Checkers Foods

By Tom King

Monday, November 10, 2003

Checkers Foods

2300 Louisiana

(785) 843-0023

96 Feet Of Fresh Meat

Oxtails occasioned my first visit to Checkers. It was the only place in Lawrence that stocked them.

It's also the only place in town to get smoked hocks and trotters, tongue, beef shanks and bones, caul fat for pates, kidneys, and tripe for menudo. Cuts that are eschewed by most people (too "animal"), but are well-known and beloved to old farm families and rural people everywhere.

Most any cut of beef, pork or poultry can be found in Checker's so-called "96 feet of meat," a yawning meat case that runs nearly half the length of the store's back wall. Even for Kansas, the selection of beef is spectacular: roasts and ribs, steaks and stewing meat; all cuts, all sizes.

And there are pork spareribs, great spareribs. Not those Bedrock-sized ribs people gnaw on at carnivals, all bone and no meat. These are succulent, marbled, thin-boned racks at $2.18 a pound. Checkers' deli slow-roasts several racks of these ribs in a rotisserie prominently placed in front of the deli counter. I have often stood hypnotized by these twirling slabs slathered with their sauces; usually, I am not alone.

Not every cut, though, is to be found in the 96 feet of meat.

"You won't find a filet in here very often," Jim remarks, "unless we can pass on a good deal."

A good deal

Perhaps more than anything -- more than the 96 feet of meat, or the store's maze-like entry, or even its legendary produce aisle -- the thing that distinguishes Checker's from other grocers of its size is the good deal. Not gimmicks like discount cards, 4 for 5 pricing or buy one get one free. Just a low pricing, period.

Checkers' owner and Lawrence resident Jim Lewis hesitates to call Checkers a discount store; "price impact outlet" is the current industry terminology.

"Take Costco or Food4Less and your neighborhood Mom and Pop

grocery store and shake them well together," says Lewis. "That's Checkers."

Neighborhood Mom and Pop grocery store? Where?

Competition is rough in the grocery game; it's the hard-working, lucky grocer that posts a five percent net. Jim's winning theory: cut back on frills and services and pass the savings on to the customer.

There's few aesthetic finishes in the store -- nothing between the concrete floors and warehouse ceilings except ready-to-buy food and unpacked boxes on top of the shelves. And customers must bag their own groceries.

Lewis believes customers appreciate the difference -- as he points out: "High service equals high prices."

An Invisible Hand

Jim Lewis is always available to anyone. If you can catch him.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday he delivers groceries to the homebound, about 30 people across town. He donates and delivers food to the Home Economics Departments of several schools. He actively supports local churches and the Salvation Army, and nearly every youth program in Lawrence.

He is a smiling, robust, easygoing, well-spoken man. He's 57 years old and has spent 37 years in the grocery business.

"It seems like there's been an invisible hand, always pushing me further in this business," Jim says, laughing.

Jim was born in Ottawa. His grandmother was born in the back of a covered wagon in Grundy, Missouri. His grandfather ran a barbershop in the basement store at 9th and Mass (now a Christian teen canteen). When his grandfather retired, he moved his barber's chair into his home, so he could keep on cutting his loyal regulars.

Jim Lewis is a local boy, of strong (and increasingly rare) Midwestern stock.

In 1965, at the start of his college days, Jim's father urged him to work in a grocery store. Jim found work at the IGA at 9th and Iowa, now home to the Merc. A couple of years later, Jim escaped to Topeka, enrolled in Washburn University and married Linda. Linda now works at Checkers (she and assistant Emily run the video department), as do the Lewises' son and daughter-in-law.

The next ten years took the family to Nebraska, Oklahoma City and Wichita, finally returning to Lawrence in 1982 to run the four IGA markets then in town. As the IGA empire declined, Jim pitched his hybrid market theory -- his plans for what would become Checkers -- to his bosses. They bought it.

In June of 1987, the IGA at 23rd and Louisiana was replaced by Checkers. Sixteen years later, it's still a single-location, family-run business, but not for long. Next year Checkers will open a store in Kansas City.

Around here for a while

Strolling through Checkers with Lewis is like walking in downtown Detroit with Eminem. In less than 10 minutes, at least a dozen people have approached him with greetings and pleasantries. Everybody knows him; his employees are happy to see him.

One woman, I'm sure, was thinking of asking Jim to kiss her baby. Funny, for a guy whose own wife didn't remember their first date.

"Well, I've been around here for a while" he says.

The entrance to Lewis' store offers no choice but to pass the towering Deal Wall, a warehouse display of bulk and special-priced items. The best deals are to be had right here.

A pallet of Velveeta, five feet tall; a two-pound box for $3.79. Stock up, it's football season. Canned salmon, cake mix, laundry detergent, vegetable oil, kidney beans, Drano, pop -- one or two semi-trailers per day offload at Checkers and the Deal Wall is ever-changing. And ever a deal.

A complaint sometimes levied against Checkers is that the Deal Wall presents an unnecessary obstacle preventing one for 'just running in.' For the retailer, though, a big consideration is traffic flow -- you want to move the customer around your whole store. You want them to notice the goods you carry, and you hope to attract an impulse purchase or two. That's good business. (Lewis assures, though, should you need to just 'run in', you may indeed enter through the exit set of doors).

Leaving the land of the Deal Wall, leads you into the produce section, what Lewis calls his "signature department." It's probably the largest produce offering in town -- more like a full-blown city market than a mere department. (Indeed, mention Checkers around town and the usual response is: "They have great produce.")

The deli crew waves as we approach. I head for the Chester Fried Chicken. Jim is pleased with the franchise fried chicken venture: "It's done well since the day we started it." It's good chicken; I call it "picnic chicken" -- it tastes great at room temperature, the thick crust slightly softened, the meat moist and tender.

In the bakery, Candace and the girls are making fresh flour tortillas. They look up and smile as we walk in.

Stacks of freshly baked tortillas are arranged on spotless tabletops, cooling before bagging and stocking. Candace hands me one, warm and supple from the oven. The tortilla is chewy and light, almost a pancake, perfectly dappled with scorch. She watches me closely as I eat, confident in my response. It is indeed a good tortilla. I imagine it wrapped around a rotisserie pork sparerib.

The bakery produces 900 flour tortillas a day and a limited amount of whole wheat tortillas, a recent introduction. Ten of these handmade beauties cost 99 cents. Lewis says these 'tortillas frescas' now account for the bulk of the ever-increasing tortilla sales.

Town Night

Thursday night is town night in Lawrence. That's the way it has always been. Families come out before the weekend, when college students take over the town. To shop and to socialize, to stroll on Mass., maybe dinner out, a movie. It's slowly changing, dwindling perhaps, though the old guard still is increasingly bolstered by Lawrence's growing communities of Latino and Asian families.

Jim's paying close attention to the changes. The tortillas, for example, the piñatas, and the best selection of fresh chiles in town; the bulk aisle, where you can usually spot a browsing restaurant cook (you can tell them by their silly pants); the tomatillos and cilantro, bok choy and lemongrass and ginger... As he has always done, Jim gets to know his customers. He sells what they want and finds what they ask for. At prices his customers can afford.

When I ask Jim how the public has changed during his 37 years in the business, he answers: "People are more aware of nutritional information and expiration dates nowadays. And that's good. But people will always want the most they can get for the least amount of money. That will never change."

Photos...

Top: Marieke Dimmick shops the 96 feet of meat.

Above: Susan Reusch blazes up fresh tortillas in-store.

Below: owner Jim Lewis (left) and produce chief Wes Nellis.

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Posted by itsoffthehook (anonymous) on November 10, 2003 at 4:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

checkers is by far the best grocery store this town has ever seen. It's nice to see it get some recognitian.

Posted by Shelby (anonymous) on November 11, 2003 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

agreed.

Posted by jeanne (anonymous) on November 11, 2003 at 10:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Thanks for giving Checkers credit for being the lowest priced store in town with the best, most varied produce department (very important for vegetarians like me). It must be the only place where the produce misters are accompanied by "Singing in the Rain" and claps of thunder as well. I can't understand why anyone would do much shopping anywhere else. I usually purchase a few things at the Merc, but the bulk of my groceries comes from Checkers.

Posted by roper (anonymous) on November 11, 2003 at 7:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Impressive article man -- you gettin' paid for writing this stuff yet?
Still, as a spoiled Lawrencian (I mean me), what about organic stuff? Especially items like rice and bean, dried goods -- how's Checkers on that account?
And what the hell does "organic" mean nowadays, anyways? I hope you keep writing man, here and/or elsewhere.

Posted by lazz (anonymous) on November 12, 2003 at 3:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Tom, you're a genius. Great piece.
Love Checkers. As for having to take the long way around, as mandated by the Deal Wall, a buddy of mine calls it "The Checkers Loop."
My dad always talked Checkers up -- he loved it; I thought it felt like a low-rent bargain barn. I was too good for it, you know? Then I started trying to get my expenses under control -- was I ever convinced.
I don't comparison shop or bargain shop -- I simply go to Checkers every week, and when I end up elsewhere, I really feel the difference.
Plus -- the checkers at Checkers are the best --- fast and friendly. There's NEVER a wait of any significant time. Shop at Checkers for a month or two then try to endure the wait at Dillons -- unbearable. And bagging your own goods actually becomes preferred -- gets annoying to stand and wait at Hy-Vee or elsewhere when they cram your purchases into as few bags as possible, and take their time doing it. And it becomes uncomfortable to stand and watch somebody else bag your groceries. The Checkers way could not be more convenient or make more sense. Imagine a world where you never again have to hear, "Paper or plastic?" Beautiful indeed.
I kick myself sometimes when I scoop up stuff from the Deal Wall that I wasn't planning on buying -- but it's so ridiculously cheap, it's impossible to say no. Ramen noodles a couple of weeks ago for 8 cents a bag or whatever ... So I bought a handful. I looked the other day and they are back to 16 cents, something like that. Huge cans of Maxwell House coffee, when its on the Deal Wall, for four and a half bucks ... Big cans of tomato sauce for 75 cents, tuna fish for 40 cents ... incredible. Their bakery is terrific, too. Breads, cakes, pies, doughnuts ... all of it good.
Friendly store, great prices, great quality ... I really don't understand why anybody would go elsewhere, unless for specialty organic items at the Merc and certain hard-to-find things Checkers might not stock (though their international foods selection is really growing).

Posted by lazz (anonymous) on November 12, 2003 at 3:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

And --- Shopping at Checkers means supporting a completely local business, from ownership to employees.
Not many people anywhere have access to a locally-owned discount supermarket. A rare treat.

Posted by Shelby (anonymous) on November 12, 2003 at 4:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

but if you bag you're own groceries, you don't get to use that snappy comeback: "Either one's fine; I'm bi-sack-sual." Ha-ha!

Posted by sippers (anonymous) on November 12, 2003 at 4:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I'm a Checkers fan for sure, but I'm a little confused by this paragraph:
In June of 1987, the IGA at 23rd and Louisiana was replaced by Checkers. Sixteen years later, it's still a single-location, family-run business, but not for long. Next year Checkers will open a store in Kansas City.

I lived in Manhattan for a year, and I remember shopping at the Checkers there. I always thought it was a chain, and now you tell me that this Checkers is the only one? Am I insane?

Posted by tomking (Tom King) on November 12, 2003 at 9:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Roper: The definition of "organic" has been thoroughly re-worked over the past five years. At the beginning, in the purest sense, "organic" meant food produced in a way that wasn't harmful to the earth or to those who consumed it. Meaning without chemicals. Now, "organic" certification involves far more, including resting and cleansing earth previously used for "conventional" farming for three years before cultivating "organic" crops. Anyone with the full scoop on current "organic" certification requirements, please enlighten us. For most consumers nowadays, "organic" means expensive, which explains why Checkers isn't much involved with "organic" products.
Jeanne: Always enjoy your comments. I omitted mention of the sprinkler soundtrack in the write-up, but I always get a kick out of it.
Sippers: There's also a Checkers in Wichita, but, according to Jim Lewis, it too is unrelated to the Lawrence store. Is the concept and layout of the Manhattan Checkers the same as the Lawrence store?
Lazz: Get down, superfly.

Posted by sippers (anonymous) on November 13, 2003 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The place in Manhattan had polished concrete floors, deals piled high, and the same sign. I do remember the layout was different, you could dash in and out. I will say that the Manhattan store is closer to Checkers in Lawrence then it is to any other grocery store I've been to.

Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on November 13, 2003 at 5:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Tom: Is it too late to trademark "96 Feet of Fresh Meat" as a punk band name?

And how was dinner and a movie? I had city commish, couldn't make it. Sounded cool as hell, though.

Posted by tomking (Tom King) on November 13, 2003 at 5:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Joel: Dinner & Movie is fine--next week is "Life Of Brian", unless more people vote for the KU game (the only Tuesday game on the schedule). Then we'll bump it to the following week.
Sippers: Jim Lewis elaborates: The IGA folks who bought his concept attempted to franchise it, which accounts for the sameness of the signs. The franchise idea fizzled after three outlets, and each store assumed its own identity.

Posted by Jester (Nick Spacek) on November 14, 2003 at 5:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Checkers is just... fun. It's nice to be able to go to a grocery store in this town and actually see ethnicity. HyVee is so white, it frightens me.

Posted by Jason9x19 (anonymous) on November 22, 2003 at 2:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

>>"Strolling through Checkers with Lewis is like walking in >>downtown Detroit with Eminem."

Ninja, please.

Posted by rednekbuddha (Kelly Powell) on November 26, 2003 at 9:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Plus its the only place in town to get cow tongue...Even then you can only get the tips, not the whole organ. They also have a great selection of greens....If only they had better bulk foods.

Posted by elmersleznick (anonymous) on December 8, 2003 at 4 p.m. (Suggest removal)

What would it take to convince Checkers to put up a smaller-format store downtown to help those of us who live nearby and want to walk to the store vs. take a bus or borrow a friend's car? There are some locations that would be ideal on Vermont -- old Willie C's at 6th and Vermont screams grocery. Vacant lots between 7th and 8th. Someone has to put a small grocery store for people in Pinckney, East Lawrence and even Old West Lawrence so that we can get out of our cars and back on our feet. The Merc can't afford a 2nd location, so why not Checkers? Locally owned and more economically priced for those of us on a budget.

Posted by rednekbuddha (Kelly Powell) on December 9, 2003 at 5:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey Tom, how do you smoke cow tongue? I've been par boiling them in a pickling spice, then let them set over night before I smoke them(for about 5 hours at 175).....I have been considering doing them in a more asian red cooked style, but I dont know if the smoke would blend well with that flavor....maybe coat with a good mustard and cracked black pepper?

Posted by tomking (Tom King) on December 12, 2003 at 7:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mustard & pepper are good--near the end of the smoke. Watch the lenth of the blanching process (par-boiling)--you want to give it a head start, not a complete cooking. Smoke flavor will permeate uncooked flesh with more success than fully-cooked meat. Break the tongue down into smaller pieces for a smokier aspect.

Posted by henrydorn (anonymous) on November 26, 2007 at 9:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)

You can get tongue at walmart.

Checkers Foods

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