Mannix Family Opens State-of-the-Art ShopRite

Fresh-focused Staten Island store features an expansive produce department.

Mannix Family Markets opened its latest ShopRite supermarket in Staten Island, NY, in September. The store features a prominent produce section with a broad range of fresh fruits and vegetables, including a significant presentation of organic and locally grown produce.

Located at 100 Greaves Lane in southcentral Staten Island’s Great Kills community, the store became the fourth supermarket operated by the Mannix family in the New York borough. It is an independently owned banner affiliated with Wakefern Food Corp., Keasbey, NJ.

At 62,000 square feet, it’s a full-service supermarket that has an emphasis on well-merchandised fresh food and professionally prepared specialty items arranged so consumers can easily plan meals.

Tim Mannix, vice president of Mannix Family Markets, headquartered in Staten Island, says the process that led up to the Great Kills store opening Sept. 14 was a decade in length, but when the company was ready to build, it did so deliberately.

“It’s been a long time coming, but we started construction back in February, so, it was a seven-month sprint,” he says. “We’re very excited. We took the building down to the studs. It’s fully state-of-the-art, our latest and greatest. We’re anticipating a great cutout from a produce standpoint.”

“I really love the way the produce department came out.”

The Great Kills store is part of a drive by Mannix ShopRite to develop its physical plant. All the stores range from 60,000 to 70,000 square feet. Mannix says they opened one store in 2016, another in 2020, and fully renovated one in 2023. “Our produce cutouts tend to be in the 12% range, so we tend to devote a significant amount of space to produce.”

Mannix says they tend to merchandise specific to the neighborhood, given demographics. “We’re fortunate enough that we encourage a lot of cross-shopping across Staten Island. So, we look for consistency, where customers aren’t lost. They have a sense of familiarity when they shop all of our locations.”

CREATING PRODUCE THEATER

Among the new store’s features is the fog technology on the greens wall. In an example of ShopRite mutual support, Mannix management became familiar with the technology after seeing it in the Cingari ShopRite operation in Connecticut, a fellow Wakefern co-op member, and introduced it in the new store.

The new store also features clear sightlines in the produce department. “We want our customers to see into the back of the department straight through the store,” says Frank Kolovich, director of operations for Mannix ShopRite. “So, we went with lower gondolas and refrigerated tables up front.”

Seasonal presentations are important in regard to produce merchandising. During the fall opening, the front feature display was mixed apples, pears, and citrus with year-round draws, such as avocados and grapes, with a small berry slot as part of the seasonal transition. Nearby, another floor display offered a mix of various tomatoes, bagged lettuce, broccoli, sweet potatoes, bagged baby carrots and mushroom cartons.

Deeper in the department, the variety of apples was already vast, including bagged and bulk on slant tables. An endcap offered bulk apples in carry-away mini shopping bags.

There is also an extensive presentation of tropical and Latin produce. Plantains ranged among bananas, ripe bananas and cooking bananas. A perpendicular endcap featured pineapples, mangos and other tropicals. Another aisle display included commodities, such as yucca, chayote, malanga coco and aloe vera leaf. Kiwis complemented the rest in an independent display on the shoulder of the main fixture.

Departments surrounding produce and integrating with complementary produce merchandising included bakery, meat, deli, a fish market, frozen seafood and sushi.

With produce as a cornerstone, new and refurbished ShopRite stores feature design elements that foster value — for example, offering prepared and ready-to-eat items. Even shoppers who want to do most of their own cooking can grab a pre-cooked protein, bagged salad, cherry tomatoes and chunk squash to prepare when they get home.

KEEPING IT FRESH

The embrace of fresh and convenient was evident in Great Kills ShopRite, with the rear of the cold case deep in both clamshell and bagged salads, followed to the front by fresh herbs and bagged veggies. The greens section included head and bunched items, as well as various bulk vegetables, including root commodities such as parsnips and beets.

“We believe in prepared foods fresh made, so we’re making everything on site,” says Kolovich. “We don’t have a commissary as a small company, so we produce everything fresh in our kitchens. We try to keep in mind what our customers are looking for in convenience. It’s definitely something we believe in.”

That includes fresh cuts. The Great Kills store has a dedicated low-profile case of fresh-cut fruit and fruit salads. At the time of the store opening, it included everything from half strawberries and sliced mango to mixed fruit chunks with grapes and blueberries and half watermelons.

The new Mannix ShopRite also has significant organic and gluten-free selection. In produce, organics actually head up the cold case, and what immediately catches the eye is that products are bagged or in sealed cartons to keep them pristine amid the conventional produce.

At the store opening, about a third of the display was devoted to fruit and the rest to vegetables.

A noteworthy element enhancing the produce department is colorful and extensive signage positioned above the cold case. It runs the length of the display and mounts vivid illustrations of produce with information about individual commodities, each including tips on consumption.

inside the store

ShopRite of Evergreen Plaza
100 Greaves Lane, Staten Island, NY 10308
347-215-2151
www.Shoprite.com