Newest Fry’s Ends Food Desert in Downtown Phoenix

Monica Garnes, president of Arizona-based Fry’s Food Stores, rolled out the red carpet for The Shelby Report, taking VP-West Bob Reeves on a walk through Fry’s newest store at 100 East Jefferson Street in Downtown Phoenix. The state-of-the-art store opened in October 2019.

The Fry’s store literally is the cornerstone of a renewal project in the heart of the city on East Jefferson. This block also will include apartments, retail spaces and offices. The innovative grocery store is 67,000 s.f. total, with about 40,000 s.f. of sales floor space. It features a three-level parking structure with an elevator.

“We’re really excited about this location. One of the great things about this location is that it alleviates a decades-long food desert that’s been in Downtown Phoenix. It is a celebration of ending the lack of easy access to nutritious food for people on a regular basis,”

Garnes said.

Garnes started her tour in the store’s foyer. “There’s a little bit of local history in the building,” she said, pointing to the wall. “This was the first fire station in Downtown Phoenix. These are bricks from that original firehouse that we wanted to incorporate into the building to celebrate what used to be here as part of the history of the Fry’s store.”

In the foyer is reference to Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative, the company’s commitment to ending hunger in the communities it serves and eliminating waste across the company by 2025.

“That’s one of Fry’s core initiatives as a Kroger company,” Garnes said. “In 2018, Fry’s provided 10 million meals to people that were hungry in the state of Arizona. We’re on track to exceed that for 2019.”

Urban chic ambience

This store location targets residents who live, play and work downtown. It is an area rich in history and within walking distance of Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

“Right across the street we have the Phoenix Suns’ arena. We offer customers the opportunity to purchase Suns apparel, and (we) have a great partnership. As people come downtown for sporting events, concerts, etc., this is a great place to come and hang out prior to that event or even after work.”

The indoor ambience has an urban chic feel, with high ceilings, open beams, exposed piping and cement and brick walls. The outside of the building has a cool, modern look.

Fry’s also commissioned two local artists to create vibrant indoor murals for the store walls. One mural represents the area’s history, the downtown skyline and the old firehouse. “It’s really a celebration of Phoenix,” noted Garnes.

The artwork received a lot of press prior to the store opening. The second mural wraps around a wall that can be seen through the outside windows as customers walk down the sidewalk.

Groth leads Fry’s merchandising team

Christina Groth, VP of merchandising for Fry’s Food Stores, has spent her entire career with The Kroger Co. In the summer of 2019, Groth transferred to Arizona to work as part of the key leadership team of Fry’s president and The Shelby Report’s Woman Executive of the Year, Monica Garnes.

Groth was a university student when she began working as a general merchandise intern at Kroger’s Fred Meyer division in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from college, she was brought on board full-time in the category management offices for Fred Meyer, a chain of big-box superstores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.

“I spent the first 11 years of my career in general merchandise that included home, apparel and home electronics. Our Fry’s Marketplace stores are a smaller version of those stores. I was in the buying offices of category management for the first 12 years of my career, and then I moved over to the food side; I was the deli-bakery merchandiser for Fred Meyer for two years,” Groth said.

In 2014 Groth became senior director of the general merchandise team for the Kroger corporation. The next year she relocated to Kroger’s Cincinnati headquarters, where she was named VP of health and beauty care. “I was there for about a year-and-a-half and then moved back to Portland, where I was the vice president of general merchandising for about three years. This was still for Kroger, but that team is based out of Portland instead of Cincinnati.”

Garnes’ wealth of experience

After her most recent experience at the corporate level, Groth was off to Arizona to join Fry’s. It is common for Kroger executives to alternate between division and corporate roles. “I’m having the opportunity now to get my division experience,” she said.

Working closely with the Fry’s president is a pleasure for Groth—they have a lot in common and are on the same page in many ways, having both been Kroger merchandising executives. “She’s a great mentor with a wealth of knowledge and experience in this division,” noted Groth.

Groth has spent less than six months as part of Garnes’ team, but she has worked with many other leaders and Garnes stands out as a unique individual. “The first word that comes to mind when I think about Monica is ‘genuine.’ It’s one of the things I enjoy most about working with her. Watching her interact with our associates—whether they are store associates, office associates, district associates, any associates—you can see she is truly a genuine person and it’s refreshing to work with someone like that. No matter who you are, she finds a way to connect with you. She’s incredibly passionate about our associates in this division.” the store level, they’re more focused on executing the weekly plan. My team and I work both with Monica and our counterparts at the general office in Cincinnati on some things that are more long-range,” Groth continued.

The key leadership team focuses on communication with the associates to help ensure continuation of the Fry’s culture. “Fry’s historically has had a strong culture and our associates are really passionate about our company. They’re also passionate about our customers. An important part of our role is making sure we’re continuing to exhibit company values and to lead by example,” Groth said.

Fry’s competitive advantage

“It’s really important for us to make sure we’re continuing to create a culture where associates enjoy working. I think that’s one of the best things we do here at Fry’s, and we’re top-notch when you compare us to other Kroger divisions. We really have a culture of valuing our associates and making sure they understand their importance to the success of our business,” Groth said.

The open communication among all the teams and moving together toward a common vision is key to this success. “Something someone once said to me about their company really resonates with me, now that I’m here at Fry’s. Our associates and our culture are our competitive advantage at Fry’s. I really believe that,” Groth said.

Groth’s role in the company is to drive sales and ensure that the business plan executed in the stores is relevant to customers. But just as important to her is inspiring associates every day. Garnes sets the example for the whole company to achieve the ultimate goal—customer satisfaction.

Innovative downtown store

Fry’s newest store is an innovative, state-of-the art shopping experience in Downtown Phoenix. Groth was closely involved with Garnes and the Fry’s team on planning and opening the store in 2019.

Much creative planning and preparation went into the downtown store, and the Fry’s team is very proud of its accomplishment. “That’s a really unique store for us. It’s different from any of our other stores. It was really fun to work on it for her, because that is the store where she now shops, based on where she lives. As the president of our division, she is a customer of that store, giving our customers as well as our president a great shopping experience,” Groth said.

“Monica is really involved in our stores. She spends a lot of time in the stores engaging with the associates and providing feedback on how the stores look and what’s working—what looks good and what things we may need to work on. We’ve spent a lot of time in that (downtown) store with her, making sure we were all aligned in the direction we wanted to take the store, because it is so different from any of our other stores.”

Great experience for every customer

“Downtown and Roosevelt Road are known for a lot of galleries and art. It’s really popular. As you drive around Downtown Phoenix, you see a lot of public art. People enjoy looking at the murals, which represent our support for local artists,” she added.

Eye-catching floral

Garnes’ favorite departments are produce and floral, and Fry’s has outdone itself in those areas. It has established an eye-catching floral area with a wide selection of plants and flowers, which are displayed throughout the store.

Fry’s is now “a great florist in Downtown Phoenix,” she said. “If someone works in an

As a leader who encompasses many business skills and attributes, Garnes’ easy manner and approachability have opened the door to positive relationships with Fry’s associates. “She has built deep connections with the associates and I’m seeing how much they admire her and look up to her. She inspires them to do better. It’s been really cool for me to watch and I’ve worked with a lot of leaders. She just has such a unique way of connecting with people that warms people up from the moment they meet her,” Groth said.

Strategic plan coming to life

All three key leadership team members—including Groth, Garnes and VP of operations, Micheal Cristal—are fairly recent arrivals to the Fry’s division. “My goal and the goal of my team is twofold. One is certainly driving sales. My team owns the sales plan and we focus on bringing the plan from the general office to life in our stores. We partner with Monica on translating the plan into simple courses of action that help our store associates drive sales,” Groth said. “Monica inspires associates to bring the plan to life and to create great experiences in our stores for our customers.”

There are plans within plans; the high-level plan provides high-level goals and long-term direction, and within that plan are the efforts needed to address more immediate needs. “It is a combination of plans. We have a weekly plan that leads all the way into our longer-term strategic plan. At

With many successes under their belt, Fry’s associates know they can never rest on their laurels. “One of the things I’ve learned since I’ve been in this role is that Phoenix is a very competitive market and we cannot take our finger off the pulse for a moment,” Groth said.

“We owe it to our customers to deliver to them the freshest product available, the best customer service and the best prices in town. I think we’re really good at it, but it is a very competitive market,” she said. “Our focus is to give every customer that walks through our door a really great experience. I think that is both our biggest opportunity as well as one of our biggest successes.”

Garnes stands behind the entire Fry’s team and supports their efforts to achieve their goals.

“Monica has the knowledge of the industry as well as the experience within our organization at Fry’s, in other divisions and at our general office. Her understanding, intuition and natural knack for the business serves our company well. She is a really great merchant and we are partnering with her to help ensure that we’re executing her vision as well.”

Groth added that Garnes sets an example for the company by her involvement and dedication to the local community. “She’s incredibly passionate about the community and incredibly passionate about diversity in our company. She’s passionate about things that are also very important to me, which makes it really enjoyable to work with her.” office and it’s Administrative Professionals’ Day, for example, they can quickly come in, grab something and have arrangements made. As you can see, our floral shop is pretty spectacular.”

The effort to provide nutritious food to the community starts with produce, and Fry’s delivers a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. To furnish the department, the company has partnered with a Colorado wood supplier. “When you think about Zero Waste,” Garnes said, “the produce fixtures as well as our floral fixtures are actually from reclaimed beetle wood that had been repurposed to create the tables you see in the department today, which is pretty exciting.”

This unique store offers many standard Fry’s services as well as extras, including a full-service pharmacy, a busy Starbucks and Murray’s Cheese counter, with a selection of up to 150 cheeses from around the world. There are made-to-order meals and many deli and bakery selections. The store offers same-day pickup and delivery service for customers via Instacart for delivery; store associates shop inside the store for the Pickup orders.

Chompie’s bagels

The downtown store is Fry’s second location to house a Chompie’s bagel shop. Chompie’s serves lunch and offers limited breakfast options for customers as well. “We’re happy Chompie’s has joined the Fry’s team. They are one of our valued third-party vendors,” Garnes said.

“In terms of this Fry’s store in general,” Garnes said, “we made deliberate decisions to have a lot of ‘grab and go’ options for customers. We have a salad bar, but we also have salads they can quickly come in and pick up. We have a great assortment of sandwiches and a sushi bar. If they want to come in and get fresh sushi, they can just grab it and go. The sushi has been very, very popular.”

So many special touches make Fry’s a great shopping experience, as well as a nice gathering spot for people in the community. This store has plenty of seating for in-store dining.

“We experience higher lunchtime traffic, so we wanted to offer seating options for customers as well,” Garnes said.

At the wine and beer bar, customers can experience local beers and wines. “If you want to come down and have happy hour here at Fry’s, you can do that,” she added.

Booming lunch business

Garnes noted that 65,000 people work in Downtown Phoenix.

“We have access to many, many customers that come through here. As we were building the store and coming down here on a regular basis, we were seeing the amount of people going out and about for lunch, so we felt we would have a pretty robust lunch business. However, it has far exceeded our expectations in terms of the lunch traffic we’re getting,” she said.

Handling all that lunch traffic has been an adjustment for the Fry’s team, but they really do put their customers’ needs first.

“We see a lot of construction workers in here and many of them work late through the night and into the morning. We have adjusted to make sure we can accommodate their work needs for lunch. We start at 9 in the morning vs. the typical business lunchtime falling at 11. I feel really good about being able to meet their needs and having hot chicken

Cristal plays key role on Garnes’ leadership team

Micheal Cristal, VP of operations for Fry’s Food Stores, arrived at the Arizona corporate headquarters in October 2017, after his promotion from VP of merchandising at a Seattle-based Kroger division. Cristal has been with Kroger for 34 years. He came to Fry’s about four months before Monica Garnes, The Shelby Report’s Woman Executive of the Year, was named president of the division.

“As VP of operations, I get to work with our district managers and store managers as we focus on delivering the best shopping experience for our customers. We want to do it in the most efficient manner that we possibly can,” Cristal said.

Cristal is part of Garnes’ key leadership team, which also consists of the VP of merchandising, the director of human resources and the chief financial officer. The team works closely together in defining business requirements and spreading the company vision throughout the culture, while keeping everyone on board and moving in the same direction. “I work very closely with Monica in understanding expectations, understanding the vision and delivering that level of expectation and vision,” he said.

Supportive leader

As a seasoned supermarket executive, Cristal has worked with many professionals in the business. He has gained admiration for Gaines’ leadership qualities.

“Monica’s leadership style is one that creates an environment for her team to flourish. She creates expectations which are clearly defined, but not only that, she provides a level of support that creates the opportunity for those objectives to be achieved. What is very unique to Monica is that she does a great job of connecting with the leadership team, but she also does a great job of bringing that same level of energy, connection and engagement to our store teams as well.”

Garnes brings people together to support one shared vision for the company. “Because Fry’s is part of The Kroger Co., to a large degree we get some guidance in what that vision looks like, but Monica does a really good job of connecting the culture to that vision she’s defining. She’s not just connecting with her direct reports but cascading that throughout the organization. She has been very intentional on touching people through great engagement – not just at the administrative level but by spending a large amount of time connecting with the teams within our stores, so it’s more than just words. She takes the opportunity to solidify that vision within our store teams, and we all know that’s where everything happens,” said Cristal.

Regular store visits

Garnes is out in the field regularly visiting the Fry’s stores. “It is nothing for Monica to visit a store, spend an enormous amount of time talking with a floral clerk about expectations for Valentine’s Day and so on. She is having good conversations around challenges the floral clerks or floral managers might be having regarding expectations around execution within Valentine’s,” he added.

Garnes knows the importance of making every employee feel part of the Fry’s team. She makes the effort to let them know where they’re headed and what is expected of them as they carry out their duties and serve as the face of Fry’s to customers.

“She is providing and receiving honest feedback to provide to our floral team here within our office. You can see examples of her doing that throughout the stores. It’s common to see Monica exiting a store, stopping by the frontend and literally speaking and engaging with each one of our cashiers as well as each one of our baggers … with the intent of giving good insight on the value (and) relevancy of their roles,” Cristal said.

Cutting the waste

The Fry’s team is working hard to implement Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social impact initiative, the company’s commitment to ending hunger and eliminating waste across the company by 2025. Cristal has worked with Garnes and the team to overcome challenges in this area. Fry’s provided 10 million meals to its local communities last year.

The Fry’s team is tackling product waste and achieved a high level of performance in 2019. “Last year, we were looking at some key objectives that we were having a little bit of challenge on. In