For 65 years, McKinnon’s Markets & Super Butcher Shops enjoyed a reputation as the premier store for buying meats in Massachusetts, but when it opened a flagship store in Portsmouth in 2011, it quickly realized it needed a more distinct identity to differentiate itself from the many other supermarkets and specialty food stores in that area. While 50 percent of overall company sales are derived from meat, meat accounts for 35 to 40 percent of sales in NH stores.
So McKinnon’s redesigned its 36,000-square-foot Portsmouth store (the chain’s fourth location: it has two in Massachusetts and one in Salem) so visitors are now greeted with complementary coffee and an entire aisle of gluten free food, which McKinnon’s owners claim is the largest selection in the Seacoast. The beer and wine section contains more than 500 craft beers and 500-plus wines. And the prepared foods section takes up most of the back of the store and has everything from sandwiches to prepackaged meals, as well as a salad bar and pizza that can be ordered by phone or ordered while shopping.
That redesign has helped. Revenue from the NH stores grew 8 percent year over year in the last several years, a slightly higher rate than the two Bay State stores. The Portsmouth store has more than 300 linear feet of meat and seafood—about the length of a football field. “We realized in this market, people were looking for a lot more organic, which we did carry, but now we have three times as much” as it did prior to the redesign, says Carl Penta, who co-owns the business with his brother Edward.
To build brand loyalty, the store has reached out to the community, including bringing owners of local gyms into the store for a tour, offering free quarts of ice cream to any Little League player who hits a home run and holding a “cop on top” fundraiser for Special Olympics where they grilled food and had police officers on the roof asking for donations. The store also brings in a musician on weekends to play guitar while customers shop.
Growth has been steady, though Edward declined to elaborate, as he says the grocery business is “cutthroat.” He says he has noticed customers are purchasing more during shopping trips as their trips increase. And while Portsmouth’s specialty grocery market is about to get more competitive—there is already a Trader Joe’s there and a Whole Foods is opening next year—the Penta brothers agree they have an edge by combining value and quality.
Later this month, McKinnon’s will become the first NH store to incorporate HowGood, an app customers can use on their phones that rates all items in a store for sustainability.
For more information, visit shopmckinnons.com.
Current Issue - May 2024