Nugget Markets
Encyclopedia
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
chain operating within the greater Sacramento metropolitan area. It is headquartered in Woodland, California
Woodland, California
Woodland is the county seat of Yolo County, California, located approximately northwest of Sacramento, and is a part of the Sacramento - Arden-Arcade - Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 55,468 at the 2010 census.Woodland's origins trace back to 1850 when California...
. As of October 2009, the company operates 9 of its flagship Nugget-brand stores, as well as 3 Food 4 Less
Food 4 Less
Food 4 Less is a national price-impact warehouse grocery chain, currently owned by Kroger. It is a no-frills grocery store where the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout...
franchises.
History
Nugget Market was founded in 1926 by the father-and-son team of William and Mack Stille. Their store was located in the heart of downtown Woodland, California. Son Mack ran most of the day-to-day operations and helped pioneer many new concepts, such as incorporating meat departments into the grocery store, installing refrigerated produce cases (built by his father) and employing checkout stands equipped with take-away power belts. Customers and competitors alike noted their progressive, employee-friendly approach, providing associates (employees) with some of the top wage and benefit packages in the industry.Expansion Outside Woodland
In the late 1970s, under the leadership of Mack's son, Gene, and grandson, Eric, the company began its expansion outside the local Woodland community by opening a Nugget store in neighboring DavisDavis, California
Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. In 1984, Nugget acquired a pair of Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
Alpha Beta
Alpha Beta
Alpha Beta was a chain of supermarkets. Former Alpha Beta stores have all been purchased by other grocery chains and rebranded.-History:Before Alpha Beta was the name a of store, it was the name of a marketing concept used in grocery stores founded by Albert and Hugh Gerrard; it referred to...
Stores and converted them into Nuggets, one in the Greenhaven-Pocket neighborhood, the other in Foothill Farms. All Alpha Beta associates were invited to join the company, and many continue to work with Nugget today. In the early 90s, Nugget opened its first Food 4 Less franchise in Vallejo, California
Vallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
.
Fresh to Market
Beginning in the late 90s, Nugget developed their new Fresh to Market concept, pairing European-style open-air marketing with higher-end products and specialty departments, such as their Cheese Concierge, Pastry Chefs in a full-range Bakery, Full-Service Kitchen, Healthy Living Department, dedicated Seafood butcher and a Juice & Espresso Bar. The Stilles began an aggressive search for new locations with clientele that would appreciate their pleasant, motivated personnel. In 2001, the company built its first all-new Fresh to Market store in Vacaville'sVacaville, California
Vacaville, California is a city located in the northeastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area in Solano County. The city is nearly half way between Sacramento and San Francisco on I-80. It sits approximately from Sacramento, and from San Francisco...
Browns Valley Marketplace and then at Oak Tree Plaza in East Davis.
Fresh to Market emphasizes a more artful approach to grocery marketing, with elaborately designed product displays, classical exterior architecture, a contemporary approach to interior design, and heavy use of natural sunlight. The "Nugget Tower" surrounded by statues of a robed woman with a basket of food above her head is a signature architectural feature at the entrance of its newest stores. The robed woman, casually dubbed the Market Mom, is now the corporate logo and mascot of the company. An artistic rendition of the statue with the tagline "Fresh to Market - Where Quality & Price Matter" has replaced the classic, double-G-downstroke-hoop Nugget logo in most corporate branding.
In 2008, Nugget sold its in-store pharmacies to Long's Drugs (which has in turn been bought by CVS Pharmacy).
Ever fine-tuning, the Stille family continues to experiment with niche foods from basic to boutique, working closely with hundreds of grocery vendors and several score local farms, ranches, vineyards, mills and manufacturers. Growing up around Nugget, many of Yolo County's highly motivated and educated organic farmers trained at the University of California, Davis, ag school and have eagerly embraced the latest science of food growing and responsible resource management. The Stille family was enthusiastic for organic long before it mainstreamed.
Points of Difference
Nugget continues to struggle against its image as an exclusive upscale grocer due to its specialty products and upscale store decor. Nugget identifies dominant local grocery chain Raley's & Bel-AirRaley's
Raley's Supermarkets is a privately held, family-owned supermarket chain that operates 133 stores under the Raley's, Bel Air Markets, Nob Hill Foods, and Food Source banners in northern California and Nevada. Founded in 1935 by Tom Raley in Placerville, Raley's employs around 13,400 workers today...
, as well as national chains Safeway
Safeway Inc.
Safeway Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain after The Kroger Co., with, as of December 2010, 1,694 stores located throughout the western and central United States and western Canada. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern...
and Whole Foods
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market is a foods supermarket chain based in Austin, Texas which emphasizes "natural and organic products." The company has been ranked among the most socially responsible businesses and placed third on the U.S...
, as its primary competition.
To differentiate themselves from the local competition, they are the major regional distributor of several high quality specialty brands, such as Boars Head Deli Meats
Boar's Head Provision Company
Boar's Head Provision Company is a supplier of delicatessen meats and cheeses. The company was founded in 1905 in the New York City area and now distributes its products throughout the United States....
, Harris Ranch Beef, and Equator Coffees. Nugget supports local produce growers with its partnership with NorCal Produce of West Sacramento, California
West Sacramento, California
West Sacramento is a city in Yolo County, California. It is contiguous with Sacramento, but is separated by the Sacramento River which is also the county line, so West Sacramento is in a different county than Sacramento...
. Signs throughout their stores tout these partnerships and the quality of the products as key points of difference to shop at Nugget.
Nugget has also continued its stance on provided quality employee benefits, with wages and benefits meeting or exceeding those of its competition. Strong benefits coupled with a positive work environment and responsive leadership have allowed Nugget to remain a union-free workplace. Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
has recognized Nugget Markets for the past three years as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. In 2008, the company placed 12th, in 2009, Nugget reached the No. 10 spot, and in 2010, they moved up to number 5, placing just behind Google.
Nugget continues its push to open new stores in the Sacramento and North Bay regions. Recently opened locations are in Elk Grove
Elk Grove, California
Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, located just south of the state capital of Sacramento. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 153,015...
and El Dorado Hills
El Dorado Hills, California
El Dorado Hills is an unincorporated census-designated place located in El Dorado County, California, east of the state capital of Sacramento. The population was 42,108 at the 2010 census, up from 18,016 at the 2000 census...
. There are also tentative plans for Nugget to build a unique, significantly smaller size store under the K Street Mall revitalization proposal of Hank Fischer/Evergreen Developments. The K Street location would likely be half the size of a traditional Nugget store and, given the nature of the proposal, more focused on their Full Service Kitchen, Bakery, and Juice Bar.
"Price Challenge"
Because of the breadth and quality of merchandise they carry in their stores, there is the perception that Nugget is expensive and overpriced. The company has attempted to tackle this problem through their "Since 1926 Price Challenge". All guests (customers) are invited to pick up blank price-comparison survey forms at the stores, which let them survey prices on 25 items of their own choosing at Nugget and at one conventional competitor (such as Raley's, Bel Air or Safeway). Whether Nugget wins or loses, every properly completed survey is entered into a monthly drawing for a $1,000 Nugget Markets Gift Card. Nugget claims to win at least 80% of item-to-item price comparisons with other full-service markets.Nugget also publicizes its own internal team of price checkers who weekly go to competitors to check their prices. All Nugget-brand stores have a "Price Challenge Scoreboard", designed to resemble a baseball scoreboard, with a tally of wins and losses against their competitors.
Vallejo store controversy
Given the company's success with the Food-4-Less store, in 2003 Nugget began plans to open a Nugget in Vallejo as well. The company sought assurances from the city that a supercenter store would not enter Vallejo, and these fears were seemingly assuaged when Wal-Mart built a supercenter several miles away in American CanyonAmerican Canyon, California
American Canyon is a city located in southern Napa County, California, northeast of San Francisco. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2010 census reported the city's population at 19,454. Its zip code is 94503, and its area code is 707...
. Development began on a Nugget and a property was selected.
In 2005, Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
made clear its intention to build a Supercenter in the White Slough neighborhood, on the location of a former K-Mart. Given the proximity of the proposed Supercenter to the existing location in American Canyon, as well as the guidelines of the neighborhood plan preventing the construction of a store of this type, the plans for the Nugget in Vallejo continued. However, President Eric Stille made clear to the Vallejo City Council that the approval of the Vallejo Wal-Mart would effectively mean the end of the Vallejo Nugget.
In November 2006, with construction already underway at the Vallejo Nugget location, Stille announced the company would no longer build a Nugget in Vallejo, citing a City Council deadlock vote on whether to approve the Vallejo Wal-Mart. Stille stated that with the construction of a Vallejo Wal-Mart, there simply would not be enough grocery dollars in Vallejo to make a Nugget financially feasible.
His comments and actions resulted in a backlash from the city residents. Supporters of the Vallejo Nugget cited the lack of upscale grocery options in the city, and the need to head down into the East Bay
East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)
The East Bay is a commonly used, informal term for the lands on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States...
or up to the Vacaville Nugget for gourmet goods. Opponents derided Stille's actions as unwarranted, claiming that Nugget feared that its customer service or products would not be good enough for Vallejo consumers. Others accused the Nugget of trying to blackmail the city in order to maintain their virtual monopoly on discount grocery goods in Vallejo.
Active Nugget Market stores
- Downtown Woodland - 157 Main St., Woodland, CaliforniaWoodland, CaliforniaWoodland is the county seat of Yolo County, California, located approximately northwest of Sacramento, and is a part of the Sacramento - Arden-Arcade - Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 55,468 at the 2010 census.Woodland's origins trace back to 1850 when California...
- El Macero - 409 Mace Blvd., Davis, CaliforniaDavis, CaliforniaDavis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
- Lake Crest - 1040 Florin Rd., Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
- Southport - 2000 Town Center Plaza, West Sacramento, CaliforniaWest Sacramento, CaliforniaWest Sacramento is a city in Yolo County, California. It is contiguous with Sacramento, but is separated by the Sacramento River which is also the county line, so West Sacramento is in a different county than Sacramento...
- Park Plaza - 771 Pleasant Grove Blvd., Roseville, CaliforniaRoseville, California-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Roseville had a population of 118,788. The population density was 3,279.4 people per square mile...
- Browns Valley - 130 Browns Valley Pkwy., Vacaville, CaliforniaVacaville, CaliforniaVacaville, California is a city located in the northeastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area in Solano County. The city is nearly half way between Sacramento and San Francisco on I-80. It sits approximately from Sacramento, and from San Francisco...
- Oak Tree - 1414 E. Covell Blvd., Davis, California
- El Dorado Hills - 4500 Post St., El Dorado Hills, CaliforniaEl Dorado Hills, CaliforniaEl Dorado Hills is an unincorporated census-designated place located in El Dorado County, California, east of the state capital of Sacramento. The population was 42,108 at the 2010 census, up from 18,016 at the 2000 census...
- Elk Grove - 7101 Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Grove, California
Active Food-4-Less warehouses
- 5184 Sonoma Blvd., Vallejo, CaliforniaVallejo, CaliforniaVallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
- 451 Pioneer Rd., Woodland, California
- 3333 Coach Ln., Cameron Park, CaliforniaCameron Park, CaliforniaCameron Park is a census-designated place in El Dorado County, California, United States and is part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 18,228 at the 2010 census, up from 14,549 at the 2000 census...
Defunct stores
- Riverside - 6419 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento, California
- Hillsdale - 5731 Hillsdale Blvd., Sacramento, California