ROSS TWP. IGA STORE
What: Independently-operated grocery store closed at one point during 2013, but re-opened at the end of last year
Where: Hamilton Cleves Road, Ross Twp.
Phone: 513-738-3604
Owner: Eric Rabe; Rabe owns four IGA stores in Ohio and Indiana, including the Ross Twp. store
Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
Employees: Rabe's four stores employ about 160 workers combined
The IGA grocery store that closed here in 2013 later re-opened at the end of last year under a new owner who remodeled, installed new refrigeration equipment, invested in new point-of-sale technology and expanded product offerings including adding a bulk Amish foods section.
Eric Rabe, retired from a more than 30-year career at The Kroger Co., bought in 2013 the Ross Twp. IGA on Hamilton Cleves Road. The store is well known for its salads, fried chicken and bakery.
It’s the fourth independent grocery store Rabe has purchased since 2012; the others are in Georgetown, Ohio; Versailles, Ind.; and Vevay, Ind. All four locations were previously closed when Rabe re-opened them.
“Every one of the stores that I have were in a basically one-store town or area and the store closed,” Rabe said.
“It was devastating to the communities because they’re in smaller towns. People had to drive for miles to get to a grocery store,” he said. Every store, it was like a community gathering place and when those stores were closed, they didn’t have that focal point.”
The Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) licenses the IGA brand name and marketing materials to independent grocery store operators.
“The best stores are independents and they’re growing. It’s only where an independent doesn’t keep their store fresh and updated with competitive prices where some of them are failing,” Rabe said.
Since the Ross Twp. IGA reopened in leased space, the customer response has been positive, said Ray Kamps, of Trenton, one of the Ross IGA store’s managers. “A lot of people, especially older people, like the smaller stores,” Kamps said.
IGA customers like the quick in-and-out shopping of a smaller format store, employees that know them by name, a fresh meat section and competitive prices, Rabe said.
“Our (employee) turnover is about a third of what the industry average is. Most of the people that do leave are students going to college,” Rabe said.
Meats are cut “in-store fresh every day,” he said. “Our beef and pork is all natural and is all raised in the United States.”
Rabe purchases food products from the nonprofit cooperative Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., which services about 2,700 grocery stores in multiple states. The cooperative’s prices are lower than a traditional wholesaler. A lot of produce is bought locally in-season.
Those things help pass lower prices to shoppers.
“If you know we’re open now, come on in, try us out,” Rabe said. “If there’s something that you need, ask us and we’ll do our best to get it.”
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