usvi-on-line
another look at St John Gourmet Market
another look at St John Gourmet Market
St. John Source
http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/lo ... met-market
@ Work: St. John Gourmet Market
Although St. John Gourmet Market is still growing into owner Jim Overton's vision, the store has plenty to offer savvy grocery shoppers looking for competitive prices and friendly service from the store's dozen staff members.
"We have a smile for everyone," Overton said.
The store opened in late May at Greenleaf shopping center, located near the Westin Resort and Villas. Overton said he picked the location because he hoped the proximity to the resort would be good for business.
While most locals have always comparison shopped among St. John's handful of grocery stores, Overton said that tourists are now doing the same.
He's working on the store's website, and when it's up and running he plans a shop online feature. Overton said that he anticipates visitors heading to their vacation villa or other tourist accommodation will place their orders via the Internet so they can pick up their already boxed order on their way to their vacation spot.
The store definitely has something for everyone. From the Goya products liked by locals to soy flour desired by more esoteric cooks, the inventory meets many needs.
Shop for prosaic items like cereal, chicken, lunch meat, bread, juice, baby diapers, and fresh fruits and vegetable or more hard-to-find things like Nutella, a yummy chocolate hazelnut spread, and pignolia nuts.
According to Overton, St. John Gourmet Market is ramping up its focus on organic items, including produce. Indeed, the store already carries items like organic milk, rice milk, almond milk, natural peanut butter as well as other organic and natural items.
St. John Gourmet Market's shelves and refrigerators are filled with plenty of ready-to-eat items good for entertaining and nights when cooking isn't on the agenda. Think hummus and other prepared dips as well as frozen pizza.
And store manager Miguel Lopez wants to know what customers want to see stocked on the shelves.
"If you have any suggestions bring it to us and we will try to get it," Lopez said.
Lopez, a native of Mexico, has spent many years in the grocery business. He worked for many years for the Ray's supermarket chain on the west coast and most recently worked at St. John's Dolphin Market.
Dolphin owner Nael Ahmed is a partner in the business, Overton said.
Overton grew up in New Jersey and owns a construction business as well as vacation villas. His plans for St. John Gourmet Market include a deli. The cases are in place, and Overton said he's waiting for finances to improve so he can implement his plans. Lopez later said that the deli will include tables outside the store so people can enjoy their take-out on site.
The store's major challenge comes from getting inventory to the store. While all items have to be shipped from St. Thomas, Overton, laughing, said that even getting the truck up and over the steep and treacherous Jacob's Ladder poses a challenge.
"But the challenges are no different than they've ever been," he said.
St. John Gourmet Market is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. It’s phone number is 779-6001.
Copyright © V.I. Source Publications, Inc.
http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/lo ... met-market
@ Work: St. John Gourmet Market
Although St. John Gourmet Market is still growing into owner Jim Overton's vision, the store has plenty to offer savvy grocery shoppers looking for competitive prices and friendly service from the store's dozen staff members.
"We have a smile for everyone," Overton said.
The store opened in late May at Greenleaf shopping center, located near the Westin Resort and Villas. Overton said he picked the location because he hoped the proximity to the resort would be good for business.
While most locals have always comparison shopped among St. John's handful of grocery stores, Overton said that tourists are now doing the same.
He's working on the store's website, and when it's up and running he plans a shop online feature. Overton said that he anticipates visitors heading to their vacation villa or other tourist accommodation will place their orders via the Internet so they can pick up their already boxed order on their way to their vacation spot.
The store definitely has something for everyone. From the Goya products liked by locals to soy flour desired by more esoteric cooks, the inventory meets many needs.
Shop for prosaic items like cereal, chicken, lunch meat, bread, juice, baby diapers, and fresh fruits and vegetable or more hard-to-find things like Nutella, a yummy chocolate hazelnut spread, and pignolia nuts.
According to Overton, St. John Gourmet Market is ramping up its focus on organic items, including produce. Indeed, the store already carries items like organic milk, rice milk, almond milk, natural peanut butter as well as other organic and natural items.
St. John Gourmet Market's shelves and refrigerators are filled with plenty of ready-to-eat items good for entertaining and nights when cooking isn't on the agenda. Think hummus and other prepared dips as well as frozen pizza.
And store manager Miguel Lopez wants to know what customers want to see stocked on the shelves.
"If you have any suggestions bring it to us and we will try to get it," Lopez said.
Lopez, a native of Mexico, has spent many years in the grocery business. He worked for many years for the Ray's supermarket chain on the west coast and most recently worked at St. John's Dolphin Market.
Dolphin owner Nael Ahmed is a partner in the business, Overton said.
Overton grew up in New Jersey and owns a construction business as well as vacation villas. His plans for St. John Gourmet Market include a deli. The cases are in place, and Overton said he's waiting for finances to improve so he can implement his plans. Lopez later said that the deli will include tables outside the store so people can enjoy their take-out on site.
The store's major challenge comes from getting inventory to the store. While all items have to be shipped from St. Thomas, Overton, laughing, said that even getting the truck up and over the steep and treacherous Jacob's Ladder poses a challenge.
"But the challenges are no different than they've ever been," he said.
St. John Gourmet Market is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. It’s phone number is 779-6001.
Copyright © V.I. Source Publications, Inc.
... no longer a stranger to paradise
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Scott in BHM
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:51 pm
- Location: Birmingham, AL
I have know Jim for over 10 years. It is great to see his dream come to life. I toured the store with him in January when it was still months from opening.
I am looking forward to seeing the final product when we are back on Island in mid January 2010.
Has anyone been in St. John Gourmet Market in the last few weeks? How is it shaping up?
Scott
I am looking forward to seeing the final product when we are back on Island in mid January 2010.
Has anyone been in St. John Gourmet Market in the last few weeks? How is it shaping up?
Scott
Frank B. has a post on his blog about the online shopping service. I hope they're ready, this could be seriously popular. I'd be surprised if others did not offer the same service. Bobbi's on Tortola has a similar service that I like.
http://barnako.typepad.com/news_of_st_j ... pping.html
We were in the store in November and liked the convenience. It was clean and the folks were friendly. They ran out of a couple of staples during the week, like Cruzan Coconut Rum, but had a lot of variety. The meat case was not open yet.
Cheers, RickG
http://barnako.typepad.com/news_of_st_j ... pping.html
We were in the store in November and liked the convenience. It was clean and the folks were friendly. They ran out of a couple of staples during the week, like Cruzan Coconut Rum, but had a lot of variety. The meat case was not open yet.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
I am in agreement with Rick G on this one.
I think the current provisioning services out there come at a pretty steep price -- even for basics. I totally understand why mind you, but still those delivery charges can be STEEP for just basic groceries.
But something like this has a lot of potential. I would expect that they will need lots of boxes and an area to store the goods on the day of guest arrival and space can often be at a premium.
Certainly there will be a few headaches and issues to work out but as long as people know up front what they're paying and maybe even pay a modest "handling charge" of say $10 -$25 (no limit on the amount of groceries) then I can see this being a really popular option for folks trying to get that grocery shopping done on arrival day.
Typically we just hustle and get all this done on day one despite the exhausting travel day. And knowing that I can just swing by and pick up my order on the way to the villa and not have to hunt anything down would be a HUGE timesaver.
I don't know if I'd necessarily trust someone else's judgement on pulling fruits and veggies for me (I'm a control freak like that) but for the staples: boxed and canned goods, drinks, alcohol, bread etc. would be great. That way I could have the bulk of that stuff done and then just focus on grabbing the fresh stuff, meat and cheese.
Some advice for the proprietor: Make the shopping web interface as easy as possible and ask that people pay on check out and provide you with their pick up window. Check out sites like Wegmans.com
If they pay for their groceries ahead of time, then they will be more likely to forget what they've already paid and then shop a little more in store for the "extras" -- I know I would.
Make sure you check and double check the orders or go over the order with the customer when they arrive. There is nothing more frustrating than getting to your villa and realizing someone screwed up.
If you can, offer some sort of incentive for first time customers or for a period of time. Rum is cheap-- offer a free bottle of rum for every $200, heck you can probably go as high as $250, purchase thru the on-line groceries service. Or for folks that don't drink-- the dollar equivalent.
IF you keep the fees reasonable and are extremely organized this service will TAKE OFF! Trust me on this!
I think the current provisioning services out there come at a pretty steep price -- even for basics. I totally understand why mind you, but still those delivery charges can be STEEP for just basic groceries.
But something like this has a lot of potential. I would expect that they will need lots of boxes and an area to store the goods on the day of guest arrival and space can often be at a premium.
Certainly there will be a few headaches and issues to work out but as long as people know up front what they're paying and maybe even pay a modest "handling charge" of say $10 -$25 (no limit on the amount of groceries) then I can see this being a really popular option for folks trying to get that grocery shopping done on arrival day.
Typically we just hustle and get all this done on day one despite the exhausting travel day. And knowing that I can just swing by and pick up my order on the way to the villa and not have to hunt anything down would be a HUGE timesaver.
I don't know if I'd necessarily trust someone else's judgement on pulling fruits and veggies for me (I'm a control freak like that) but for the staples: boxed and canned goods, drinks, alcohol, bread etc. would be great. That way I could have the bulk of that stuff done and then just focus on grabbing the fresh stuff, meat and cheese.
Some advice for the proprietor: Make the shopping web interface as easy as possible and ask that people pay on check out and provide you with their pick up window. Check out sites like Wegmans.com
If they pay for their groceries ahead of time, then they will be more likely to forget what they've already paid and then shop a little more in store for the "extras" -- I know I would.
Make sure you check and double check the orders or go over the order with the customer when they arrive. There is nothing more frustrating than getting to your villa and realizing someone screwed up.
If you can, offer some sort of incentive for first time customers or for a period of time. Rum is cheap-- offer a free bottle of rum for every $200, heck you can probably go as high as $250, purchase thru the on-line groceries service. Or for folks that don't drink-- the dollar equivalent.
IF you keep the fees reasonable and are extremely organized this service will TAKE OFF! Trust me on this!
*Another fine scatterbrained production
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mindehankins
- Posts: 3014
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:21 am
- Location: Western NY State
St. John Market in the Greenleaf Shopping Center
Good afternoon from snow covered PA
Anyone know where things stand with the market's online ordering? We're headed down in May and were thinking of buying on St Thomas before heading over but I like the convenience of online ordering.
Anyone know where things stand with the market's online ordering? We're headed down in May and were thinking of buying on St Thomas before heading over but I like the convenience of online ordering.
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StJohnRuth
- Posts: 1989
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:42 pm
- Location: St. John, VI
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bubblybrenda
- Posts: 549
- Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:57 pm
- Location: Vancouver, BC
bubblybrenda- so sorry about you deleting your ticker for April,hope you will be re-scheduling for other time this year. All is well I pray.
I too would like to know when the market goes on-line, would be terrific to order ahead and just pick it up when get there. Don't want to be wasting time food shopping. ha
I too would like to know when the market goes on-line, would be terrific to order ahead and just pick it up when get there. Don't want to be wasting time food shopping. ha
No ticker anymore. Next vac will prob. be the Fl Keys.
Ruth said
I go into this market quite often. I can't speak highly enough of the young ladies that work there. They are so friendly and helpful, it's a pleasure to go in there.
I agree very friendly service
We chatted it up with the cashier and were all laughing. I remember commenting to my honey that the Starfish cashiers could take some lessons from her.
I go into this market quite often. I can't speak highly enough of the young ladies that work there. They are so friendly and helpful, it's a pleasure to go in there.
I agree very friendly service
We chatted it up with the cashier and were all laughing. I remember commenting to my honey that the Starfish cashiers could take some lessons from her.-
Pete (Mr. Marcia)
- Posts: 1471
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:48 pm
- Location: Madison, Wisconsin