New Mike’s Country Store to open in west Albany

ALBANY — Northwest Albany shoppers will soon have another grocery store option when Mike’s Country Store opens on Gillionville Road.

Owner Mike Rogers recently acquired 11 acres on Gillionville Road and hopes to have a new grocery store built on the site of the former Pine Forest Racket Club sometime next year.

“We’re going to start in the next couple of weeks clearing the site, cutting down trees and getting it ready,” said Rogers. “Hopefully we’ll be open by March.”

Rogers, who opened his first Mike’s Country Store location on Philema Road nearly 20 years ago, has seen steady success over the years and has slowly been branching out into different area markets.

Most recently Rogers opened a location on Highway 19 in Putney that has seen tremendous success, something he hopes to continue with Northwest Albany location based on what he perceives as a great market.

“I’ve been looking at this for a while,” Rogers said. “I always look in a five mile radius of a potential location and look at rooftops and traffic count. That area has a lot of potential.”

Apparently that market potential has also been noticed by others as Walmart is currently building a new Walmart Neighborhood Grocery about a mile away at the corner of Gillionville Road and Westover Boulevard.

Despite the nation’s largest retailer opening a grocery store so close to his new location, Rogers feels his commitment to customer service and quality will set him apart from the competition.

“We’re a totally different style business than they try to run,” he said. “What you’re seeing now is a turn back toward the smaller stores that are big on personal service. That’s why we have been so successful; we cater to the people. That’s what we’re about.”

Rogers said his stores’ focus on specialty products like customer-cut meats, select products like their homemade sausage, bacon, hot dogs and bologna also make his store attractive to shoppers looking for something different that a larger store might not have.

Rogers also takes pride in offering produce and other products from local vendors.

“We’ll have been open for 19 years in February,” Rogers said. “Over that time we’ve built good relationships with local farmers and producers. Anytime we can, we buy local.”

He also believes that his stores offer competitive pricing and that when it comes down to it, customers are not as price conscience as many think. Citing the success of the Publix Grocery Store chain, Rogers pointed out that customers will frequent stores that treat them well and have a clean and neat presentation.

“We’re competitive with everybody,” he said. “But we feel that customer service is the most important thing we offer. If you treat people right they will stay with you.”