IGA Announces 2023 Five Star Retailers

The Independent Grocers Alliance has unveiled the Five Star retailers for 2023! These retailers and their teams have continued to show their resilience and independent ingenuity to keep their businesses running during a year full of labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and the largest inflation increase in 40 years. 

In fact, the number of stores achieving this feat increased again this year, according to the IGA Coca-Cola Institute, who oversaw the process. 81% of stores surveyed achieved Five Star status says Jason King, training and development manager for the IGA Coca-Cola Institute. 

Independent Grocers Alliance CEO John Ross congratulated the retailers for reaching this distinction. "Many of these top retailers entered 2022 with a proverbial list of new challenges two years into the pandemic, which tested them with staff shortages, increased costs of goods, and continued supply chain woes," he says. "We applaud these retailers for receiving one of our highest honors after everything that was thrown at them."

The 2022 Assessment continued to reflect the changes stores were going through, with a streamlined survey that addressed what was really important and a focus on customer service and engagement.

"The Assessment aims to identify stores that are excelling in the independent industry, while offering feedback and resources to the stores who need it," says Dr. Paulo Goelzer, president of the IGA Coca-Cola Institute. "We want every store to succeed at a high level, and the Assessment helps stores learn what they're doing well and where they can improve."

The Assessment Process

The Five Star Award winners were determined from the average of two assessment visits conducted in the spring and summer of 2022, using updated measurement goals and an advanced process for providing retailers with the purposeful feedback they need to continually improve the shopping experience.

"We continued our streamlined study in 2022 to ensure we addressed what was really important," says King. 

In spring and late summer, a trained local shopper visited each Independent Grocers Alliance store for an assessment. "Local is the keyword," King notes. "Because the assessor is a shopper of the area, the feedback you get is more targeted to your shoppers—and ultimately more useful in gauging how well you are meeting your shoppers’ needs."

The assessor walked the store to fully document the strengths and opportunities for improvement and took ample photos. While the initial walk was not revealed to management as it happened, once the assessor finished the task, they presented management or the service desk with a letter informing management that they will complete the remaining assessment with photos.

Survey.com analyzed the photos to ensure the data is both objective and accurate, sending reports to store owners and directors following each evaluation, and can access their dashboard (maintained by Survey.com) to see photos and other information collected during the assessment. 

The 2023 Five Star Winners

To qualify for Five Star status:

• The retailer must have been a member of the Independent Grocers Alliance for at least one year (beginning in 2022)
• The store owner must be the same for both shops conducted

Stores excelling in operations, merchandising, and service earned high marks, setting a high standard for IGA retailers everywhere. 

Congratulations to the winners!

If you are a 2023 Five Star status retailer, please see your email for how to order signage and a customizable press release.

The 2023 evaluations will begin April 10, with the second visit expected in late summer/early fall. King encourages anyone with questions about the program or in need of access to their scores to contact him, which you can do here. 

Want to know more about the Five-Star Assessment Program? Click here.