Excitement runs high at Copps

Old favorites, new items stocked for Tuesday opening

By: Charlie Mathews, Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — Lane Landon, a 34-year veteran of the grocery store business, is nervous and excited.

"There's a lot of adrenalin and long days," said the store manager of the Copps Food Center, 3415 Custer St.

That store is closing at 6 p.m. this evening. A new Copps will open a hundred yards away at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Landon leads a crew of some 200 employees in preparing the debut of a 60,691-square-foot store featuring a variety of traditional Copps offerings and a plethora of new ones.

Manitowoc emergency room nurse Roberta Kelley is one of thousands of current or prospective local Copps customers Milwaukee-based Roundy's Supermarkets Inc. will seek to please with its multi-million dollar outlay.

"I like the produce here and Copps quality, in general," Kelley said last week, loading up her shopping cart with fruits and vegetables.

"Produce is one of the first things people will see when they walk in," said Tom Pozorski, director of area operations, overseeing 15 Roundy's grocery stores, including those operating under Pick 'n Save, Copps Food Center and Rainbow Foods banners.

"This is the third store Copps has provided in this community … that's quite an investment," said Pozorski, a 1974 Lincoln High School graduate, who started his grocery store career 36 years ago as a bagger at the first Manitowoc Copps — right where the new one is located.

Price-sensitive

"We did a lot of planning, and took a long look at what kind of store would work for Manitowoc," Pozorski said.

He knows some local customers may walk in, see the ultra-wide aisles, new fixtures, different offerings like sushi, and quotations stenciled on the walls in different sections — "He was a wise man who invented beer" - Plato" — and say, "Umm, fancy-schmancy, but what about the prices?"

Pozorski knows Manitowoc is not Mequon and said store officials are "price sensitive," with quality and reasonable prices not mutually exclusive.

He said the new Copps still would feature moist cakes from a scratch bakery, a larger meat and seafood department, and "grab'n'go" items like pizzas, sushi and sandwiches, an even larger produce section with an olive bar and other amenities without prices spiking.

Pozorski and Landon have the benefit of an experienced group of section leaders and other employees who have listened to shoppers over the years.

"We'll have additional produce selections, with more ready-to-go items," said Brad Zimmerman, who's worked in produce for 20 years.

"We're going to have a bigger soup bar," said Laura Ludwig, a deli employees for two decades. "I'm anxious to get in the new store, and, yes, we are very price-conscious around here."

Among the carryovers are 50-year-old recipes for hard rolls and Vienna bread, said John Michaels, a Copps baker for 38 years.

"We'll also be using the same recipes for our peanut butter squares and brownies," Michaels said, noting new ovens have been installed.

"Our full-service meat and seafood counter will be twice as big," said butcher Patrick Hestekin, another 20-year veteran. "We'll have different cuts of Angus beef, more varieties of homemade sausages.

"Our seafood selection will be much bigger, and we'll be able to steam and fry for people. I've heard our prices are going down. This will be an exciting area."

Help from other stores

Landon said getting the new store ready while satisfying customers at the old one has been challenging the past several weeks,

"We've gotten a lot of help from other Roundy's, like the Pick 'n Save in Two Rivers," Landon said. "It has been quite a task to keep this store running while opening the new one."

The Manitowoc store will continue to carry popular, locally produced items including Cher-Make sausage products, Lakeside Foods brand vegetables, Henning's and Gibbsville cheese, and Torke coffee.

"I think the store layout is tremendous, and makes a lot of sense, with wider, easier-to-navigate aisles," Landon said Thursday. "Store maps are being printed as we speak … they're a huge deal."

With the clock ticking down to the new store's opening — after which it will remain open 24 hours a day — Landon knows what his dominant feeling will be come Tuesday and in the days to come.

"For us and for our customers, this is going to be a lot of fun," he said.

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