Brett Hekkers, Choice Market
“Choice is kind of a hybrid between a convenience store and a grocery store. This specific store is a bit of a different model than our normal ones because this is a fairly low-income neighborhood. So we tend to carry some lower-priced grocery items.”
“We started in 2017 and the whole idea was to make a convenience store with fresh, local food. So we have a lot of local suppliers that bring stuff in that you can't get anywhere else except maybe a farmer’s market. And then we have our kitchen and we use all organic produce, sustainably sourced meats, and a ton of vegetarian and vegan options.”
“The pandemic has been a challenging time, but we believe strongly in taking care of our employees. We made the decision before the paycheck protection program even came out that we didn’t want to lay anybody off. We didn’t want to reduce their hours. People need to make a living. So we were just going to take the financial hit. Luckily, the assistance came through and softened that financial blow. But from the get-go, we always told people, if you feel sick in any way, don't come to work. You're going to get paid. Even if you’re scared of being at work with all this going on, stay home, we'll still take care of it.” — Brett Hekkers, Manager @thechoicemarket
