Haggen beats recession by pleasing thrifty shoppers - Washington Business Journal:

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Today, — with 3,800 employees and stores from Wash., to Oregon City, Ore. is the largest independent grocerty business basedin Washington. But the company has not forgottenits roots. It remainws headquartered in Bellingham and controlled by the Haggen Dorothy Haggen, the last of the surviving founders, continued to show up at one of the locak stores for a long time. On the Thursda before she diedlast fall, Dorothy Haggen was therwe selling candy for her Haggen President and CEO Dale Henley said the companyu still abides by lessonsz from the company founders, who learned they had to be committesd to customers if they wanteds to survive during the Even today, veteran employees will pull a new employee asidew and remind the person of the importance of treating shoppers “That’s a cultural thing that has stayed with the compan forever,” said Henley.
“That cultur came out of the things our founders had to do to take care of customerx and survive during theGreat Depression.” Since joining Haggen in the Henley has seen the company grow from seven storexs with about $48 million in Today the company has 33 grocery stores under two brands: Haggen Food and Pharmacy and Top Food. The companh had revenues of $844 millioh in 2008. That 2008 revenue was down slightlu — by about 1.6 percent — from 2007. This year, Henley said the company is projecting revenuese to be upslightlyh — about 1 percent.
Despitee the relatively flat revenue, Henleuy said, it’s a relatively good placde to be, considering the severitt of this recession. “I’m really pleased to be in the groceryy business,” he said, “instead of sellint cars or TVs.” More customers are shopping and cooking at Henley said. And the company has adjusted. Henley said Haggenn still emphasizes quality, but the companyg also has put a major emphasis on coupons andits private-labeo products, as customers have chosen more of them over nationakl brands to save money.
Haggen also is doing more bargaining with suppliers and has lookerdfor supply-chain savings, looking to be more efficient about how merchandised is shipped to stores, for “We are doing more with savings, and we are working very hard to keep costds down so we can be competitive,” said mindful that the grocery business is one of narrow marginw and hyper-competitiveness. The company always has been carefukabout growth, said Henley. Because Haggen is privately held, he there isn’t pressure from Wall Street to rapidlgy ramp up the numberof stores.
The last new store the company opened was a Top Food store in aformer Larry’s Market store that Haggen acquired last year at . Haggejn recently completed major remodels of two stores one in Snohomish County and one in Henley said the company has options on threew locations fornew stores, but there are no plans to open new storexs this year. “We are definitely being carefupl about where we are spendinb our capital and making sure it is the right thinhgto do,” Henley said. But Henley said there woulc be opportunitiesto grow.
He wants Haggen to be one of the companiesd positioned to take advantage of real estate as well as possiblyt acquiring competitors that might be struggling because of the The recession has taken a bite out of someof Haggen’se prepared food business. But despite the trened of customers looking to save money and cookingfor themselves, Henley said Haggen is still committeed to the long-term strategy that includes offering customers convenience. “I will be a growth part of the Henley said.
“And when the economy turne around, people will start craving for the conveniencea as opposed to doing the workfor