Note to Editors: Adapted from the Kansas Profile radio series, this column profiles a different Kansan, Kansas community or Kansas-based company every Wednesday, as a regular feature of the K-State Research and Extension News  lineup. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at  http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm.

Released: January 24, 2007

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Who’s minding the store? That old saying takes on new meaning when we go to Ron’s Supermarket in Pittsburg, Kansas, where we find an innovative store owner with a commitment to quality. He is definitely minding the store, having brought together the personal touch of an old-time neighborhood store with the convenience and technology of modern times.

Ron Rhodes is the owner of Ron’s Supermarket in Pittsburg, Kansas. Ron has rural roots, having grown up on a farm near the northeast Kansas community of Hillsdale, population 300 people. Now, that’s rural.

Ron went to Pittsburg State, where he met his wife Barbara, whose father had a small grocery store there. Ron served in the Army and then moved back to Pittsburg. He was interviewing for jobs when Barbara’s father suggested that he work in the store carrying out groceries until he landed a permanent job. But Ron found he enjoyed the grocery business.

Ron says, “There was a lot of customer interaction. I enjoyed working around customers and employees.”

In 1975, a small, old grocery store on the north side of Pittsburg came up for sale, and Ron and Barbara bought it. Ron says, “It was a great experience.” This was truly a community store, in which people in the neighborhood felt very much at home.

“We had as many people come in through the back door as through the front door,” he said.

From that humble beginning, Ron built the business and expanded through the years at various locations. He now has stores in Branson, Missouri and in Wichita. The current store in Pittsburg opened in 1996, adjacent to the mall. The name of the stores is Ron’s Supermarket.

The first thing I noticed when entering Ron’s Supermarket in Pittsburg is how clean the store is. Ron says with pride, “One emphasis of our store is cleanliness. We added a lot of features to brighten and whiten up the store.” These included color selections and effective lighting.

Another emphasis is food safety. Ron says, “We are proud of our perishables.” He is also an innovator. His store was one of the first in Kansas to have TV monitors above the checkout stands showing amber alerts, school announcements, weather, and advertisements.

Ron says, “If you don’t move forward, you’re going to be passed by.”

One interesting store feature is the free sanitary wipes by the shopping carts. Ron explains that when his grandchildren were born, he noticed that the new moms were wiping things around them in order to fight germs. Now when shoppers come into Ron’s store, they can help themselves to free sanitary wipes to wipe off the shopping carts. Ron says, “It’s a little thing, but some people really appreciate it.”

Ron’s Supermarket uses a rewards card to track customer’s purchases. When customers exceed a certain level or frequency of purchases, the company will reward them with free products. These promotions are tailored to the customer. For example, if a person purchases enough baby products, Ron’s Supermarket will send them coupons for free diapers. Other promotions are seasonal, such as free steaks around Father’s Day or free candy at Halloween.

A branch bank is located in the store, complete with drive-up window and ATM.  Customers at his store can get money orders and pay utility bills too.

His latest innovation is video cameras at his Wichita stores which transmit images in realtime to their computers in Pittsburg. Ron says, “We want customers to be sure they are in a safe environment.”

Ron’s company now has some 200 employees, and he is proud that many of those have stayed with him for years. He says, “We’re committed to good management practices and good people. And we want to be a friend and a good neighbor to the community.”

So who’s minding the store? In this case, Ron Rhodes and his family are minding the store and making a difference with their innovation and commitment to service. Going the extra mile for his customers may take more time and effort, but it is clear to me that, for his store, he doesn’t mind.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan.

For more information:
The Huck Boyd Institute is at 785-532-7690 or rwilson@ksu.edu

K-State Research and Extension