On August 8th, the JSI team hosted the 15th Annual Clayton Johndro Memorial Golf Tournament in Milo, ME. This event culminated in the largest total sum that JSI has ever collected: Over $32,000.
This sum was contributed to by several of JSI’s most generous business partners and vendors, as well as many private donors. 100% of the sum was given to the local Three Rivers Kiwanis of Milo and Brownville to support many of the charitable events and causes that take place throughout the year.

Collectively, this 15-year long event has donated well over $220,000 to the community. Clayton Johndro, for whom the tournament is named, is the late father of Terry, Barry, and Mark Awalt who currently serve on the leadership team at JSI. The Awalt brothers founded JSI in the 1990s with the help of Clayton, and remember him fondly at the golf tournament every year when “the big check” is handed over to the Kiwanis leaders.

JSI would like to thank all who have donated and supported our event. Every contribution, no matter how small, will make a difference in the lives of many children.

This weekend JSI presented at the annual StorePoint Fresh event in Scottsdale, AZ to an audience of industry influencers and leaders in grocery. On the table for discussion was the future of brick-and-mortar stores and how JSI can keep grocery retailers current with modular self-contained refrigeration and improved flexibility within their perimeter departments.

The most important thing for JSI in 2019 and beyond is to focus on how the relationship between JSI and grocery retailers can become more symbiotic and collaborative. JSI’s goal for the future is to “make the experience of doing business with us lighter”, which includes improving JSI’s internal workflow and minimizing the stress felt on the customer end.

As the JSI team moves toward new grocery horizons, it becomes clear that the retailers who will succeed are those that are already innovating their businesses. JSI is committed to being on the forefront of the changing retail landscape, and always keeping the #freshexperience at the fingertips of the shopper.

Last month, JSI showcased at the Produce Marketing Association’s 2018 Fresh Summit event in Orlando, FL. Several different kinds of fixtures were used to showcase the produce on display by Melissa’s World Variety Produce in booth #2601.

The annual PMA trade show is always a great opportunity for JSI to connect with customers and collaborate across industries. In an environment as dynamic as the grocery business, many retailers struggle with communicating freshness, convenience, and innovation to their shoppers in meaningful ways. Year after year, JSI strives to bring the #freshexperience home to consumers. New product offerings, streamlined order processing, and helping customers maintain their unique approach to shoppers is only the tip of the iceberg lettuce for this team!

On August 9th of this year, JSI Store Fixtures donated $28,850 to the Three Rivers Kiwanis of Milo and Brownville, ME. The funds were collected from JSI employees, vendors, and partners, some of which are located across the country.

The 14th Annual Clayton Johndro Memorial Golf Tournament was the centerpiece of this large donation. Clayton Johndro, father of the founders of JSI Terry, Barry, and Mark Awalt, passed away in 2008 but is remembered posthumously by the community which he lived in and valued so highly. One of the largest and most important charities that is benefited by this annual fundraiser is Jean’s Blessings, named for Clayton’s wife Jean Johndro. Jean’s Blessings provides backpacks for children that are filled with food and school supplies, commodities which children in the Milo community are often forced to otherwise go without.

Over the last 14 years the Clayton Johndro Memorial Golf Tournament has collectively raised more than $190,000 for the community. Some other charities which have been benefited by these funds include local food cupboards, the Boy and Girl Scouts of America, Secret Santa programs, Penquis Valley Key and Builders Clubs, YMCA swim programs for kids, and many others.

JSI would like to thank all who have donated and supported our event. Every contribution, no matter how small, will make a difference in the lives of many children.

JSI has recently released a brand-new product line to their catalog of fixtures; TempFresh Prepared Foods are currently being integrated into the stores of JSI customers.

JSI has certainly entered the prepared foods market at the right time, as the industry is currently growing. From 2015-2016, 69% of retailers reported 5% or higher growth levels in their prepared foods department. Additionally, a sturdy 19% of consumers report that they expect their prepared meal purchases from grocery stores will increase through 2019 (Hobson, 2017). These statistics come as no surprise to JSI’s resident expert on Prepared Foods merchandising, Kristi Estes, who has been a part of the growing team since 2017.

Says Estes, “There is a serious demand for more efficient, more attractive, more flexible merchandising options for these types of products. JSI is in the perfect position to envelop both the technical requirements and merchandising expectations that retailers need in order to make sure the food, hot or cold, temps properly.” And keeping product at the correct temperature, although an obvious requirement for shoppers, is more easily said than done.

“Retailers are always extremely concerned with product integrity and presentation, and so are we” says Nate Perkins, JSI’s newest Product Manager. “We’ve got an entire engineering team working hard every day to make sure that we can deliver the right temperature every time.”

JSI’s plans for continuing development on this product line include a range of soup merchandisers, a flat-top pizza bar, and hot vertical merchandisers for items like rotisserie chicken. As the company continues to expand and explore more innovative ways to deliver the highest quality products to end-shoppers, it becomes only a matter of time before a JSI TempFresh bar is in every grocery chain across the country.

SOURCE: Hobson, Katherine. “Supermarket Prepared Meals: What to Watch Out For.” Consumer Reports, consumerreports.org, 2017 View Article

JSI’s new Wine Catalog is hot off the presses, and filled with great fixtures to make your store look its best and drive sales in your wine and spirits department! Contact us today for your copy.

Supermarket display company continues its growth with the acquisition of Shaw Woodworks Inc.

JSI Store Fixtures Incorporated, a market-leading designer and manufacturer of high-quality merchandising displays for the supermarket industry, is proud to announce new growth and expansion into Canada, thanks to the acquisition of Shaw Woodworks.

“The new Ontario facility gets us closer to our target customers in Canada, helping us to reduce freight costs, provide much shorter lead times and lessening our environmental impact,” said Terry Awalt, JSI’s Chief Executive Officer.

The acquisition of Shaw Woodworks Inc. in Collingwood, Ontario gives JSI Store Fixtures its first facility outside the United States. Founded in 1987, Shaw has become a leader in the Canadian commercial fixture, interactive kiosk and point of purchase display industry, and is one of the largest wood and painted product fixture manufacturers in Canada. Shaw’s expertise reaches well beyond the grocery industry, with a client base that includes not only a broad range of grocers, but many other retail and commercial clients in Canada and beyond, including Indigo Books and Music Inc., Hudson’s Bay Company, Goodyear Canada, Toyota Canada, IBM Canada Ltd., The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Blue Mountain Resorts and many more.

Conceived in 1991 as a family business, JSI Store Fixtures, Incorporated is headquartered in Milo, Maine, and has grown to include facilities in Bangor, Maine, Suwanee, Georgia, Payson, Utah, as well as the new Collingwood, Ontario facility. JSI’s product offering consists of display fixtures, patented foam products and refrigerated fixtures that are designed to showcase merchandise in produce, bakery, floral, wine and other high-traffic areas around a grocery’s perimeter, but the new acquisitions will allow JSI to expand beyond groceries into general retail and more. The company’s guiding philosophy is to design and offer quality displays to its customers, to merchandise product
better, resulting in higher retail sales.

Come by the JSI booth at FMI Connect 2015 in Chicago, June 8-11, and see what’s new! We’d love to meet you and show you what JSI can do for your business! You’ll find us in McCormick Place, South Building – Halls A1 & A2 – Booth 2423.

Supermarket display company is manufacturing equipment for western states

JSI Store Fixtures, Inc., a market-leading designer and manufacturer of high quality merchandising displays for the supermarket industry, along with the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), announces the opening of a facility in Payson, Utah. The new facility has begun manufacturing display fixtures for JSI’s customers in the western United States.

“The new Payson, UT facility gets us closer to our target customers in the western U.S., helping us to reduce freight costs, provide much shorter lead times and lessening our environmental impact,” says Terry Awalt, JSI’s President.

Milo, Maine – September 15, 2014 – JSI Store Fixtures is pleased to announce that Gretel Seeley has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, heading up JSI’s sales and marketing team. In her seven years as JSI’s VP of Sales & Marketing, the company’s revenue has more than doubled. The company is making strides toward becoming a nationwide manufacturer, and Gretel will continue to manage all sales and marketing initiatives, ensuring continued success and growth as the company continues to develop from its starting point as a regional manufacturer into a national business.