Traditional Waterville grocery expected to thrive under new owners
Missouri couple Jim and Katie Hoving, who longed to have a family-owned business in Maine, have bought Uncle Dean’s Good Groceries on Grove Street in the city’s South End, the Kennebec Journal reported.
The store has been owned by Dean and Kathy Bureau since 1981 and has been at its current site since 2002.
Dean Bureau told the newspaper it was time to sell the business. He and his wife were selective when it came to choosing a buyer to ensure it would continue with the same quality of goods and service. The store has 22 full- and part-time employees.
According to the store’s website, Uncle Dean’s sells natural, organic and bulk foods.
“Most of you probably realize that competing as a small independent in today’s business environment of retail giants is more than a challenge,” the website says.
According to McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm, just 20 years ago, it was presumed that big grocers would lead to the demise of the traditional trade.
Those assumptions have proven wrong, the McKinsey report said: “Traditional trade has proved remarkably resilient.”
The Hovings told the paper they were excited to step into the family-owned retail market.
“Our objective is to steward it well — business as usual, for the most part, at the outset,” Jim Hoving said.
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