WESTMONT, IL — There was undoubtedly a good reason for naming what is now a two-store supermarket chain “Standard Market.” But if there is one criticism that could be made of the stores, it’s the misnomer.

For example, standard groceries have the “center of store” surrounded by perishables on the perimeter. Here, the center of the Standard Market is an upscale restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. The fare of the Standard Market Grill is gourmet, using the fresh items that comprise the store’s perimeter. The perishable sections are produce, meat, seafood and bakery. Cross merchandising — such as berry cakes in the bakery — is a common part of this business. “We upsell the departments,” notes Clay Verkaik, the chain’s corporate buyer.

Beyond the produce section is a large room offering select cheeses and a wine and liquor section.

The store is bright white, inside and out. High wood beams accent the raised ceiling. Halogen lights cast a pleasant but bright hue on the shopping area.

Clay Verkaik, corporate buyer for Standard Market, stands before the packaged salad display in the firm’s Westmont, IL, store.The produce department is the first section upon entering the store. To the right is a wide selection in the juice bar, and all of the fruit and vegetable juices are made in the store. “We can have 30 juices at any time,” Verkaik said. There are six flavors of “juice cleansers.”

Standard Market has a long and high aisle of prepackaged salads. All of these, but the organic product, are processed in the store.     

The second Standard Market store, which opened a year ago, is “similar to but a little bigger” than the 33,000-square-foot Westmont store, which opened four years ago, according to Verkaik. The produce department offers a total number of SKUs ranging between 2,000 and 3,000. This includes many organic items. These organics are merchandised alongside conventional products. Some retailers cluster organics in one section, but Standard’s philosophy is that this runs the chance of missing sales with customers that might not look for an organic item that they don’t know is offered.

Organic or not, the most important feature of produce on Standard Market shelves is flavor. Appearance remains an important factor, as well. He said, for example, that a small grape may have a great flavor, but consumers still won’t buy it because of its size.

Verkaik said most of his produce buying is done on the Chicago International Produce Market. He noted that the market operators “love independents. When they have a hot deal we (independent retailers) can turn on the switch like that. I take full advantage when I see an opportunity. It helps them and us. The market allows us to have buying power.”

No matter how good the price, “we never take lower quality,” he said. “It’s all looked at by our staff on the floor” for quality.

Verkaik shops the market four times a week and, in-season, buys from local growers in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. “We source from independent farmers. We have a small warehouse, so if we have ‘pallet’ buys, things go there,” he said. From distant shipping points, Verkaik occasionally will buy less than a trailerload of items like citrus, grapes or stone fruit.