Main Street Market fills northern shopping needs

WELLINGTON – This rapidly growing town about 10 miles northeast of Fort Collins has finally gotten what it had longed hoped for – a real supermarket.

Main Street Market opened in late February and has been steadily winning the hearts and stomachs of local residents with its full array of foods, full-service pharmacy, deli and coffee shop.

Unlike your average supermarket, however, Main Street Market is part of a cooperative, Panhandle Cooperative Association based in Scottsbluff, Neb. Susan Wiedeman, PCA’s corporate spokeswoman, said the company decided to open a store in Wellington because of the town’s growth potential.

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“The Front Range is growing pretty quickly and we felt the town of Wellington has a lot of growth happening,” she said. “It’s about 10 miles north of Fort Collins but kind of their own little community. There’s a lot of young families and it’s definitely a growing community and we wanted to be a part of that,” Wiedeman said.

Wellington has been on a fast track the last few years, seeing its population more than double since 2000 to about 5,300 and adding new residents at a growth rate of about 5 percent per year, according to Larry Lorentzen, town administrator.

Co-op founded in 1942

Panhandle Cooperative Association, founded in 1942, encompasses three grocery stores, in Scottsbluff, Wellington and Torrington, Wyo., along with several gas stations, convenience stores, fuel and propane delivery businesses and seed and fertilizer outlets.

Wiedeman said the cooperative arrangement allows its members to share in the profits of all the businesses. Customers who become co-op members get rebate checks at the end of the year in an amount depending on their level of shopping activity.

Last year, $699,105 was sent out to 10,675 recipients for an average refund of $65.49, she said.

But you don’t have to be a member to shop at Main Street Market, and Wiedeman notes that it’s not all about getting money back. She said the co-op prides itself on its small town friendliness and personal service.

“We hope we offer more personal service and products you’re not going to find at other chain stores,” she said.

At Main Street Market, shoppers can buy local dairy products from Morning Fresh Dairy in Bellvue and fresh meats from Front Range Natural Meats in Wellington.

Wiedeman said the store also plans to sell organic produce grown at nearby Grant Farms in the near future.

Prices at the store are competitive with national chain stores and the featured brand is Shurfine Foods, a wholesale food provider based in Norfolk, Neb. “We get good discounts and rebates back from them,” she said.

Wiedeman said the store has about 1,600 members signed up so far with most – about 1,200 – from Wellington.

Shoppers slow to show

Even though Wellington residents were waiting a long time for their own supermarket, the expected numbers of shoppers have been slow to show up, store officials acknowledge.

“I think any independent grocer – whether it’s a co-op or not – has a little tougher time than the big chains,” she said. “We don’t have the advertising and marketing budgets that the big chains and big boxes do.”

John Rohn, store manager, said business is definitely picking up about six months after the store’s opening. “It’s been fairly good. I think we expected more, but it’s starting to increase the longer we’re open.

“We just came off our best week ever during the Fourth of July week,” he added. “We took part in the parade and handed out a slew of coupons.”

Rohn said he believes most Wellingtonians work outside of town and have gotten into the habit of shopping for their groceries on the way home, a habit that might be hard to break.

“I think once they get in the store and see what we’ve got, (business will) increase,” he said.

Rohn said one thing that would help make the store more attractive – sitting as it does alone on the town’s east side next to I-25 – would be an attached strip mall with other amenities that could help lure shoppers.

Lorentzen said an application for a strip mall just south of Main Street Market has been approved by the town and is awaiting the purchase of a permit by developer Fred Ziegler, whose firm, ZWZ LLC, also built the supermarket that PCA is leasing for Main Street Market.

Ziegler said he isn’t sure when he’ll break ground on the project but said he hopes to have it ready for tenants by the end of the year. Tenants will likely include a fast-food restaurant, sit-down restaurant, hair styling salon, insurance office, financial brokerage company office and bank, Ziegler said.

“I think it’s an all-positive deal and Wellington’s just right for it,” he said.

Wiedeman said she’s certain that Main Street Market will be a strong anchor for that kind of small-town business hub.

“I think more and more people are looking for service and wanting more service and I think that’s a niche we fill pretty well in Wellington,” she said.