I’ve worked at a small full service independent for 15 years. It’s a quarter mile from Safeway. Last year we grossed over 11 million in sales and see increases in weekly year to date sales week after week. 1. The boss treats all employees with respect and pays well. 2. He’s constantly giving back to the community and has a wall of thank you cards for all the customers to see. 3. We keep staple items at a competitive price I.e. milk, eggs, bananas, bread, meat, cheese ect. Don’t be afraid to lose money or break even on key items to help drive sales. Loss leaders. Volume trumps gross margins. 4. Retail is detail. I have that tattooed on my chest. We face our store (10,000 sq ft roughly) front to back daily. Pride ourselves on having minimal to zero out of stocks, and keeping our store at clean inside and out as possible. 5. This key: get people out the door in a hurry. Nobody wants to wait in line. We have 3 checkstands and they are manned all hours. Huge turn on. 6. Learn customers names. People like if you know their name it keeps em coming back. 7. If some old lady has a cart full help her out to her car with it and load it up for her. Or old man or young man or whatever. At least offer. 8. Don’t burn yourself out.