Kevin’s Market/On the Rocks opened in 2006. the start.” Once Kevin and Patrice’s two girls started school, Patrice joined her husband at Kevin’s Market during the day. Prior to this, she had been a stay-at-home mom. Owning their own business allowed Patrice the flexibility to work her schedule in a way that she would allow her to be at home when the girls arrived, after a day at school. When the Municipal Liquor Store became available for purchase in 1996, Kevin and Patrice jumped at the chance to expand, changing the liquor store’s name to On the Rocks. In 2002, the couple would purchase a grocery store in Winthrop. The decision to place both of their Lake Crystal locations under one roof and in a new location, happened in 2006. It was at this time that the current, Kevin’s Market/On the Rocks building, was constructed along Highway 60. “When we built this store we decided to go with a three prong approach,” said Kevin. “We wanted to offer our customers fuel, groceries and liquor, all in one convenient location.” MVB: Describe how the duties are divided amongst the three businesses? Kevin: I handle the grocery store side of things and Patrice runs the liquor store. She also pays our bills and does the accounts receivable for all three businesses. We tend to put in long days. I work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., five to six days a week. Really our hours depend upon what’s going on in each of the businesses but we do tend to put in longer days. MVB: How many employees do you have? Kevin: Currently, we have nine full time and thirty part
time employees between all three of our businesses. MVB: How do you approach customer service? Kevin: We know we are in a bedroom community. We try to deliver a fresh product at a reasonable price. As our customers come through the door, we try to have the products they want and not be out of stock. I think our carry-out service makes us stand out from Mankato, where one has to generally bag their own groceries and then carry the items to the car. MVB: What are some of the benefits to purchasing locally? Kevin: We will buy directly from our local farmers when the opportunity arises. We try to purchase more seasonal items like, pumpkins, sweet corn, gourds and our apples are also Minnesota grown. We try to keep our costs low so that we can return that price back to our customers. MVB: What are some of the challenges to owning your own business? Kevin: The greatest challenge as an independent operator over the past26 years has been in dealing effectively with the pressure from corporations like, Target, Wal-Mart, Dollar Generals and stores of that nature. They can squash you pretty quickly. It’s really important to stay nimble. The good news is we can compete. One of the things that keep us competitive is that we belong to a Co-op called, Affiliated Foods Midwest. In a nut shell, what that does for us is that it gives us the same buying power as a store they supply that may be the same size as a Hy-Vee or a Cub Foods. This means our buying power is good because we, as a group, batch our buying power as we own our own warehouse, so all of our purchases are treated the
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