PORT HAWKESBURY: Cape Bretoners who purchase or wanted to purchase the Kirkland brand from Costco have never had it this easy.
Usually, people would be required to travel to Halifax in order to visit Costco Wholesale, but thanks to a niche grocery store, Strait area residents now only have to make a stop along Reeves Street in Port Hawkesbury.
Megan Boudreau, who is originally from Port Hawkesbury and is the store manager of Running Man Grocery Mart, told The Reporter their store carries all Costco products.
“Just kind of bringing Costco closer to home, that’s where the Running Man’s ‘we bring it to you’ comes from,” Boudreau said. “It saves people the trip to go to Costco, obviously with the price of gas right now, it’s a little bit easier to get bulk products a little closer to home.”
The new store in Port Hawkesbury, along with their sister store in New Glasgow, Boudreau said, were able to identify there is a growing local demand for the Kirkland products they offer, and they are filling a gap in the supply chain.
Rather than being a grocery delivery service for individual families, Boudreau indicated it’s more about being a delivery service to the wider community.
“You come in and shop just like a normal grocery store, no membership needed, which is a question we get asked often,” Boudreau said. “We do see a lot of need for it, our upper management work closely with Costco, they did see there were a lot of people in our area that do shop there and they took that as an opportunity to open a store as what we have here now.”
With the local Costco affiliated store in Port Hawkesbury, the manager advised some of the early benefits include saving people travel time and gas money, while also saving people membership fees.
Having opened their doors on Feb. 13, of this year, Running Man sells all of Kirkland’s top products including everything from their baby wipes, dog food, chicken pot pies, and cheesecakes. They also offer a clothing section with name brand items.
Boudreau advised most of their products are on the larger size, a lot of bulk items, which is great for larger families.
“At grocery stores you can get bulk, but it’s not like Costco bulk,” she said. “There’s a difference between regular grocery store bulk and Costco.”
Boudreau explained their customer base comes from mainland Nova Scotia, and all over Cape Breton, including northern Cape Breton because it’s convenient for customers to not leave Cape Breton Island.
“People have been so thrilled being able to access all of the stuff we do have in store,” she said. “We also do special orders, so that’s another thing that’s been great; to get things they normally wouldn’t be able to.”
Two trucks arrive each week bringing a new haul of Kirkland products, and the manager advised the chances of seeing a new thing are pretty great.
“We get things based on what Costco has, and if they have new things,” Boudreau said. “We’re not as big as Costco, because our space is limited but we try to bring in the staples of a household, and then there are the Costco specialty items, that people go there just to buy, that we try to keep in stock.”
The biggest staple being sold out of Running Man continues to be toilet paper and paper towels.
“Believe it or not, it is,” Boudreau said. “We go through a pallet a day, it’s very popular.”
A popular item within their freezer section is Costco’s chocolate-covered strawberries.
As for their customer demographic, Boudreau said they range from families coming in to get their school snacks for the week, families who buy their bulk groceries, and then there are the smaller families or single couples coming in to build up their stock pile.
“We really do have something for everybody.”