Friendly, personalized service still key at Kamp's

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jul 20, 2000 by Bill May The Journal Record

Kamp's Grocery, 1310 NW 25th St., was a thriving 63-year-old company when Charlene Humphreys was born.

Today, Kamp's is a thriving 90-year-old company, only Humphreys is now the owner.

Humphreys bought the venerable institution in November from Chip Fudge who had bought it from the Kamp family in 1995.

"Chip made a few changes and I've made a few changes, but basically, it's still the same store as when the Kamp family had it," the 27-year-old Humphreys said.

Kamp's today is basically an Oklahoma City institution, one that also is a good investment, Humphreys said.

"This store has been in Oklahoma City so long that people look at it as an institution and are loyal to it," she said. "We have some loyal clientele that keeps coming back, they probably were customers here when they were kids."

Only now, it's actually six stores in one -- a caf, delicatessen, meat market, bakery, flower shop and gourmet grocery store, which makes it a little difficult to handle.

"We've got all the headaches of a single store, plus the problems of six small stores," Humphreys laughed. "We can't order just one thing and make it work for the entire store. We have separate orders for each section, just as if it were a store one its own."

Each section grew up as a way to fight the big box stores.

"We had to develop a niche to stay in business," she said. "This is the only way that we can compete against the big stores."

Specialty items, those that customers can't find elsewhere, are the main attraction for her customers.

"When somebody wants something, they know that I'll be able to get it for them at a fairly reasonable cost," Humphreys said. "Sometimes I have to go to a lot of trouble, but providing a service and a product that others won't is what makes Kamp's different from the others."

Reinventing the store also meant the work force, as well as work habits, had to be reinvented.

"I don't try to keep up with what's new in every department, that's why there are department managers," Humphreys said. "I've got some good managers who I rely upon to know what's best in that department."

Jaylene Sain is Kamp's general manager, taking most of the load off Humphreys.

"It's important to know your managers are good and to let them do the work," she said.

Although Humphreys is two owners removed from the family, the Kamp family tie is still in the place. Bill Kamp is manager of the meat market, Humphreys said.

Not only is Kamp's now unlike any other store, it's unlike anything that Humphreys has done before.

She was a restaurant manager until nearly four years ago, when she purchased Cheevers Caf, 2409 N. Hudson Ave.

For a while, between November and April, Humphreys owned both establishments, supervised 75 employees and tried to keep both businesses going. "It was a hassle, let me tell you," she said.

Now, things are a little calmer, with only one store to manage and 50 employees to supervise. She sold Cheevers in April, Humphreys said.

Developing the old store into what it is today is just one of the steps taken to develop a niche market and compete against the large stores.

"We have customers who come in every day just to sit and talk," Humphreys said. "We also have those who like to come in and buy coffee and enjoy that while they're here.

"This neighborhood has changed over the years and now is primarily retired and Asian. We had to change to keep up so that we could keep our customers from going to the bigger stores."

When Kamp's was becoming firmly established as a neighborhood grocery, the neighborhood was on the outskirts of town, populated mostly with working adults.

As the population aged, the young people moved away and the older ones remained. On the mid-1970s Asian immigrants began to settle in this area, forcing store owners to change with the times.

About a decade ago, though, things started turning around again with young people moving back to create still another major marketing force.

Now, all these forces must be dealt with, but it's still the friendly personalized service that wins customers for a small store like Kamps, Humphreys said.

"The big stores can easily beat me on pricing and even on variety of products," she said. "But, according to my customer comment cards, we are doing the right thing in stock just what the customer wants.

"We ensure that the customer is taken care of. If a customer sees an ad for a specific item in another store, we'll get it for them here.

"This is a small company and we can keep up with our customers better than the big companies can. We know our customers and what they want and we can provide it for them."

Even though Humphreys lets her department managers run each department almost as a separate store, she still has to keep a close watch.

"What I need to know is which of the specialty departments is my weakest link," she said. "If I can know that and know when to attempt to head off problems, that will save me a lot of work later on."

When Humphreys got into business, she noted that the large chains and stores had boards of directors to ensure that the proper business decisions were made.