'Independent retail is alive and well:' Inside Red Barn Market's new store
Russ Benwell said he and his three partners were confident their newest Red Barn Market grocery store in a small community in the south end of Vancouver Island would prove popular.
But they’ve been blown away by the numbers of sales and local shoppers at the new location in North Saanich—the eighth store in their independent chain, which is located entirely in and around B.C.’s picturesque capital of Victoria – since it opened its doors in a soft launch just before noon on Monday.
“It’s been unbelievable, far better than we expected,” said Benwell. “The first day we did more than 1,000 transactions in seven hours. And we were so happy to see so many people from the community.”
Benwell expects more of the same on Aug. 1—when the new store in North Saanich holds a scratch-and-win promotion with $65,000 in food, merchandise and other prizes up for grabs—and again on Saturday when the store holds its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
That hard opening will feature community events like a barbecue and visits of the 6,000-sq.-ft. store by local dignitaries, including representatives from five Indigenous nations.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into this,” said Benwell. “But it’s worth it.”
Part of the new Sandown Park Shopping Centre, which is located on an old racetrack site, and has other major retailers like Canadian Tire and Dollarama, the new 10,000-sq.-ft. store is now the largest store in the Red Barn chain.
It has 65 employees (bringing the total number of Red Barn employees to more than 500), nearly 200 parking spaces and features most of the same meat, produce, grocery and deli items as the chain’s seven other stores.
That includes a popular Red Barn signature service at every location: a sandwich bar that makes customized ‘Tall As The Barn’ sandwiches and wraps using Red Barn’s own in-house brand of smoked meats and locally-made bread.
“We sell one million sandwiches and wraps a year,” said Benwell. “It’s one of the pillars of our business.”
Another pillar is the hundreds of locally-produced food items like jams, fruits and vegetables that are offered at every Red Barn store.
“We like to encourage local vendors,” said Benwell. “Being involved with the community is a big part of who we are.”
Being closely connected with local people and suppliers was one of the main driving forces that led Benwell and his partners - Ashley Bourque, Peter Hansen and Duncan Davies, all Victoria natives – into the grocery business as an entrepreneurial venture.
READ: How this St. John's retailer is giving local vendors a leg up
All four worked together for Thrifty Foods, a chain based in Victoria that was acquired by Sobeys for nearly $260 million in July 2007.
“By then we wanted to buy our own store so we kept our eyes open for an opportunity,” said Benwell, a 50-year-old father of four who started as a stock boy with Thrifty Foods in 1988 and worked his way up to operations manager—but returned to being a store manager because his passion is retail.
The friends’ chance came in 2009 when Red Barn Market—a local farm stand with three locations in the Victoria area—went up for sale.
“It was very appealing,” Benwell said of the business, which was founded in 2002 by local poultry producer Ian Fatt and sold mostly fresh local produce in open-air settings. “We saw it as a good and expandable brand that we could grow. Everything we learned at Thrifty Foods fit into this mold of a locally-owned, independent grocery store.”
Though the Great Recession—the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s - the partners closed the deal with financial backing from BMO and set out to build and expand Red Barn’s offerings and presence in the southern reaches of Vancouver Island.
In addition to adding four more locations in the 2010s, including three newbuilds, they built a 6,000-sq.-ft. smokehouse at their original Vanalman location, which is also the company’s headquarters.
The facility produces some 75 small-batch, slow-roasted, baked-to-order products, including turkey, beef, bacon, cheese and lunch meats.
Packaged under Red Barn’s ‘751 Smokehouse’ brand, which was named after the facility’s street number and has an old steam locomotive as a logo, the smoked products are both used at Red Barn’s sandwich bars and sold wholesale to other businesses and industries.
“They’re all made using raw, clean ingredients—no fillers or binders,” said Benwell. “Our smokehouse is a massive differentiator.”
“We have so many cool niches,” said Scott Travers, who is manager and part owner of Red Barn’s Oak Bay store, the chain’s fifth location.
Two other stores, including the new Sandown location, also have similar owner/operator involvement with some longtime employees.
For Travers, who worked as the chain’s produce director for eight years before buying into the Oak Bay store, Red Barn is red hot among food shoppers in the small Victoria-area communities where the stores are located.
“I hear customers all the time say, ‘We’ve been waiting for our own local market, now we’ve got it,’” said Travers. “What’s cool is that on weekends there might be two or three cars in the parking lot but we’ve four tills going inside. People are walking here or riding their bikes. That’s the vibe here. We’re in the right place at the right time.”
Canadian retail expert and podcaster David Ian Gray agrees.
“In our research, only a small proportion of shoppers will make a choice solely based on 'values' like 100-mile or social good—though not if they sacrifice quality, price, taste,” said Gray, founder and principal of Vancouver-based DIG360.
“However, southern Vancouver Island does indeed over index on green voters and consumers, who happen to have disposable income. That helps provide a base of support.”
Red Barn, he added, has built a reputation since 2002, “with the new ownership keeping true to the brand and bringing strong grocery expertise. They know their market in a way the big chains cannot and locate close to their customer in smaller neighbourhoods where they are convenient.
“The business is very well run, especially for its size,” said Gray. “Strong independent retail is alive and well.”
Swipe through the gallery below to see inside the new Red Barn Market. Photography courtesy Red Barn Market
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Red Barn Market owners Russ Benwell, Ashley Bourque, Duncan Davies and Peter Hansen. -
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