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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Tom Wolfe, owner of Wolfe’s Market in Claremont, prices items inside his Foothill Boulevard store. Mr. Wolfe is planning on expanding his current lunch, dinner and take-home food services. |
Wolfe’s Market makes moves for the future
Amid heavy competition in Claremont’s specialty food store market, family-owned and operated Wolfe’s Market is set for a major overhaul. With plans to cut back on groceries and display space to make way for their growing lunch and dinner operations, Wolfe’s management hopes the changes will help weather the threat from competition and launch the store into the future.
Wolfe’s has been a fixture of the Claremont community for as long as anyone can remember. When John Wolfe first opened the store in 1917, it mostly catered to travelers along Route 66, with a full service gas pump station and a deli cafe. Over the years, the store has tinkered with its services and identity, reacting to market forces and the desires of its regular customer base.
With Sprouts Farmers Market opening last July and a new Trader Joes expected to open in mid-April, both located within a mile of Wolfe’s Market along Foothill Boulevard, the store is once again recreating itself.
“It was pretty scary,” said owner Tom Wolfe, upon learning about Sprouts and Trader Joes. “I think that location is a key aspect of the grocery market business. When you put them close together, it cuts the pie and really takes market share away.”
His initial reaction was a total revamp of the store, with a heavy reduction of produce and aisle space to transform the shop into more of a deli, lunch and dinner venue. Roughly 70 seats would have overtaken the majority of floor space in order to expand on the most successful operation of the market.
The changes would have required a month-long shutdown and a drastic change to the core products and character of the market. But after talking to numerous customers, the plan just did not make sense.
“What’s the most important thing about the project is that we’ve come back to the conclusion that we’re a grocery store,” Mr. Wolfe said. “Some of the departments that were going to be eliminated – customers weren’t real excited about it.”
Many regulars did not want to see changes to the specialty produce, dairy and meat departments, Mr. Wolfe said. While their lunch menu and take-home foods have been most successful products in recent years, customers still come in droves to pick up unique grocery items and produce.
“I come here because I find things that I don’t find anywhere else,” said Martha Estus, a regular shopper. (story continues below)
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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Fresh produce, dairy and meats will remain at Wolfe’s Market as the store looks to expand its lunch, dinner and take-home food services. |
So the plans changed. The indoor seating area, where lunch and pick up foods are prepared, will be limited to 32 seats. Fresh produce, dairy and meats will remain, albeit in new, condensed shelving spaces. The most drastic cuts will be in staple groceries - such as sugar, flour and rice - which customers can find at discount stores like Costco.
Renovation time will be cut down and cause less impact to customers, Mr. Wolfe said. Much of the work can be done overnight and by shutting down the store on limited days throughout the renovation process.
Wolfe’s will continue offering its loyal customers special services such as home delivery and charge accounts. Store hours will also continue to operate nearly the same as they do now.
There have been some cutbacks on staff over the past year, moving down from 50 to 37. Mr. Wolfe said many employees have left on their own terms, and none were rehired to fill their place.
Construction on the project will begin as early as June and last roughly 3 months. Mr. Wolfe hopes to have everything ready by the time the new school year rolls around.
“A big part of the latest remodel is to emphasize where we’ve grown, give our customers more space and comfort,” Mr. Wolfe said. “It will make things easier when making orders and offer a nice place to sit down if they want to eat here.”
After deciding that a move away from its current location would be too risky, Mr. Wolfe hopes the latest changes will rejuvenate his business. His short-term goal is to run the store until at least 2017 in order to reach the 100-year mark of operation.
“I don’t care what they do,” said Shawn Clark, another regular Wolfe’s shopper. “As long as they don’t close, I’m happy.”
—Tony Krickl
