WI Small Retailers Excel at Ticket Sales

Jackpot dreams drive lottery ticket sales in region

Business stays strong at small stores, analysis finds

Post Crescent

Scott Cooper Williams

June 24, 2012

MARINETTE — The Water Front Store sells a variety of beers, flavored cappuccinos, most major cigarette brands, an assortment of snack foods and licenses for hunting or fishing.  But none of those products can match the popularity of the store's biggest seller: lottery tickets.

The small convenience store on Marinette's east side outpaced virtually all competitors last year — including much larger outlets in Green Bay — with more than $400,000 in lottery ticket sales.

A Gannett Wisconsin Media analysis of lottery ticket sales throughout Northeastern Wisconsin has found that many large Green Bay outlets make fewer lottery sales than smaller stores in rural locations, where jackpot dreams translate into big sales.

Stacey Kuffel, manager of the Water Front Store, said some customers buy tickets there several times a day, gambling hundreds of dollars at a time on the chance of hitting a big winner.

"Our regulars that come in every day; they just enjoy playing the games," Kuffel said. "They all stop here on their way to work. It's continuous, every day."

The Gannett Wisconsin Media analysis found that lottery ticket sales totaled $42 million last year in a seven-county region that surrounds Green Bay, including the counties of Brown, Oconto, Marinette, Door, Manitowoc, Kewaunee and Shawano.  Robust sales in smaller communities such as Two Rivers, Crivitz and Algoma helped drive up statewide lottery revenue to $502 million, the highest level since 2006.

Lottery spokesman Andrew Bohage said customers in grocery stores tend to plan their purchases, while those in gas stations typically are more impulsive about buying lottery tickets.  But what determines a ticket outlet's success more than anything, Bohage said, is its quality of service. Customers like places where they do not have to wait in line, where past winners are celebrated, where a full complement of games is available and where they are not treated as a nuisance to other customers.

Selling a few big winning tickets does not hurt, either.

"You can't control the winners, obviously, but you can control the service," Bohage said. "Once you get a reputation as a great store, people will go there."

Out of 380 lottery ticket sellers in Northeastern Wisconsin, the top seller in 2011 was Festival Foods grocery store at 2250 W. Mason St. in Green Bay. The store rang up lottery ticket sales of $420,729 — averaging more than $1,000 a day.

Marlin Greenfield, senior vice president of Festival Foods, said the Green Bay store also is the most prolific seller of lottery tickets in its chain of 16 stores throughout Wisconsin. Noting the store's location in a densely populated neighborhood, Greenfield speculated that people stop to buy tickets on their way home from work.

Greenfield, however, said the company does not promote its lottery ticket service and does not see much profit from it.

"We don't do anything to promote it. Nothing. It's just there," he said. "It's a break-even service at best."

The state lottery pays commissions of about 5 cents to 6 cents for every ticket sold by a retailer. Store owners can earn bigger commissions if they achieve certain sales levels, and there are prizes of up to $100,000 for any store that sells a big winning ticket.  With a total of 3,675 lottery retailers statewide, the state last year paid about $35 million in commissions.

Green Bay, despite being the region's largest city and having the most lottery ticket outlets, produced only one other store on Gannett Wisconsin Media's list of the region's 10 biggest lottery ticket sellers — the Kwik Trip convenience store at 1712 E. Mason St., which ranked 10th with sales of $326,155.

Kwik Trip has other stores that are big lottery ticket sellers, but those are in such locations as Two Rivers, Manitowoc and Howard.  Kwik Trip corporate spokesman John McHugh said stores in small towns seem to do better with lottery ticket sales because, he said, there is something about the environment in those stores that customers prefer.

"They do like the personal service, the attentiveness, that sort of mom-and-pop atmosphere," McHugh said.

When it comes to lottery ticket sales, retailers with such recognizable names as Piggly Wiggly, Citgo and Copp's Food find themselves trailing lesser-known businesses, including Charlie's County Market in Shawano and Family Pantry in Manitowoc.

Patsy's Highway 42 Mobil Mart in Two Rivers tantalizes customers by posting announcements of all the lucky winners who have hit it big there, including one player who won $200,000 in 2005. Store owner Patsy Walesh was not surprised that her modest-size convenience store ranks as the region's fourth-largest seller of lottery tickets, with sales of $377,688 last year.  Since opening the store nine years ago, Walesh said, she has worked hard to earn customers' loyalty by meeting their needs and making sure lottery players get the best possible service.

"We know them very well," she said. "We know what they're going to buy and everything."

In Manitowoc County, which has five of the 10 biggest sellers in the region, store owner Mike Patel said he focuses on dealing honestly with lottery players and making sure they feel welcome in his store.  Patel, who owns Family Pantry in Manitowoc, said he expects sales to continue growing beyond last year's $334,303, which ranked seventh in the region. Customers, he said, have come to rely on Family Pantry to carry all the newest games available — and to never run out of tickets.

"I keep them coming," he said. "When they want to play, we have the game."