McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores transitions smoothly into the third generation

When Sharon McGinnis Young broke her wrist in junior high school, her younger sister Noreen applied for her job at their parents’ supermarket. Of course, their father Elwood hired her, but he made her earn it.
“Dad actually made me go for an interview,” Noreen McGinnis Campbell says. “He always had an eye for showing us how responsible we needed to be and giving us opportunities to grow.”
As the business grew from a small produce stand in 1946 to a supermarket, all eight McGinnis children grew up in the family business — literally, in a playpen behind the cash register. As soon as they were old enough to stock shelves and ring registers, they were “absorbed into the family business” with increasing responsibilities, Young says.
When Elwood retired in 1981, the sisters — including Bonnie McGinnis Vello — inherited the growing company, which became McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores. Elwood still came every day at 6 a.m., pitching in as his daughters began adding gourmet products.
“We were very young when we took over,” says Campbell, who was 22. “It was kind of a rocky transition, but my dad was still around in the wings of the business to help. What I think he struggled with was the change in product mix, why we weren’t doing things the old way as he had done. I remember saying, ‘Dad, we have to do it differently.’”
At first, Elwood wondered what happened to the “hot items” he’d displayed in the ’50s. But then he realized the new products still met his standards of quality and freshness.
The core values he set in place were still guiding the company to choose the best foods, treat employees like family, treat customers like friends and give back to the community.

Passing down a legacy

McGinnis Sisters quadrupled in size, expanding to three locations. Those time-tested core values continue to lead the growing company as it transitions into third-generation leadership.
The third generation grew up immersed in the family business just as their parents had. As soon as Young’s son Max could count to 12, around age 5, he started working in the bakery. Today, he manages the Monroeville store.
But the kids weren’t just convenient labor — they were part of the legacy. In fact, rather than getting absorbed into it, they were encouraged to get out.
“We were encouraged to work somewhere else for a while,” says Jamie Dawson, Campbell’s daughter and the company’s graphic designer. “Then when we came back, we all had different experiences we could apply to McGinnis Sisters.”
Of course, more experiences meant more perspectives to integrate into business decisions. Plus, with more advanced technology and more products, this transition has been more complicated than the first.
“In the ’80s, it was a lot easier,” Campbell says. “You had one phone and one computer for the whole company.”
“Now, it’s such a paperwork nightmare,” Young says. “The legal work is mind-boggling.”

Always evolving

With no exact timeline for the transition — at least in terms of stock transfers and legal paperwork — the sisters, as vice presidents, still own the company. But Young says the third generation is already running day-to-day operations.
Just as Elwood stayed involved after retirement, McGinnis Sisters will still be a family affair. Regardless of titles or bloodlines, a web of support will surround the third generation during — and after — the transition.
“Transition really isn’t finite,” says Vello’s daughter, Jennifer Daurora, in business development. “(In the future), when our transition may be complete in the legal sense, it will never really be complete. We’re always evolving, and I want to be able to come to my family members, ask their thoughts and opinions and gain their wisdom.”
The challenge for any family business is separating business from family time, as work easily bleeds into home life.
“We had to draw boundaries, and we tried to do it in a fun way,” Young says. “When we go on vacation, if you talk about work, you have to put a dollar in a jar — and at the end of the week, we buy ice cream with it.”

Gaining fresh ideas

While the legacy provides guidance through Elwood’s timeless core values, transitioning into the third generation requires a blending of old and new approaches to keep the business successful. By reinterpreting family values to serve a new age of customers, McGinnis Sisters keeps growing.
“We really haven’t gotten away from the things our grandfather put in place: freshness, quality, attention to detail, treating our team members like extended family,” Daurora says. “That was the road map he put in place, and we still hold true to it.

“While we’re reinterpreting what’s fresh and adapting to our customers’ preferences, the trends and the products may change, but those core values of who you are as a person and as a family business don’t change.”