Shop Talk is a weekly column featuring locally owned and operated businesses. This week, we talk to Faiga Brussel, owner of Good Cheap Food in Delhi.
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How long have you lived in the area?
I moved up here at the end of 1976.
Tell me about your business:
The store was originally a buying club. For many years, it was at my house; then people wanted to be able to order more than every three months, and in the summers, I had a summer kitchen. It was very primitive, but very pleasant. We moved into the basement of a church in town for a couple of years, and then we finally moved into this building. We started the buying club ... around 1977, and moved into town around 1979. And then five years ago we re-incorporated and disbanded the co-op because there wasn't enough of a membership to maintain it. So we re-incorporated and now it's a sole ownership. But the business has been around in one form or another since 1977.
The whole idea behind the name with Good Cheap Food was a philosophical point of view. We've tried to maintain ... a margin that allows people to buy whole foods at reasonable prices, but in addition to the normal whole food (products), we have a full range of products; we now have more things that are gourmet or specialty food items.
We try to support organic as much as we can, but we're also into local. So, for example, we have someone who grows this gorgeous lettuce, and it's not organic, but it's grown hydroponically and it's not sprayed (with pesticides). We sell a lot of local meat and cheeses _ I'd say that in the whole area, we probably have the largest variety of locally produced stuff. So that's something we're really proud of. It's really great to see what's happening with the cheeses. New York state is really coming into its own with the artisanal cheeses.
Another thing we have here is herbs and spices in bulk, so people can buy a pinch of that or a pinch of this. We sell fun silly toys for kids and other gift items, and we sell stationary and some books _ remainders and secondhand books.
How did you get started?
When we moved here, we were very strict vegetarians and didn't have any money. The only place that you could buy grains and stuff was at Deer Valley in Oneonta, which was a very expensive traditional health food store. There was a group of kids up at (the State University College of Technology at Delhi) who had started a buying club, but they couldn't quite get it together. So I worked with them, and that's how it began, so we could bring the food we wanted into the area. You have to have a certain quantity for the truck to stop, so we would put out sheets where people could say, "I want this or I want that," and you would end up with a 50-pound quantity of whatever it was.
Where do you see this business in five years?
I don't know _ I'm not actually much of a planner. It's interesting, because I was afraid that this year was going to be very tough, but it hasn't been so far. I think people are committed to eating like this; I think we'll survive (high food prices). I think people like to shop in a small store environment where people know who they are and know what they want and are willing to order things for them. It's kind of like a reaction to the big box shopping. And this is a very community-oriented environment _ people come in here to chat with someone, so it's really kind of a community center. I think we'll be OK. I don't know how it will evolve. Certainly with a concentration on buying local and supporting local initiatives in agriculture, there's a big trend toward that.
What have you learned from your work?
I've learned a lot about food, which is great, and I've also made great friends here. It's like a lifestyle instead of a job. And I've learned a little more about business _ one of the hard lessons I've learned over the last couple of years is that I've really had to be a little more businesslike in terms of the pricing structure of the store. I was killing myself by working at a margin that wasn't enough to maintain the store. That was kind of hard because you have a philosophical goal to keep things cheap, but I've learned to be a little businesslike. One of the fun things we've been doing lately is I've been e-mailing our shoppers, and that's been a lot of fun. Communicating like that with people, talking about what's going on in the store, what's going on in the community, food-related events, it's nice to have that connection.
How do you define success for your business?
The goal would be to pay all our bills in a timely fashion _ that would be my ultimate goal. That's what I'm aspiring toward. That one is very clear. And to be able to pay people a living wage. For a small business, it's just about staying afloat. That's my biggest challenge, and I think we're doing well right now.
What are some advantages/drawbacks of doing business in this area?
I've had this discussion with my son, who owns the Quarter Moon. You put out such a tremendous amount of energy _ I feel like I could be a CEO of a major Wall Street corporation with the amount of energy I put into this store. You wonder if you had done this somewhere else with the same amount of energy, what the result might have been. That's part of the discussion.
On the other hand, there are lifestyle considerations. This is a wonderful place for my kids to grow up in, and I think it's a very active and interesting community of people. So whether I really would have wanted to do it someplace else, I don't know.
What sets you apart from your competitors?
The big stores I don't think are any competition because they don't really buy to the needs of the community. I think there's a wonderful health-food store in Downsville that does an amazing job, but they're much smaller; then there's the Green Earth up in Oneonta, which I would say now is the closest to what we're doing. I think they're doing a fabulous job. And I think they'll develop the same sort of relationship with their community that we have. That's really it, I guess, is just having that connection to your community and giving them what they need.
What advice would you give to someone trying to enter your field of work?
I have had that happen a lot _ I help people find distributors and in a technical way, I'm able to help people. But I would always recommend that they speak to someone who's cognizant of business plans and really develop a business plan. It's a tough thing to start a business like this and thrive. I know that (SUNY Delhi) gives classes for small-business owners, and there are other resources out there to help you get started.
This store was never started as a business; it just sort of evolved. I never thought of it as my job, but that's what it became, so I'm not in that model. But if you had the idea of starting something from scratch, unless you've done it before, it would be great to get that kind of help.
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To suggest a business for Shop Talk, contact Emily F. Popek at 432-1000, ext. 255, or epopek@thedailystar.com.
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