Mrs. Dark and Bloody made one of my favorites yesterday, Bay Scallop Soup. Unfortunately, it wasn’t up to her usual standards and we decided it was because of the scallops. The Mrs. said the brand at Kings is now a Kroger brand and as is always the case, Kroger brands are not up to the old Kings standard. She said I will have to buy them at Whole Foods next time.
Oh, King Soopers you have taken another step towards becoming a Kroger and thus second rate. It has been happening for a long time and it saddens me.
Let me tell you a story and every word of it is true.
Decades ago I moved to Colorado and my father helped me move. We drove from the Dark and Bloody Ground hauling a trailer with furniture I had assembled from various sources and five suits none costing more than $50 and all except one manufactured locally. After unloading the trailer into my garden level apartment we decided to buy some groceries. We took off in my car and after driving around a bit, found a King Soopers. After taking a few steps into the store we stopped and looked at each like Gomer looked at Andy whenever Andy explained something…Golly Andy….
Like it was yesterday I remember father saying, son, look at these floors, you could eat off them. I said, my goodness, have you ever seen such fruit? Dad, look at how neat everything is and clean and bright and they sell flowers! Dad, I have never seen anything like this.
Now we both had been around a bit, not much, but a bit and neither of us had seen anything like a King Soopers. It was unlike any grocery we had ever been in and the products we bought were all of outstanding quality.
I was hooked and shopped nowhere but Kings. Oh, I went into a Safeway from time to time out of necessity, but rarely. And don’t start on Albertsons, Kings was it. Shortly after this I started traveling to CA, AZ and WA frequently and yes, I visited groceries and some were as good, maybe even better, than Kings, but I never forgot those floors.
Sometime in the next couple of years I traveled back to the Dark and Bloody Ground to see family. Twice during that visit someone came up to me and said, “Is it true what your daddy says about that grocery in Colorado?” Yes it is I said. “Boy I would like to see a store like that.” The second comment occurred during a fish fry and the topic of conversation for fifteen minutes or so were Kings of Colorado and other groceries around the country. Generally it was agreed, sight unseen, that none of them measured up to Kings.
Years later, the Mrs. and I went shopping at the local Kings. The Mrs. and I were not happy with the state of the store and I was particularly unhappy with the selection of apples. I told her, “I hate to say, but I bought some apples at that Safeway down the street and the selection was much better. We may have to start trading there.” We talked about it a bit and I said, I am going to send a letter about this and how I worry that Kings is becoming more like Kroger. (Kroger had purchased the parent company of Kings, Baldwin, a few years earlier.)
So I sent a letter complaining about the state of the store, how badly the fruit compared to Safeway fruit, and that I thought Kings was becoming more like Kroger.
A few weeks went by and one afternoon the receptionist buzzed me saying, Mr. D&B, there are two gentlemen from King Soopers here to see you.
I went to reception and met the store manager and his boss, the district manager. They carried a basket of apples. They asked for some of my time, so I invited them into my office.
They started by saying they wished to explain the current condition of the store and what they were doing. Now, I was about 35 at the time and both men were much older than me, yet here they were taking the time to meet with one customer over a letter. I cannot overstate how impressed I was, but you will be more impressed by what they said.
We understand your concerns and are about to undertake a major remodeling of the store. The growth in the area has completely overwhelmed the ability of the store as it exists, to provide our customers the quality appearance and selection that we want to provide and that they expect. We are bringing you this basket of apples as a sign of good faith in the hope you will continue to count on Kings. The store manager then looked at me and said, “I was hired by Mr. King years ago and since the service this is the only company I have worked at. Kroger now owns us and King and Kroger store managers have been rotating through an exchange program where a King store manager works in a Kroger store for a couple months and vice versa. I spent 60 days working at a Kroger store in Detroit. I love Mr. King and King Soopers and let me tell you something, as long as I am store manager and as long as he (pointing at the DM) works at Kings, every King Soopers store will be cleaner, neater, have a better selection and better quality than every Kroger. We get complaints all the time and we address them, but never has a complaint hurt like your comparing my store to a Kroger. I came to tell you that and ask your patience during the remodel and that you continue to buy from us.”
My goodness. What could I say, but “I believe you and I will and you have a customer for life.” Then I told them about father and me visiting a Kings for the first time. They understood.
I also thought this: if I can’t work for someone or somewhere and have the same pride that store manager did, I won’t work there. And I haven’t and it makes all the difference. ACE-attitude changes everything.
Well Kings, you still have me, but you have lost the Mrs. I understand why she is changing and at some level agree. However, I gave my word to that old store manager years ago and he kept his word and I will keep mine. Even though the Mrs. and I have since moved I sometimes stop at that store and walk around making sure it is up that man’s standards. Loyalty and pride like that deserve remembrance and as long as I see any of it when I visit a Kings, I will keep coming back.
And if I don’t see it? Well, I may have to send another letter.
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