Woodman's Food Market

Infobox_Company
company_name = Woodman's Food Markets, Inc.
company_
company_type = Employee-owned
foundation = Janesville, Wisconsin (1918)
location = Janesville, Wisconsin
key_people = Phillip Woodman, President, CEO
Clint Woodman, Vice President John Adams, COO industry = Retail
products = Grocery
revenue = $980 million [cite web
url=http://www.fdpcg.com/fdpcg/pco/PCO_FD_Woodmans05.pdf
title=Private Company Overview: Woodman's Food Market
publisher=PCG
month=September | year=2005
accessdate=2006-09-04|format=PDF]
num_employees = 2,200+ [cite web
url=http://www.nceo.org/library/eo100.html
title=The Employee Ownership 100
publisher=The National Center for Employee Ownership
year=2005
accessdate=2006-09-04]
homepage = [http://www.woodmans-food.com/ woodmans-food.com]

Woodman's Food Market is an employee-owned supermarket chain in Wisconsin and northern Illinois, operating twelve warehouse stores.

History

The company was founded as a small grocery in Janesville, Wisconsin by Willard Woodman, a meat cutter. Willard's sons Willard P (Phil) Woodman and Dan Woodman expanded the business into supermarkets serving medium-sized cities in the area. Beginning with their third Janesville location, they expanded to a big box format, and now build each of their stores as anchors to a small retail complex. In the 1990s, the company was sold to its employees through stock share; Phillip Woodman remains President and CEO... [cite news
url=http://www2.jsonline.com/news/obits/jul01/wood21072001a.asp
title=Woodman built food store chain
publisher=Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
date=July 20, 2001
accessdate=2006-09-05]

Overview

Woodman's works on a warehouse model, operating stores in the 200-250,000 square foot range, as opposed to the 50-75,000 square foot size of typical grocery stores. Stores are built with a minimum level of amenities, usually with inexpensive materials. Older locations, constructed in the 1980s, have faux-stucco concrete exteriors and wood-paneled interiors. These stores are beginning to be renovated, although work proceeds very slowly because the company prefers not to take on debt.

Prices at Woodman's are lower than many large grocery store chains due to a bulk purchasing model. Most items are stocked on the shelves by employees, but special bulk purchases and other items are sometimes shelved in their shipping cases or stacked in the aisles. A number of items are regional brands not typically found in Wisconsin. Woodman's carries products from outside the U.S, with a notable selection of ethnic foods.

Woodman's liquor sections are quite large when compared to other chains. Beer selection includes national brands, regional craft brews, and imports; many other brands can be obtained by special request. At a new or newly-renovated Woodman's, the liquor store is often as large as a typical small-town grocery.

Produce, because it is purchased in bulk from the lowest cost supplier available at any one time, varies greatly in quality and freshness from one time to another. A common practice is to put an entire pallet of merchandise on the sales floor, cut the tops off the boxes and leave it up to the customer to dig through the product. Other perishable items, such as meat and dairy products, can vary as well.

Woodman's allowed payment only by cash or check until 2004, when they started to accept debit cards. Woodman's does not accept payment by credit card as they will not pay processing fees or assess them on their customers. The company does relatively little advertising, and attributes their lower prices to these practices. Woodman's does not take starter checks, either.

Shopping carts are varied, with the newest stores having electric carts for those unable to navigate the large area of the store, oversized carts for those making large purchases, and carts for kids which allow two children to be strapped in.

The company formerly owned a stake in Roundy's, now a key regional competitor.

Other services

Most Woodman's markets have gas stations, car washes, and convenience stores located in close proximity to the main building. None of these stores accept credit cards.

Locations

Woodman's has twelve locations:;Wisconsin
*Janesville
*Onalaska (La Crosse)
*Madison (West and East)
*Appleton
*Beloit
*Kenosha
*Green Bay
*Oak Creek (Milwaukee)

;Illinois
*Carpentersville
*Rockford
*North Aurora

;Future
*Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin (Milwaukee North)
*Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (On Hold) -- under developmentcite news
url=http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/267182&ntpid=1
title= Woodman's submits plan for Sun Prairie development
author=Barry Adams
date=January 14 2008
publisher=Wisconsin State Journal
accessdate=2008-01-15]
*Joliet, Illinois

References