Niverville Bigway has been a cornerstone of the town’s business community for more than 20 years—and after a period of renovation and expansion, they are getting bigger and better than ever.
Not only will the grocery store be larger and more modern, it will also have a new name. Niverville Bigway will soon become Your Grocery People (YGP).
John Schmitke, who owns and operates the store, explains that, despite the name change, the store will remain familiar. Since the 1990s, Bigway’s wholesale supplier has been a company called The Grocery People (TGP). TGP supplies to Bigway and another grocery chain called Super A.
Over time, TGP’s marketing team stopped using the Bigway and Super A branding on their product and just stuck to the TGP brand.
As Schmitke was already creating a new storefront, he decided that now was the time to change the name. He chose Your Grocery People as it aligned with the name of his wholesaler—yet it is wholly his own.
YGP is a 100 percent independently owned and operated store. And Schmitke stresses that once the building is renovated, nothing will change except for the name.
He says he is thrilled to be creating a larger space for his customers. He says that his number one priority is contributing to the community and supporting it the way locals support him.
Schmitke also explains the history of Niverville Bigway, which began in 1999 when his parents, Tom and Bonnie, moved to Niverville and shortly thereafter purchased the grocery store in town. At that time the store was located on the west end of Main Street.
Around 2003, the elder Schmitkes erected a new building, the same one the store currently occupies. The next year, they bought a grocery store in Morris and built a new location there. Their son John became the manager of the Morris store in 2004.
Around 2015, John moved back to Niverville store and his uncle, Pat Schmitke, bought the Morris Bigway. By 2018, John had purchased the Niverville location from his parents.
In the summer of 2022, Schmitke began the store’s current expansion by doubling the size of the parking lot. The old parking lot had become too cramped for the volume of customers visiting the store on a regular basis.
Schmitke says that when he first saw the completed parking lot, he thought to himself, What did I do? This won’t be full for five years!
But it turns out that the extra space was very badly needed. The lot is often full now, although there is always a spot for another customer to drop in.
After the parking lot expansion, Schmitke turned his attention to increasing the square footage of the store itself. The reason for the enlargement, he says, is simple.
“The building was getting tired and there was an opportunity there that enabled me to serve the community better,” he says. “That’s why I did it. My parents never ran this store trying to make as much money as possible. When you do business in a small town—or anywhere, for that matter—it’s important to understand that your community is your business partner. I don’t succeed without them and I’m only here if I do my job as well as I can. That is the way my parents always ran the store. And if they did that well, then their community would support them very well.”
So what are the plans for YGP? Schmitke says that all areas of the store will see at least some upgrades or changes.
However, the produce department will end up benefiting from more improvements than any other. The part of the store dedicated to fruits and vegetables will double in size, allowing for a wider range of products and more space in which to move around and browse.
The liquor department will also see an extensive improvement, growing by about 50 percent. It will expand from two shelves of alcohol to five shelves, the beer cooler will be 40 percent larger, and there will also be a wider selection of wine available, including chilled wine.
The frozen food area will grow as well, paving the way for more seafood and exotic meats. The grocery and meat departments will each expand by 30 percent. And the bakery department will grow by 25 percent.
Among the new features in the store will be a specialty cheese case, a floral cooler, and many new refrigeration units.
Not only are all these departments getting larger, but the flow of the store will also change for the better. The aisles will be wider and there will be an open feel to the building. Schmitke explains that this should allow for a more pleasant shopping experience for customers.
When the expansion is complete, there will be four checkout counters. Schmitke says that he hates to see line-ups at the front and tries his very best to make sure customers don’t have to wait to pay for their groceries.
Despite all these changes, however, YGP will remain cohesive-looking when all is said and done. Both the new and existing areas of the store will get the same paint, flooring, and lighting.
And the barn facade in the back of the store, the one which serves as a reminder of our farming community roots? It’s staying too. Schmitke says his customers demanded it.
“I asked everyone questions about their opinions, and I was going to get rid of the barn,” he says. “But almost everybody said, ‘You have to keep it.’ I’m smart enough to know that I don’t know everything.”
He adds that his store will remain a generous supporter of its community.
“As I grow, I want to help my community grow as well.”
The timeline for YGP’s official opening is somewhat uncertain, as some supply-chain issues remain in the wake of the pandemic. That said, Schmitke believes that everything will be completed by the end of summer.
