A tale of two markets: Bishops Corner kosher outlets thrive
By Cindy Mindell

WEST HARTFORD – In the 2001 U.S. census, the Jewish population of greater Hartford came in at around 34,000. The community is large enough to support two grocery stores with extensive kosher offerings, both of which have grown over the past year in response to customer input.

Last May, customers began to see changes at both Bishops Corner stores. Marc Bokoff bought The Crown Market, and Waldbaum’s Food Mart continued to enhance its glatt kosher sections.
In the fall, Bokoff put together several focus groups to help him determine how to steer the store. “We learned many things and made adjustments,” he says, including advertising, pricing structure, and customer service. The Crown set up a new website and Facebook page to reach a techno-savvy customer base. In the winter, the store replaced all its shopping carts, another suggestion that emerged from a focus group. “That may not seem like a big deal, but many carts were 40 years old and no longer conducive to a modern shopping experience,” he says.
Both stores emphasize three departments where kosher products are prevalent: bakery, meat, and deli. Edie Perew is senior mashgichah at Waldbaum’s, as well as manager of the store’s glatt kosher deli, meat department, and bakery. Since 2007, Waldbaum’s has continually updated its deli with more types of prepared foods, including items cooked in special ovens on the premises. Perew says that the deli has become a glatt kosher destination for travelers from as far north as Bangor, Maine and for locals heading south for the winter.
The Waldbaum’s bakery now offers parve products made from scratch, including decorated cakes. Store manager Dave Galotti says that the bakery items and other parve products like ice cream appeal not only to customers who keep kosher, but also to those with lactose intolerance.
The Crown’s bakery is the most recently refurbished section of the store, overhauled shortly before Bokoff came on board. In addition to the award-winning chef from the Culinary Institute of America now on staff, the bakery offers new frozen take-and-bake items. Bokoff redesigned The Crown’s produce department to better present items, and updated the deli when customers asked for a wider variety of prepared foods.
While both speak with pride about all aspects of their respective stores, and strive to be responsive to customer requests, Bokoff and Perew each likes to draw special attention to one thing in particular. For Bokoff, it’s the store’s scrip program. An individual purchases a Crown gift card from a synagogue or other non-profit organization in the community, and The Crown returns to that organization five percent of the profit made on scrip-card purchases. Bokoff developed a system that allows scrip-users to reload their cards at the store, instead of having to purchase new cards from the issuing organizations. “The amount of money generated is very significant,” he says. “It’s a way for us to be part of the community and help the organizations whose constituencies support The Crown. We feel really good about that.”
Perew says that Waldbaum’s keeps up with the latest standards of kashrut, constantly adding items to its glatt kosher departments and garnering the highest evaluation by OU inspectors. The Bishops Corner store is the only one in the company to maintain glatt kosher departments, working with its own distributors who conform to the stricter standards. “Even if this requires more money and supervision, the company is supportive of our efforts,” Perew says.

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