The Longaneckers of

Lincoln Park Market

Bruce Longanecker, New IFRA Chairman Bruce Longanecker and his son Bruce, Jr., become animated when discussing their newly expanded postal center in their store, Lincoln Park Market, located in the heart of Chicago's upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood. "It could be a prototype for what they could do throughout the county — so they can do away with all of their postal stores," Bruce said.

The entire store, in fact, could be a prototype for how to offer almost everything in only 15,000 square feet of space, including a vast assortment of hardware.

"My son and I visited a hardware store where a lot of the merchandise was stored above people's heads and they could reach it with ladders. I asked if people really buy that merchandise and he assured me they did. I turned to my son and said, ‘We're going into the hardware business."

Bruce Jr., first joined him in the business five years ago after working several years for the CTA. Together, they have turned every inch of useable space into selling space. "We don't measure in square feet," Bruce Jr. laughed. "We measure in cubic feet."

And they have carried that to a high art. At Lincoln Park Market, products are ranged on shelves almost to the ceiling. A rolling ladder and friendly customer service from the company's 40 employees enables shoppers to reach the higher products. This system of merchandising has made it possible for Lincoln Park Market to house some 39,000 SKUs, versus the typical 10-15,000 SKUs for a facility of that size.

For their hardware aisle, Bruce, Jr., helped to devise a three-tiered system of sliding pegboards. The Longaneckers hope to start using the three-tiered system in other parts of the store as well, in order to add to their impressive list of products — variety being the hallmark of the store.

"It's like stump-the-grocer here," Bruce, Sr. said. "A customer came in the other day and said, ‘I bet you don't have a pink i-pod cover.' I said we actually had them in pink and also blue, black and white as well."

Before making his career in the grocery business, Bruce had considered other options, including architecture or finance, but the grocery business had appealed to him since he was a boy of 13 and had been hired by Conrad Schuberth, Sr., of the former Kwik Foods Grocery Stores.

In 1970, Conrad's sons, Conrad, Jr. and Bob, opened Lincoln Park Food & Liquor at Webster and Bissel in Chicago and Bruce went to work there full-time.

"Conrad and Bob were unique entrepreneurs," Bruce said. "They would build up a business and then have someone else run it while they moved onto something else. They were always starting things and were one of the first to sell condos."

After the Schuberths had purchased Lincoln Park Market in 1982, Bruce transferred there and began to create an exceptional grocery store in this high-density neighborhood of Chicago characterized by young people 35 and under whose annual income averages $100,000.

Bruce became a partner in the business in 1998 and has helped the company to find its niche.

Front End Provides Many Services
The front of Lincoln Park Market is literally "abuzz" with activity as staff members help customers bearing boxes for Christmas shipments and another employee cuts a key. "After we were asked several times if we cut keys, I went out and bought a key-cutting machine," Bruce said. "We make about two dollars per key, but since grocers are used to operating on a small margin, two dollars is a big deal."

In-House Post Office
The closing of a local Chicago post office prompted Bruce to increase the size of their current postal facility. "We can do all types of mail now," he said. "The only services we don't have are passports and money orders.

"We make sure there's not long lines," he continued, "and help people package their shipments while they're waiting in line, so that everything's ready-to-go when they get to the counters."

The in-house postal center is staffed by Bruce's own employees. "We can run it for much less and create foot traffic for the store," Bruce said. "How many grocers wouldn't like an extra five to 10,000 people coming in to buy a book of stamps — and then buying something else?"

Hardware Department Unique Draw
Shoppers often spend the most time in Lincoln Park Market's hardware aisle, which not only features three tiers of sliding pegboards to maximize space, but also offers drawers of everything from nuts and bolts to ball bearings and nails.

"When we decided to bring in hardware, we put some of the items right in people's way and it forces them to look at what else we have and to look up at the items above eye-level," Bruce said.

Finding a hardware distributor to work with was a challenge for the company which uses Nash Finch in Westville, IN, as their wholesaler for its traditional merchandise.

"Once we found a hardware company to work with," Bruce said, "that opened the door to many vendors who would never talk to us before. We were able to get things like vacuum cleaners and flat screen TVs.

"We sold the TVs for hundreds less than Best Buy and they sold out," he continued. "Grocers don't have huge margin expectations and we thought it was a good way to get people interested in what we're doing."

Continuous IFRA Membership
"I've been an IFRA member since I worked for Kwik Foods," Bruce said. "You can't beat the programs — or the people. They're great people to be around."

Bruce joined the Illinois Food Retailers Association Board of Directors in 1999. In 2009, the IFRA was pleased to congratulate its new Chairman, Bruce Longanecker of Lincoln Park Market in Chicago. The Association is fortunate to have the expertise and experience that Bruce brings to this position.

In addition to his son, Bruce and his wife Pat have a daughter Bridget Dickinson, as well as five grandchildren.