A family-owned grocery chain has adapted to its local markets for more than four decades, successfully navigating a marketplace of retail giants.
Craig Cavin, who leads Country Grocer – founded by his maternal grandparents, sees local connection as key to success.

“We definitely pride ourselves on putting as much local product as we can on the shelves and, within reason, keeping it at a fair price point,” said Cavin.

The Victoria, B.C., headquartered chain informally adopted a “Buy Canadian” policy when it was formed in the early 1980s. So the company was well-prepared for consumers riled by strained relations with the United States.

For Country Grocer, “buy local” means purchasing good from suppliers and producers on Vancouver Island and in British Columbia. It secures fruits and vegetables from Whole Produce, located on Vancouver Island, Vancouver-based Terminal Produce and Burnaby, B.C.’s Discovery Organics.
Country Grocer even sources housewares and beauty products through regional distributors like Nanaimo, B.C. Johnston Drug Wholesale. And it secures meats from Victoria’s PSC Natural Foods and B&C Food Distributors of Saanichton, B.C.

Cavin said Country Grocer views itself as a buyer for its local customers. That leads it to stock products from the Island, Vancouver, and other B.C. suppliers over those from international, including American, wholesalers.

“There’s a lot of local suppliers as well that could supply two or three or four stores – they can’t supply 11,” referring to the number of Country Grocer stores. “So, it makes it a little more difficult. … It’s just [about] staying on top of what’s local, what’s being produced locally.”

Country Grocer works to stay on top of trends by attending local tradeshows and other places where local suppliers and producers peddle their wares, he said.

“It’s as simple as even going to farmers’ markets sometimes,” said Cavin. “Our guys are scouring everywhere they can to make sure that they’re staying on top of local products as much as possible.

“There’s a lot of stuff that gets brought to you, but there’s a lot of unknown. There’s a lot of people who have these operations and products that don’t know how to get [the goods] out there, so maybe they are a little hidden.

“So, it’s really [about] going to discover the undiscovered and making sure that we’re staying on top of what’s going on and, hopefully, being first with a few things. We don’t always have to be first. That’s not really what our goal is. But if we can be [first sometimes], that’s fantastic.”

However, Country Grocer does depend on having good relationships with big national suppliers, like Cargill and Maple Leaf Foods, for example.
It has to compete with large national and international rivals. It faces off every day with Thrifty Foods, which has more than 25 stores on the Island in the Vancouver area (owned by Empire Foods, Sobeys parent); major B.C. chain Save-On Foods, (of the Pattison group), Loblaw and Walmart, among others.

Country Grocer plans to stay local. All but one of the company’s stores are located on Vancouver Island, with one on nearby Salt Spring Island.
Staying local also means staying independent. The company has no intention to sell to, or merge with, a larger player.
“We love what we do,” said Cavin.