When you set your table with china and silver, when you sink bright flowers into a favorite vase filled with cold water, when you stir-fry edamame and tofu, grill a marinated flank steak, toss pepper-scented arugula leaves with sprays of lemon and drizzles of olive oil, you have an expectation: to gather around the table in precise splendor, everyone eager for an approachable taste of something to transform that moment into a long-held memory.

To include everyone you care about.

I want Hiller’s to be an apt partner in the way you live. Because it’s all about finding a way to make our lives meaningful and relevant. I honor your lifestyle choices in the way I stock my stores.

The average grocery seeks to fulfill basic needs – milk and bread, potatoes and meat. Quality, special needs, preference, they don’t factor into the discussion. It’s a business, a bottom-line driven quest to make money while expending as little as possible. Gather the most commonly consumed items under a rack of fluorescent lights and high ceilings and the people will come.

That’s not me.

Hiller’s shelves are filled with the ways we choose to live.

Lifestyle, a word coined by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929, refers to the simple way a person lives, a way of going about one’s days, a carefully constructed, sometimes not even consciously, framework for existence.

Existence is complicated, you know, and therein lies the challenge for a grocery man like me.

You seek to exist but your religion dictates you eat only meat ritually slaughtered under the watchful eye of a rabbi.

You seek to exist but your body rejects refined sugars.

You seek to exist in harmony with your ancestors – you need ghee to make your grandmother’s mudda pappu-avakai-neyyi, you desire mole for that favorite roasted turkey with masa stuffing and chile gravy your cousin made when you last visited, you want high-quality fish and exquisite sheets of nori to roll sushi like you did when you lived in Japan.

Another grocery offers the bare essentials: a few boxes of tasteless diabetic products; kosher items by default like frozen Lender’s bagels; disappointing, brown-edged lettuce and too-soft grapefruits; watery salsa and stale taco shells to satisfy cravings for authentic cuisine.

Our choices define us. Lifestyle is far-reaching. It’s how we decide whom to interact with, what entertainment we enjoy, the flavor and hue and spice of taste. Lifestyle is the current that rocks the waters of our lives.

Sometimes you have no choice but to live a certain way – your stomach roils when you consume dairy or wheat, so you seek gluten-free, casein-free, additive-free foods. In most places, it’s oh-so-hard to find what you need.

Hiller’s is a place where you find everything on your list plus even more items you want to try. A place that supports your right to choose how you live. A place that listens to you.

Hiller’s is your partner in living the way you must.

The reason Hiller’s is different from all the other groceries is because I recognize that habits, attitudes, values and tastes have everything to do with getting through the day.

Whether imposed or chosen, lifestyle choices make living manageable. They define who we are and how we go about our tasks, how we face trials, how we weather disappointments, how we celebrate moments.

So go ahead and set your table; make it shine. Slice strawberries and toss them with chopped nuts and balsamic vinegar. Grill a thick cut of halibut. Roast sweet potatoes. Make sure your glasses sparkle, your silver gleams, and each guest is seated beside someone who will enlighten their mind and strengthen their spirit. It’s the way you live. Nothing is more important.

The moon casts a white haze over crates of bulb onion stems standing tall like marsh grasses. Yellow and green summer squash are displayed in perfect geometries. The well-trod ground of Detroit’s Eastern Market smells of damp and green, of things organic and sustaining.

2 a.m., and Fabrizio Casini has begun his day.

“Morning!” he calls, striding past open truckbeds holding stacks of wet wooden crates carrying produce picked in the last day or two. “How are you?”

“Morning, Fab!” The waves are ubiquitous. He confirms orders, exchanges printed checks for pink paper receipts, knows every name, pats young upstarts on the shoulder as he passes.

Seven truck drivers wait amid loud echoes of lifts moving and hauling. They will load farm-fresh produce to fill each Hiller’s Market before the sun rises.

Fab opens a box of Michigan blueberries and pops one into his mouth, nods, orders hundreds. Palms a peach from the first summer harvest. Shakes his head, takes a bite, spits it into the darkness. “Not ready.”

Trucks stocked, the next day’s orders in, Fab wheels his way to the Produce Terminal, a concrete and metal building erected in three months in 1929. The floor is 12 inches thick. His black tie with red chile peppers bounces as he walks.

Trucks wait for loading with peaches the color of a sunrise, glistening dark cherries with a pop of sweetness, icy-crisp grapes.

While most of the city sleeps, this place comes to life under fluorescent lights. The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” plays loud as young guys heft and move crates.

Fab inspects stacks of Tuscan melons ordered direct from the farm. Perfect roundness in his big hands.

It’s after 4 o’clock by the time Fab has visited every one of the ten distributors in the building. Each offering a slightly different selection, a community of after-hours produce purveyance.

Finally, he sits at a desk with seven order forms, one for each store, checks and double-checks, before driving to each store to oversee the display and arrangement of the day’s purchases.

In a year, an estimated $400 million of produce moves through the Produce Terminal to end up on your table. Trucks arrive from California in three days. Consumers don’t have to wait for the right season to receive ripe produce. It is a consumer’s delight, this global market. Tamarind pods. Cactus pear. Edible flowers. The expected and the exotic.

Every morning, the Hiller’s buyers are the first to foot these familiar paths. We choose the best quality and flavor, stepping inside ice-cold coolers to confirm that each pallet contains the same high-standard freshness of the first fruits chosen.

Nothing worth having comes easy. We at Hiller’s live by the Scottish proverb, “He that would eat the Fruit must climb the Tree.” Come eat with us…

Every relationship begins with a dance. He calls, she answers. They meet for coffee. He waits two days to call, not wanting to appear too eager, though he is. She lets the machine answer, waits hours, maybe a day, before calling back. The second date is dinner at a loud, low-lit place where they talk but also people-watch to divert the intensity of thought and unspoken what-ifs.

There are two kinds of silence: the kind we seek and the kind we flee. Real relationships - true love, dare I say - can only exist when the first has been fulfilled and the latter banished. That is the kind of relationship everyone hopes and dreams for, but one which too few people find.

Only people who can sit in silence have the ability to get drunk on true love. Ignoring the ringing phone, staring out a window, noticing the pink edges of the sunrise or the comet-trail of moonlight.

We are residents of a cast-off world. As half of all marriages crumble, as we line up for botox and liposuction, as we wear metaphorical masks, we forget that we are running only from ourselves. You are unique. And Hiller’s is the one place where you can be totally yourself, where we will meet your needs in fresh and surprising ways, where you will find more than you were looking for.

It is when we least expect to find connection that it happens most deeply. When we are not looking, when we don’t even realize we need it, that someone or something finds us and then it clicks - we forget how we ever lived BEFORE. And then the world comes alive in waves of streaky sky and tulips tilting into the wind, of fresh soil turned over to the promise of new growth and a season ahead of sweet fruit, long yields, skin to moist earth to wrest free something that has grown and developed and blossomed just so we can take a sweet bite.

The phone rings. He is calling for a third date, sitting at his desk, staring out the window at the yellow sun. He cannot work because his mind is on her. She answers this time and looks at the calendar which she already knows by heart. Yes, she says, Saturday night is great.

Though they don’t say it - they can’t - they know deep down what they want from this dance. I want you to love me, to really love me at the core, to know me and still to love me. The age-old desire for acceptance, for unconditional eyes-open gleeful YES I REALLY WANT YOU. The universal need for lasting connection even in the face of absolute truth.

Hiller’s is a supermarket. But Hiller’s is so much more than a place to buy grapefruits, peach juice, whole-grain crackers, hormone-free beef. I don’t want to be just any old store to you, a first date like any other, devoid of expectations but filled with hope. I don’t want to be something to check off your to-do list. I want to be a destination, a place that makes you smile. I want to be loved, and I want our love to blossom like the first summer flowers and then the garden that creeps its way slowly up from the dark to finally overtake all that the eye can see, yielding vast abundant fruits across the green. Real love. With you.

Hiller’s is the place for people who consciously choose their lives. If you’re willing to take chances, Hiller’s is your place.

The other day, I sat before the ocean and watched sunlight glint like diamonds off the buckling waters. The air was crisp, holding the scent of seashells in its grasp. A couple strolled along the low tide, their dog yipping as he ran close then doubled back, not wanting to get wet. I leaned into the arms of the muse and stared out to sea. An island with its lighthouse on the horizon became a boat that would take me anywhere.

There are no limits if we open our eyes. Every choice, every lifestyle, is an open-ended anticipation of what’s stocked neatly in the pantry and what’s to come tomorrow. Every choice is an opportunity to find love - love of self, love of the moment, love of another. I want you to love me and I promise, you won’t get hurt. I will love you back fully, for as long as you’ll let me. Step inside. Put your hand in mine. You won’t be sorry.

www.hillers.com

Testimony of a Wonderplant

I have seen ages come and go, have seen empires rise and fall. I was born from the land, and have since traveled from the reaches of Southwest Asia into the hands of young and old throughout the world. Although I am small, I have nurtured the lives of many, and have taken on many different forms. I have been a dress, a spot of ink on ancient parchment, and a decoration of the deepest blue for nobility and royalty. I have helped catch the wildest creatures of the sea, and helped mothers nurse their starving young.

I have borne seeds, both brown and golden, small and oval shaped and crunchy to the tooth. I have seen my offspring sprinkled on salads, consumed by the handful, and ground into dust. I have seen the dust of my children baked into breads and combined into muffins and pancakes. I have seen my seeds tapped for their precious oil, seen that oil consumed by the kilolitre. I have watched as the world woke up to me.

I am special, I am told. My seeds carry an important phytoestrogen, a chemical compound known as a lignan, a powerful antioxidant which helps fight diseases, among them that great human scourge called cancer. Recent studies have shown that cancer patients, both men and women, who have consumed one ounce per day of my seeds have slowed the progress of their cancers, delaying an increase in tumor growth and allowing them valuable time to wait for surgery. My seed’s lignans are wonderful for the heart, too, as is the Omega-3 fatty acid Alpha-linolenic acid which they contain. They are essential, I am told, because only from a plant, such as myself, can they be found, and humans know of nothing better for the natural reduction of cholesterol, blood pressure, and artery plaque formation. Humans today are prizing my seeds for their helpful reduction of heart attacks and other negative coronary conditions. Many people today are also adding these lignans and omega-3 acids to my oil, so my seeds are no longer the only source.

The lignans in my seeds are a form of fiber, so my seeds are also very helpful in aiding digestion and bringing balance to people’s digestive systems. They are tasty, too, I am told, and provide a wonderfully crunchy addition to breads and salads, in addition to their snackability for daily consumers. They have a deliciously nutty flavor, and are great in combination with many everyday dishes.

So who am I, who is so old, so helpful, so versatile? Who has been a part of human diets since the eldest of days, and who now, more than ever, is helping to bring balance and time to people’s lives?

I am flax, also known as linseed, wonderplant. Come find me in my many forms at Hiller’s Markets.

As you know, our main objective at Hiller’s is to provide the best quality, selection, and customer service in the grocery industry. We pride ourselves in listening carefully to our customers and providing them with the shopping experience they deserve.

Recently, I received an unsolicited email from a happy Hiller’s customer describing her shopping experiences. With her permission, I am publishing her email below. Thank you, Vicki.

Jim Hiller

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There is no joy to be found in shopping for groceries. It needs to be done regularly (or not so regularly) much like dusting, vacuuming, laundry, dishes, and all the other mundane chores necessary to keep a household in running order.

I first began grocery shopping while I was still a child in the early 1970’s. I did so to help my mother who, at the time, was suffering from an inner-ear condition that left her with constant vertigo. She’d send me to our neighborhood nationally known grocery store armed with a list that included cereal, milk, bread, potatoes, peanut butter, jelly, lunchmeat, cheese and head of lettuce. It was simple. There were two or three brands from which to choose and I knew which our family preferred and which ones gave the most value for the money.

Meat was never on the list because we bought our meat at a real, full-service butcher shop. The pink light bulbs over the meat counter in the chain grocery store along with the greenish sheen of the meat didn’t engender a lot of confidence in the quality. It was the same every week. Nothing changed and the choices remained constant from week to week and month to month.

Later, after I got married and had a family, I shopped at a different location of the same grocery chain for much the same. We needed cereal, milk, bread, potatoes, peanut butter, jelly, lunchmeat, cheese, a head of lettuce and, for a while, baby food. It was simple. There were two or three brands from which to choose and I knew which ones I preferred to serve my family.

Meat was still purchased at a real, full-service butcher shop that did not sport pink light bulbs over the meat to make it appear fresh. The butcher shop even carried little extras, like Italian torrone candies, that were my treat to myself for the extra effort required to purchase quality food for my family.

Years passed. Dietary trends and fads came and went. The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s saw, in succession, all-carbohydrate diets, no-fat diets , no-carbohydrate diets, no-protein diets and all-protein diets as the current weight loss or improved health liturgy. Grocery stores needed to keep up. Many did not. My childhood grocery store continued throughout to keep the same few choices and became a museum of food trends from the 50’s.

Vox Populi changed, and more and more of us have come to understand the value of excellence and superior quality in the food we eat and feed our families.

Speaking as a customer we still need the basics: cereal, milk, bread, potatoes, peanut butter, jelly, lunchmeat, cheese, produce, but now we want more choices and far greater diversity because food equals health and even happiness.

We want whole grain or gluten free or 8-grain bread in addition to plain white bread. We want lemon curd, lime curd, spoon fruits, sugar free marmalades, European fruit spreads and compotes in addition to the good old basic grape jelly.

Hiller’s has them all…….

Celebrity chefs are more popular than ever, and there is an entire television network dedicated to food. When a Nigella Lawson recipe calls for Demerara sugar, Halloumi cheese, English treacle or mustard powder; where can we find such items?

Hiller’s has them……..

When Giada DiLaurentis cooks with real parmiggiano reggiano, asiago and/or provolone cheeses on Everyday Italian, and I want them for my table.

Hiller’s has them……

When Rachael Ray uses Bibb lettuce, Romaine lettuce, leaf lettuce, arugula, baby spinach, or an assortment of many different lettuces for a salad in one of her 30-Minute Meals and that’s my choice for today’s salad.

Hiller’s has them all too, along with all the other vegetables, nuts, seeds and dressings that make that salad something special……

Hiller’s does have all the basics. Hiller’s has the specialty items. Hiller’s has Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, British, Middle-Eastern, Near-Eastern, Pacific Rim, Spanish, Mongolian and especially American products and delicacies. Hiller’s has hand-selected and trimmed fresh meat, exquisitely fresh seafood and the absolutely best produce anywhere.

What Hiller’s doesn’t have are pink light bulbs over the meat.

That’s why I am a devoted Hiller’s customer……

Vicki
Commerce Township, MI

Here’s a lot of stuff you don’t have to know:

What’s the difference between mushrooms and toadstools?
Nothing really. The words are often used interchangeably, but in some regions toadstools are understood to be poisonous mushrooms. Biologically, they are called Agaricales. (I think.)

How many varieties of mushrooms and/or toadstools are there?
38,000 give or take a few.

Are mushrooms a vegetable?
No. Why do you ask?

What mushrooms create a hallucinogenic effect?
You are not allowed to know this since we don’t sell them.

Why are mushrooms grown on beds of manure?
Mushrooms do not know about Imodium.

And here’s some stuff you ought to know:

What varieties of mushrooms are most popular in the Northern Hemisphere?
There are nine: Agaricus, Chanterelles (girolle), Crimini, Enoki,
Morel, Pleurotus (oyster), Porcino, Portabello and Shiitake.

Why did you leave out Matsutake Mushrooms?
Just so you would ask the question. Matsutakes were first grown by the Japanese on downed pine trees, in fact, the word “Matsutake” translated into English means “Pine Mushroom.” Today they are grown in Japan, Korea, and a few places in Canada, but some of the best come from the pine forests of Oregon where they grow wild. They are magic, you know. They are the consummate health food in Japan. It has been said “one cooks the Matsutake until one can eat the aroma.” They are the best and extremely rare.

Do you sell Matsutake mushrooms?
Of course.

Jim Hiller

All of the plains Indians depended upon the buffalo for food, clothing, and housing. (The teepees were covered with ten to twelve buffalo hides.) The Comanches were the first tribe in what is now the United States to have horses, which made them efficient harvesters of the buffalo. Every part of the huge animal was used by these nomadic hunters—fur for robes and bedding, horns for spoons and other utensils, hooves for glue, and leather for saddles, bridles, and canteens. The number killed each year by the Comanches and the other Indians of the Plains was less than the reproductive capacity of the herds. In 1800 there were sixty million buffalo. Around 1840 the killing began as the white man’s sport. Even then the impact on the economies of the tribes in the plains was negligible.

In 1869 an eastern inventor was granted a patent that would create circumstances so detrimental to the Comanche way of life that in six short years they would move to the Oklahoma Reservation. The patent was for a process to tan buffalo hides into supple, soft leather, quickly, and economically. An eastern tanner using the new process created an immediate market, and in the economic doldrums of the times, gave opportunities for quick money to any hunter who had the new .50-caliber Sharps rifle and a willingness to travel to the great American plains. Between 1872 and 1874 professional hunters slaughtered 4,274,000 buffalo. The famous Buffalo Bill Cody killed 4,300 in just eight months. Wyatt Earp, Pat Garrett, and Wild Bill Hickock joined in the killing spree. The rapid destruction of this great natural resource alarmed even the Congress of the United States, who, in their collective wisdom, passed legislation to protect the buffalo. Ulysses S. Grant, who vetoed more legislation than that of the combined seventeen presidents who preceded him, vetoed this bill, too.

By 1900 there were fewer than 300 wild buffalo in the U.S. and Canada, but from that date to today, wild buffalo in National Parks and domesticated buffalo on buffalo ranches have grown in sufficient numbers to allow you and me to eat like the Comanches did in the early 1700s.

For a long time buffalo steaks, roasts and other cuts were only found in very expensive restaurants as a specialty main course. The delicious meat from naturally fed buffalo was not available from the corner grocer or the supermarket.
That has changed. We have two varieties of buffalo at Hillers as well as many different cuts. One is all natural and the other is all natural and kosher. Neither has been given any hormones or additives, just pure natural feed.

Invite some friends for dinner and show off.

Jim Hiller

It had not started out as a ‘good day.’ He knew that when the wife began the usual early morning harangue about drinking too much coffee . . . about caffeine . . . about his doctor’s warning . . . about all of the stuff he should and should not do. It was 8:05. He was already late and getting more and more frustrated with the driver of the car with Indiana plates in front of him who seemed not to understand that many times in Michigan to turn left you first must turn right. He muttered, “Dumb, dumb Hoosier,” and continued to creep in traffic, glancing at his watch as it chewed off minutes far too quickly.

He was late. It was the fourth time in three weeks and he knew this time he would hear about it the minute he walked into the outer office. His secretary glanced up with a slight smirk and said, “You’re late again.”

“I know,” he said a little too loudly. “It’s the coffee.”

Just as he slammed his office door, another door over 9,000 miles to the West slowly creaked open in the mist of early night to solve his problem. The Zhu family of three was about to go to work under a bright moon in the Zhenhe district of Fujian province China. Zhu Hui, the father, Zhu Yi, the mother and their twelve year old daughter, Zhu Ya easily can see the path trod by at least ten generations of the Zhu family three or four times each year in the months of April and May. It is more than a path; it is a long winding depression going up a very big hill. The dew, already formed on the hillside is like dew nowhere else in the world. It glistens like mini mirrors on the silver-down covered leaves of the hundreds of bushes on and near the top of the hill. No one knows the ages of the plants. It is said in the village that they were first created from wild tea bushes a thousand years ago. The Zhu family will pick the leaves of the tea bushes—the Yin Zhen—right before they blossom for so doing creates a white tea with almost no caffeine and a guaranteed sweet, delicate taste.

Sometimes it is called “Silver Needle,” “Bai Hao,” and/or “Yin Zhen.” It is extremely rare, amazingly delicious and the perfect solution to caffeine addiction.

Sure. We have it at Hillers.

Jim Hiller

As you might expect, I spend a lot of time every day checking the pulse of my markets. What are the customers saying today? How do they think we’re doing? What complaints do they have? I speak about these issues frequently with my management team, and one response I receive is that customers often say the following: “We think the stores are great, and we love shopping at Hiller’s, but wish the prices were lower.”

Yet, I know that our base prices are in line with our least expensive competitors and are well below our supposed “gourmet” store competition.

Since this is one of the most frequent sentiments expressed by my customers I thought I would address it, because I know there’s far more to this issue than meets the eye.

Let me start with an example. You, the customer, go to one of my competitors with a shopping list of 20 items. You walk the aisles, and find that they’re out of your favorite mustard, oatmeal, and yogurt. Next, you walk over to the deli department to buy some turkey. After waiting for more than 5 minutes for service, you think that the turkey looks a little old, and though you buy it, you don’t want to take a chance on the roast beef that was also on your list. On the way out, you had planned to pick up an apple pie from the bakery department, only to find that they only have blueberry and peach left available.

What was once a list of 20 items has been reduced to 15. That’s 25% of your list!

Now let’s replay that same scenario at Hiller’s. You walk the aisles, picking up your favorite mustard and yogurt. For the sake of fairness, let’s say that we’ve also run out of your favorite oatmeal, but while you were looking for it, you see a variety of granola bar that you’ve never seen before. It looks interesting, so you decide to try it, along with a package of Edamame from the Japanese section you’d heard a friend talking about. You then proceed to the deli department, and, after your last experience, ask to try some turkey before you purchase it. Finding it to be of excellent quality, you purchase it, along with the roast beef you had wanted before and some ham that looks good also. On the way out, you grab the apple pie you’ve been looking for, and, pleased to have found it, decide to buy some vanilla ice cream to go on top.

So let’s reassess the situation. You started with a list of 20 items, and unfortunately we were out of one of them. However, you found a new granola bar to try, a hard-to-find Japanese item, and you also added some ham and ice cream to your purchase. What was once a list of 20 items has now become 23. That’s 8 items more than our competitor!!! That’s 54% more items!

The underlying concept I’m getting at is that perception is often as powerful as reality; the perception that Hiller’s is more expensive because your shopping trip cost you more. Some people will recognize that they are spending more at Hiller’s because we are simply able to fulfill more of their needs. They tend to be enthusiastic customers because we have surprised them with items they never thought they’d find. Yet others continue to conclude that we are just more expensive and never look beyond the bottom line.

We simply carry thousands more items than anyone else. Because that is the case, it’s inevitable that customers will bring home more items than they would elsewhere.

As always, I and my staff do our best to find the highest quality items, provide the best service, and try as hard as possible to keep everything our customers are looking for in-stock, always. At the same time, we do our best to keep prices fair and in line with our least expensive competitors, and I’m confident that we achieve that goal. And, on any given week as many as 500 common items will be on special and have prices reduced even further.

Perceptions are tricky things and I’d hate to have my shoppers thinking I am in the same rarified air of high pricing occupied by some of our supposed gourmet competitors . I encourage you to scrutinize us. Check those receipts and let me know what you think!

Jim Hiller

As you might expect, I spend a lot of time every day checking the pulse of my markets. What are the customers saying today? How do they think we’re doing? What complaints do they have? I speak about these issues frequently with my management team, and one response I receive is that customers often say the following: “We think the stores are great, and we love shopping at Hiller’s, but wish the prices were lower.”

Yet, I know that our base prices are in line with our least expensive competitors and are well below our supposed “gourmet” store competition.

Since this is one of the most frequent sentiments expressed by my customers I thought I would address it, because I know there’s far more to this issue than meets the eye.

Let me start with an example. You, the customer, go to one of my competitors with a shopping list of 20 items. You walk the aisles, and find that they’re out of your favorite mustard, oatmeal, and yogurt. Next, you walk over to the deli department to buy some turkey. After waiting for more than 5 minutes for service, you think that the turkey looks a little old, and though you buy it, you don’t want to take a chance on the roast beef that was also on your list. On the way out, you had planned to pick up an apple pie from the bakery department, only to find that they only have blueberry and peach left available.

What was once a list of 20 items has been reduced to 15. That’s 25% of your list!

Now let’s replay that same scenario at Hiller’s. You walk the aisles, picking up your favorite mustard and yogurt. For the sake of fairness, let’s say that we’ve also run out of your favorite oatmeal, but while you were looking for it, you see a variety of granola bar that you’ve never seen before. It looks interesting, so you decide to try it, along with a package of Edamame from the Japanese section you’d heard a friend talking about. You then proceed to the deli department, and, after your last experience, ask to try some turkey before you purchase it. Finding it to be of excellent quality, you purchase it, along with the roast beef you had wanted before and some ham that looks good also. On the way out, you grab the apple pie you’ve been looking for, and, pleased to have found it, decide to buy some vanilla ice cream to go on top.

So let’s reassess the situation. You started with a list of 20 items, and unfortunately we were out of one of them. However, you found a new granola bar to try, a hard-to-find Japanese item, and you also added some ham and ice cream to your purchase. What was once a list of 20 items has now become 23. That’s 8 items more than our competitor!!! That’s 54% more items!

The underlying concept I’m getting at is that perception is often as powerful as reality; the perception that Hiller’s is more expensive because your shopping trip cost you more. Some people will recognize that they are spending more at Hiller’s because we are simply able to fulfill more of their needs. They tend to be enthusiastic customers because we have surprised them with items they never thought they’d find. Yet others continue to conclude that we are just more expensive and never look beyond the bottom line.

We simply carry thousands more items than anyone else. Because that is the case, it’s inevitable that customers will bring home more items than they would elsewhere.

As always, I and my staff do our best to find the highest quality items, provide the best service, and try as hard as possible to keep everything our customers are looking for in-stock, always. At the same time, we do our best to keep prices fair and in line with our least expensive competitors, and I’m confident that we achieve that goal. And, on any given week as many as 500 common items will be on special and have prices reduced even further.

Perceptions are tricky things and I’d hate to have my shoppers thinking I am in the same rarified air of high pricing occupied by some of our supposed gourmet competitors . I encourage you to scrutinize us. Check those receipts and let me know what you think!

Jim Hiller