this strange hybrid. Back then we carried about 17,000 SKUs in the store. And right now we’re pushing probably around 42,000 items.
John: Wow, that’s impressive. I’ve noticed that as a customer of Shop’n Kart over the years that when I’ve come across some unique product and I’ve inquired about getting it in the store, I’d say most of the time the response has been positive. I’ve been told we can make an effort to get this on the shelves and inevitably you do. This is really cool. Customers are truly heard.
Eric: One of the aspects for us during the early days is we developed a lot of relationships with different suppliers. And when Covid hit us, that really helped us because we can buy from three or four different natural food wholesalers, two different conventional wholesalers plus direct suppliers. We can source a lot more items even as the out of stock situation with Covid has impacted retailers.
We do our best to pull from a variety of suppliers and we’ve weathered the storm a lot better than some companies that only buy from one supplier. We’ve been fortunate this way.
John: What do you see as the challenges that we face with hunger and food access in our community, particularly now with Covid? Are there any trends that you’ve noticed?
Eric: I’m normally an optimist and the cup’s half full, but times are tough. I have children that have children and everyone’s trying to feed their families. I see the prices of things going up. We really try to buy and hold items when we can. We try to fill our warehouse and lock in a price for as long as we can. But when that product runs out, we’re forced to take the increase in price. We have actually lowered our margin on quite a few things just because of the price point. It’s tough. The inflation cost for the price of goods is just insane. What many don’t realize is fuel costs hit a product at least three times – from the farms to the plant, and then to the wholesaler and then to the store. My freight charges are higher than they’ve ever been. That’s our biggest struggle. There’s no room for a lot of companies with the transportation charge.
John: Are there any particular products, produce, or other items that you notice are off the charts higher than others?
Eric: Since last January, I would say everything is about 9% higher than average and it’s in every commodity, It’s milk, it’s eggs, it’s bread. It’s everything.
John: So in this time period, Shop’n Kart has chosen to support the Ashland Food Project. What inspired you and your team to support the Project?
Eric: The AFP is well known in our community. It is an institution locally and we know it helps the community and we know it helps put food into the hands of people that need it. You know, our store, we wouldn’t be what we are today if we weren’t community oriented. Our community is our customers. We spend much more on donations to local activities than we do paying for radio advertising and print advertising because it gets in the hands of the community – whether we’re doing gift cards or donating food. We have to take care of our community. All of us do.
John: That’s really cool, Eric. Can you share about some of the organizations in our community that Shop’n Kart has supported?
Eric: Here are some that we’ve supported over the past couple months – Ashland World Music Festival, Jefferson Public Radio, Willow Wind School, Ashland High School, Ashland Middle School, a Green Springs Fire and Rescue event, a Tree House Books event, a Salmon River Watershed Restoration event, Oak Knolls Women’s Golf Association – these are just a few. There was the Serenity Kids Toddler event. We donated a couple thousand dollars worth of baby formula.
John: My gosh, that’s an impressive list and it really speaks to the heart of your community ethos. One last question – when shoppers come into the store, are there specific things that they can do to help our community?
Eric: Yes, we have gift certificates in the front office. People can purchase them for the Ashland Emergency Food Bank. These gift certificates go directly to help support the Food Bank. I think they’re in $1, $5, and $10 dollar increments. We’ve been doing this for at least 15 years, if not 20 years now.
John: Thank you, Eric. We at the Ashland Food Project appreciate the support of Shop’n Kart.
Eric: You’re welcome!
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Ashland Shop’n Kart is located at 2268 Ashland St, Ashland, OR 97520
(541) 488-1579
https://ashlandshopnkart.com/
