News : Preparing another generation of leaders: Many still find first job at Fareway

Lou Lyons, Mark Timmer, Craig Hackbarth, and now Dave Kelchen have been managers of the Vinton Fareway store where almost every day one or more Vinton area teenagers seek a job. For more than a half century young people have looked to the local Fareway for their first employment opportunity, and Kelchen understands how important this ritual is to those teens, to the store, its patrons, and the community.

 One of those young hires long ago was Dr. Alan Woodhouse, a recently-retired Vinton dentist who remembers his first job at Fareway. Alan worked at Fareway in the early 60s when the store was located in what is now the Barnes Furniture building.

 “There used to be upstairs offices in the building where my father, a dentist, and my grandfather, a physician, saw patients. The basement was used for sorting and storing produce. I spent many hours in the basement of the Fareway, sorting potatoes and putting vinegar in jars”, said Woodhouse. “Back then, the vinegar came in large vats. We would put it into jars, put the jars on a conveyor, and move them from the basement to the main floor. We cleaned-up a lot of vinegar from the jars that were dropped.”

 The grocery business has certainly changed since Dr. Woodhouse was a Fareway store worker, and Kelchen says one of the biggest changes is in the way young people relate to customers. “We’re in an age where young people often communicate by text message and earbuds sometimes isolate them from conversing with others. So our role is not only to give them the opportunity to work, but to teach them how to relate with customers in a helpful, professional manner. It’s something we hope they will carry with them long after they’ve left us.”

 When customers walk into the store they see a smile and hear a greeting. Soon after the groceries are bagged and put in a shopping cart the carry-out staff starts a conversation with the customer that often continues to the customer’s car. The Fareway store’s goal is to make sure everyone is engaged in creating the best possible shopping experience; even the part-time student employees.

 The helpfulness and engagement isn’t an accident. During the job interview, Kelchen says he tries to determine if the applicant is willing to interact with customers the way he wants them to. New hires work with him and crew leaders who teach the new employee about how Fareway’s values guide business decisions. For example, after more than 70 years and the entry of very large competitors into the grocery business, Fareway, now with 100 stores, still does not open on Sunday.

 Gary Simnacher, a 49-year employee who has worked longer than all but one other person in the 100-store Fareway family, says customer service has a long history at the Vinton store. Both Simnacher and Woodhouse remember when customers of the old store might park a block or two away because there wasn’t a parking lot. Employees would carry groceries to wherever the car was parked and on some occasions, people parked in the lot at the Me Too grocery store to avoid parking meters. The carry-out personnel would follow the customer back to the Me Too lot and put the groceries in their car. “Sometimes it would take 15 minutes to carry groceries for just one customer,” Simnacher said.

 Simnacher estimates that he has worked with hundreds of people at Fareway. “I wish I had an album with pictures of all of the people I’ve worked with,” he said. “I have a lot of good memories of all the great people I got to know while working here.”

 Kelchen hopes customers appreciate all the new changes and updates at the store, but hopes as well that the commitment to customer service never gets lost in the shuffle.

“This community has been good to Fareway, and we hope we’ve served the community well," he says. "It’s a pleasure working with these young people and we hope they look back on their work here with a sense of pride in what they’ve contributed to the store and the community, and a sense of appreciation for the lessons they’ve learned.”