Andy’s IGA meets customers wants, needs
Thirty-two years ago, Andy Marino opened the Houlton Foodliner by the North Street bridge where TD Banknorth is now located. The Foodliner had a mission that Marino still upholds today …. quality at a fair price.
Marino’s father, Robert, who was the vice president of the Milliken Tomlinson Company and the general manager of the Presque Isle division, was instrumental in his choice to make a future business.
“My father was president of the Milliken Tomlinson Company warehouse,” said Marino. “The opportunity came up for me to come to Houlton, so I came.”
In June of 1978, the Houlton Foodliner officially opened for business.
“This new volume for IGA is expected to enable Milliken Tomlinson Company to have added purchasing power, which, will in turn create a better price for customers throughout Aroostook County,” said Robert Marino prior to the Foodliner opening.
The Houlton Foodliner was the bridge of change for the grocery industry in the Shiretown.
“We had the first deli and first electronic cash registers north of Bangor,” recalled Marino. “We came just about the time things were starting to change. Our freezer doors were among another first for Houlton. We were new and had a lot of new technology.”
With business going well, Marino decided to become part of the new shopping center being developed on the North Road. However, he did not abandon the original site, tending both stores.
The merger of both stores happened in 1989 after Marino built an addition to the existing location.
“Everything was going to one-stop shopping,” he said. “Bigger stores with more variety. And, the new store was a better location for getting in and out.”
Fast forward to 2010 and Andy’s IGA is now in another renovation.
“We are looking at new services, cases, and energy-efficient equipment,” he said. “We will begin the remodeling in the spring.”
Marino has already started updating the store, beginning with the lighting.
“We were able to change the freezer lights from fluorescent to LED,” he said by the way of an energy-efficient grant from the state of Maine. “The second phase will be the ceiling lights and the third, the compressor system.”
As time progresses, Marino looks at becoming even more resourceful.
“As the times change, we will add new departments, as some get bigger and others smaller,” he said. “We are going to add new services, as we go more and more toward customer-based service such as lottery stamps, money orders and [pay center for] phone bills.”
Through the years, Marino has seen customer purchases changing to more convenience-type foods.
“We used to sell a lot of staples like flour, sugar and canned vegetables,” he said. “We would sell frozen canned juice by the truck loads. Now, it’s more fresh food or prepared items.”
With a more fitness-crazed society, people are looking for certain foods, and Marino and his staff are keeping up. The store offers a health-food section with natural food items and non-gluten products, while supplying a wide variety of brand-named goods. Andy’s IGA is competitive in its pricing and still prides itself on its customer service.
“We aren’t a corporate chain, so we can offer a lot more,” he said. “We can have a lot of buy-ins with good prices,” he said. “Bigger guys can’t accommodate special requests not in their systems. They are only going to stock what they stock. We do a lot of special ordering. You want it, we can get it.”
Marino knows his customer base and what he needs to do to keep them happy.
“We know they are looking for good quality at a low price,” he said. And, that’s what the IGA has been offering since it opened its doors in Houlton.
“We want to continue serving Houlton for [at least] another 20 years,” he said. “Houlton is great place to live and it has been very, very good to us and we try to be a good neighbor.”
Working with Marino is his son, Joe, who manages the meat department.
“It’s great having him,” Marino said. “He’s young blood and he wants to try different things.”
Owning a store in Houlton comes down to one component, being reasonable.
“If you give people a fair shake, they will come back,” he said. “We are your hometown store.”
