For a cup of sugar or a gallon of milk, a trip to the closest grocery store means an adventure via Central bus to Uncle Harry's--but having the sugar or milk delivered to your dorm room is now just a few mouse clicks away.
Since Monday, students have been able to order groceries from Uncle Harry's General Store on Central Campus using an online order form. Devil's Delivery Service, which also delivers for Merchants on Points vendors, will deliver to the Medical Center and East, West and Central campuses.
"We had discussed [grocery delivery service] some time back as possibly being a good service to provide, but the thing we were wrestling with was how to deliver," said Jim Wilkerson, director of Duke Stores. "We didn't want to hire a bunch of our people ourselves.... Devil's Delivery Service came along, and that seemed like a good avenue to try--and it seems like it's going to work out okay." In the first four days of delivery service, Uncle Harry's received 21 orders amounting to around $1,000 in sales, Wilkerson said. In the past, he noted, the grocery store has averaged about $15,000 per week in sales.
As students who are not familiar with the store will be able to take advantage of convenience and the opportunity to buy groceries on food points, officials said the delivery service could expand both sales and Uncle Harry's shopping base rather than discourage students from shopping there.
"We discussed that [question] a lot. Are students who have been shopping with us... just going to start ordering things to have delivered, and us still have about the same amount of revenue, or are we going to get new business?" Wilkerson said. "We think it will result in new business because I think all of the orders so far have been from people not on Central Campus, so hopefully that means we're pulling business from the other campuses."
Daniel Fitzgerald, manager of Uncle Harry's, said the feedback he has received from students has been positive so far and that he has no worries about a decrease in traffic coming into the store.
"I think it'll just expand [business] and make it easier for people trying to carry groceries back and forth on campus," he said. Wilkerson added that Uncle Harry's recently redesigned a section of the store as Uncle Harry's Discount Corner, which offers clearance clothing items from other University stores for 50 to 70 percent off. He said the discount merchandise, which will not be available for delivery, will help draw students to the store.
"If there is any decline in foot traffic because of the delivery, we're hoping the discount corner will help to offset some of that," Wilkerson said.
There is no minimum order amount, although students will have to pay a $2 service charge for orders less than $20. Prices are the same over the Internet and in the store, and the only other fee is the DDS delivery charge of 15 percent. Students currently can put their order on a credit card or on their DukeCards using either food points or FLEX, and they can select delivery on Wednesday or Friday between 6 and 9 p.m. or Saturday or Sunday between 1 and 4 p.m.
James Dayton, chief executive officer of DDS, said the company's first day of deliveries Wednesday went smoothly and the partnership with Duke Stores has been strong thus far and will only continue to grow.
"[Duke Stores] only wanted us to be open four days to begin with, just to see how it goes, but... if the business is there, I'd like to be open seven days a week," Dayton, a senior, said.
Although the delivery program just began this week, Dayton said DDS and Duke Stores already have plans underway to improve the process, including narrowing the delivery time slots.
"Some of the feedback we got was the three-hour span that we had put in place [was too long]. We're going to give them 30-minute spans that should be in place next week, so you won't have to wait in your room for three hours," said Patricia Walker, operations manager for Duke Stores.
Walker said the idea behind a grocery delivery system was simple: "You can't get over there because you're busy, so hopefully we can bring Uncle Harry's to you."
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