A new 35,000-s.f. Porter’s Thriftway with unique architecture has opened in Big Spring, Texas. The Shelby Report’s Ron Johnston recently toured the airy store with Trae Porter, a third-generation grocer with the family business.
The gleaming Porter’s Thriftway, a former Safeway, started out in rough shape, Porter told Johnston.
“It was scary looking. There was everything in here from Xerox copiers to prosthetic legs,” he said. “I can’t make this up.”
But as they poked around their newly-acquired store, the Porters found a treasure: five massive wooden arches spanning the store.
“That was like Christmas, unwrapping those,” Porter said. “That’s like finding gold. These are old school. They were created years ago.”
They fit nicely with the store’s rustic style. Another design element is its roominess.
“We like to create big, wide aisles—front, back, end, up and down the aisles—because we like to be a throwback to the days when the grocery store was the social center of the community,” Porter said. “We want to create the space for people to be able to stop and visit with their neighbors. We feel like that’s just as valuable as milking every dollar out of every square foot.”
Porter said an elderly couple told him they could not believe how much space for shopping the store gives them.
“There is enough room in the aisle that everybody can shop without running over each other,” he said. “For our older customers, it creates a sense of security. They don’t feel like somebody’s in a hurry and is going to run over them. They can take their time.”
The same thought process went into arranging check stands at the front end.
“My brother-in-law, T.O., and my brother, Judd, and I were up here one evening trying to get our check stands just like we wanted them, and we thought that was going to be an easy task,” Porter said. “And so about four and half, five hours later, and three total restarts—maybe several near fist fights, who knows? That secret will die with us—we got them just right to where there’s plenty of space. We don’t want anybody to feel like the store is imposing on their personal space. Too often people try to take up every square inch, and I understand that concept, but our desire is to create an open, welcoming atmosphere.”
Another way to use all that space is to display hot deals that typically congest a store. It is an experiment of sorts.
“We wanted to see if making this shoppable and giving room to maneuver would increase the sales of these items,” Porter said. “We honestly don’t know if we’re right about that yet. We just feel like that might be the case.”
LED lighting is used everywhere in the store. It makes the colors pop in the produce department, which has a farmers market feel.
“Our produce people do a terrific job of making sure that even a blind person could shop this rack,” Porter said. “There’s no real magic happening here other than just straight-up honest produce people doing a good job.”
In the beer and wine department, which features four aisles for shoppers to peruse, there are beer barrel bottoms hanging on the wall that have been laser etched with the Porter’s logo. They look as if they’ve been branded.
“One of the things that we might do differently than some of the other guys in comparable size stores would be that we try to create a really broad selection of wine and the import beers,” Porter said. “That gives people the option of something other than the most recognizable brands. The selection seems to really be popular with our customers. We’ve got everything from $3 wine up to $50-$70 bottles—just a few of those in case somebody would like to try one.”
Shoppers also will find a single-serve, cold beverages cooler, similar to what convenience stores offer. It is an idea the company first trotted out in its Andrews store, and Porter said it has been popular.
“It’s a good way for people to try just one,” he said. “If they like it, then we’re going to sell a four-pack, six-pack, 12-pack, and it’s generally a good, high-margin, good high-dollar-ring item. That’s proven really successful for us.”
Decorworx helped with the look and, as with the beer barrel bottoms, it also made the aisle markers. In their former life, they were the top rails of a corral that belongs to the designer’s family.
“On some of them, you can see where the horses were rubbing and chewing on them,” Porter said. “Decorworx did just an unbelievable job for us, and they’re just terrific people and they really take ownership and take big pride in their work. They are really involved and it’s a very personal thing for them, and we really, really appreciated that.”
The store features black shelving, which is made possible because the tile flooring doesn’t require waxing. Porter said that saves money in addition to keeping dust down, because there’s no buffing every night.
In addition to the energy-efficient LED lighting throughout the store, there are doors on coolers in the meat department.
“It’s a different look, and I think it takes our customers a little while to get used to it, but what we accomplish with this is the savings on our utility bills. We also are able to keep a more constant temperature for that meat,” Porter said. “It looks terrific. It merchandises really well that way, but it is something new. We’re big fans.”
The meat is kept behind cooler doors at the company’s Crane, Texas, store as well.
“We feel like this is the direction we’ll be going in as we replace cases,” he added.
Meat is fresh cut in the store. Porter said the thought of buying pre-packaged meat is “just offensive to our sensibilities.” Porter’s Thriftway is a member of Affiliated Foods in Amarillo, and Porter said he believed that many of his peers with the wholesaler feel the same way.
“We’re true old-school sack boys. You’ve still got the butcher back there cutting the meat. He’ll cut you what you want. He’ll package it the way that you want it. We’ve got a buzzer over here so that people can call them out of there if there’s something that they would like,” Porter said. “That’s something that we take great pride in.”
Signs in the store tell shoppers what to expect, like the one that states, “Quick, Friendly Checkout & Carry Out.”
“We put those on the wall to let people know that if we’re falling short, we want our customers to hold us accountable,” Porter said. “That’s something that we fully intend to do. That is part of the experience here, and if we’re not providing that, then that’s on us and we’re here to correct it.”
There is another sign that states: “Our philosophy—Take Care of People.” Porter said that extends to employees as well as shoppers.
“If we have happy employees that feel valued and they’re proud to be here, they’re going to in turn take good care of our customers. It’s effective, but it’s also right,” Porter said. “Our company, as we like to say, is a biblically based company. That doesn’t mean we’re out hitting people in the head with our Bible. That means that’s how we make our decisions, and so the most important decision that we can make is to treat our employees, treat our customers with love and with respect. There are no options to that. It’s the right thing to do. That’s what we’ve been told to do by our Creator, and it is something that we’re proud to do. The people that we encounter on a day-to-day basis make that really easy.”
Employees are extended family not just for the Porters, but also for shoppers. He refers to the cashier supervisors as “work mamas.” They work in the cash office/guest services area.
“These are really important people for us. They set the tone,” Porter said. “They’re in a shiny spot, in a really pretty place, but that place is useless without good people. We pride ourselves on attracting and keeping some of the best people we’ve ever met. They’ve become friends and family, and we’re just so proud to have them.”
Trae Porter had been working on the project for a year and a half and was thrilled to turn the lights on at this store, which is the ninth for the family-owned chain.
“We like to say that these are just groceries. We’re selling food to people who are already hungry, and there’s no magic to that,” he said. “This is about taking care of people, and that’s honestly our goal. We hope to not fall short too often. We want to get it right more than we get it wrong.”
*Editor’s note: This store feature also appears in the December 2016 print edition of The Shelby Report of the Southwest.
Porters Thriftway was an amazing project to be involved with. They care about their people and their customers. Its exciting to work with a group of progressive thinkers who allowed us to create the right atmosphere in their store. Thanks Porters Thriftway!