A perfectly faced dairy wall doesn't get much attention.

Neither does the apple that was rotated out before it went soft. The case that was cleaned before opening. The bread that was filled before the first customer walked through the doors.

That's the strange thing about running a good grocery store.

When the operation works, the customer doesn't have to think about the operation at all.

That's why so much of grocery leadership is about protecting the things nobody applauds.

Rotation. Recovery. Cleanliness. In-stock position. Case conditions. Opening standards. The handoff between one shift and the next.

None of those things make much noise when they're right.

But miss one long enough and suddenly it's the only thing the customer sees.

The customer doesn't need to understand everything it took to make the store ready.

That's the point.