Business & Professional

Quality Conscious

Hiller's Markets Jim Hiller talks about what it takes to succeed.

Bill Carroll

The markets have wine and cheese clubs
and a scrip program whereby non-profit
organizations receive five percent of pur-
chases by scrip cardholders each month. The
non-profits got a total of $178,581 last year.
The bakery department means just that
— most of the goods are baked on the Hiller's
premises, although challahs are brought in
from Zeman's New York Bakery in Oak Park.
Polly Carpenter of West Bloomfield operates
Polly's Pastries at the Plymouth store, baking
mandelbread, ruggalach, sour cream coffee
cakes and other goodies from scratch for
delivery to all of the Hiller's stores daily.

Special to the Jewish News

W

ith the demise of the Farmer
Jack name, most of the old-time,
Jewish-owned supermarket
chains in the Metro Detroit area are gone
— Dexter-Davison, Big Bear, Wrigley, Allied,
Chatham, Great Scott and others. So at the
age of 60, Jim Hiller finds himself as the
patriarch of the Jewish market moguls.
The lawyer-turned-grocer didn't even get
into the food business until his early 40s, but
he's moving full speed ahead, with six stores
already in the independent Hiller's Markets
chain, another opening in May and one more
later in the year. The American-born Hiller is
a modern version of the Jewish grocers who
came here from Eastern Europe in the early
20th century, lived in the old Jewish neigh-
borhoods, and sold fruit and vegetables from
push carts before slowly working their way
to the top of the supermarket business. They
roamed Detroit's Eastern Market at 3 a.m.
looking for the best produce, got their aprons
bloody selling meat behind the counter and
eventually became successful.
Hiller, of Franklin, took over the business
from his father, Sidney, who started it in 1941
as a Shopping Center Market in Detroit's
old Polish district at Michigan and Central
Avenues, then built it into the most promi-
nent grocery chain in the Jewish community.
"When my father turned 75, he said he had
had enough of the grocery grind and asked
me to buy him out," Jim Hiller recalled. "So
I did — and I love being in the family busi-
ness!' His father died at 92 in 2005.
"I enjoy visiting my stores, talking to
customers and employees and meeting new
people,' says Hiller."Our motto is 'Where
Friends Meet, and it's really accurate. I'm try-
ing to bring to the business what I've learned
in life, and leave the Hiller trademark in the
community. My father was a master of detail
and high-quality products, and I've always
been guided by his vision. And our success
in the past 19 years has given me the oppor-
tunity to go forth with my passion for medi-
cal philanthropy and Jewish charities, mainly
the State of Israeli"

The Beginning
Hiller worked part-time as a youngster in
his father's early stores, and graduated from
Detroit's Winship Elementary School, Henry
Ford High School and University of Detroit's
law school. He practiced law for a large firm
until 1989.
"By then, I was ready for a new challenge;
that was enough law for me," he mused. "I

C6

May 15 • 2008

JN

Jim Hiller is flanked by sons Spencer, 21, right, and Andy, 23, at the Hiller's Market
at Union Lake at Commerce roads in Commerce. Son Justin, 26, is not pictured.

hired experienced, very capable store man-
agers and other executives, but I keep my
finger on the pulse of the entire chain, visit-
ing at least two stores daily"
The Hiller's Markets business office is on
Northwestern Highway in Southfield

The Food Chain
Hiller figures his stores carry a total of about
100,000 food items, including a variety of
international and specialty foods, such as
Israeli, British, Japanese, Indian, Oriental,
Russian and other European food products,
plus one of the largest kosher food sections
in the Jewish commtmity. There also are
naturally raised fresh meats, fish and pro-
duce, organic food, items that are gluten-free
and free of peanut oil, even dried, edible
bugs and scorpions used in foreign dishes,
British clotted cream, rare beer and Buddha
hands fruit.
"These are food items not available in
other markets," he said. "Many supermarket

New Store A Big Hit

The seventh and largest Hiller's
Market opened with a bang last week
at the corner of Union Lake Road and
Commerce Road in Commerce.
The 55,000-square-foot, former
Farmer Jack supermarket took in
$500,000 in the first weekend of
operation as about 10,000 custom-
ers visited the store over four days,
according to owner Jim Hiller.
"And I could tell that many Jewish
people were there because of the
decrease in business at some of my

chains carry only the top two or three sellers
in each line. We pride ourselves on a large
variety of just about everything. For exam-
ple, we have 140 different types of olive oil
alone; and many foods in the gourmet clas-
sification. That's the type of thing that sets us
apart from the other grocery chains"
Hiller hired a Japanese woman, Satomi
Matsuda, to especially organize a section of
Japanese foods, such 14 types of rice and
grain, sake wine and octopus, and he adver-
tises in Japanese newspapers and magazines,
resulting in a large influx of Asian customers.
He brought in Rick Halberg, the interna-
tionally known chef of the former Emily's
Restaurant in Northville, to set up takeout
sections in each store with a variety of ethnic
dishes.
"With so many men and women busy
and on the go today, they rely on our take-
out foods for dinners and parties:" Hiller
explained. "These foods are ready to eat or
cook!'

other stores," he said, "plus the high
sales of kosher and Israeli items."
Hiller spent $6 million to completely
gut the store and convert it into a
lifestyle center along the lines of the
six other Hiller's Markets in the Metro
Detroit area and Ann Arbor. The new
market created 125 new jobs.
Included are a Sanders Ice Cream
Parlor, a 16-by-24-foot walk-in cooler
for soda pop and beer; a wild game
locker and full butcher shop with
premium Black Angus beef; a kosher
food section; a Papyrus Studio fea-
turing greeting cards and wrapping

Market Wise
"Hiller's Markets is the most quality-con-
scious organization I've ever dealt with','
declared Ernesto Ostheimer of Davisburg, a
Colombian Jew who owns Sherwood Foods
in Detroit.
He started selling meat products to Sidney
Hiller in 1973 and now supplies all of the
Hiller's stores.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Jim is carrying on Sid's high-quality tradi-
tion. It's a family business that's on the cut-
ting edge of the food industry and really
takes pride in its work. They really earned
their success:"
Ostheimer's family escaped to Colombia
from Germany just before World War 11.
Hiller's Markets spends about $3 million a
year in advertising, mainly for the weekly cir-
cular, and newspaper and radio ads. He also
launched a popular television commercial
campaign recently, running 20 spots a week
on WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, getting comments
from actual customers on what they like
about the Hillers Markets.
"It's not scripted; the people just tell how
they feel in their own words": said Hiller.

Hillers on page C8

paper, and a Captain's Table of 150
prepared foods for in-store dining or
takeout.
Like the other Hiller's Markets, the
new store stocks thousands of prod-
ucts, including such specialty items
as kiwano horned melons, champagne
mangos, Amish chickens, rattlesnake,
quail, ground kangaroo and Heinz
sponge pudding.
"I talked to customers who came
from many miles around to get some
of these specialty items," beamed
Hiller.

- Bill Carroll