Grand Opening of Woodman’s Food Market

Woodman’s Food Market had their grand opening on Sept. 29, at 11751 S Route 59. The store is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, spanning over 243,500 thousand square-feet. To make the opening possible, many new employees were to be hired, which makes it a great opportunity for Plainfield North students to find jobs close to school.

Woodman’s currently has only 21 stores located in Northern Wisconsin and the greater Chicago area in Illinois. Of the 21, Plainfield is the 21 store to be recently opened. The grocery store has been completely employee owned since 1998 and encourages employees to improve efficiency and reduce shrinkage. 

Prices at the food market are 10% to 40% lower than a traditional grocery store, such as Jewel Osco or Meijer. Prices are so low due to bypassing intermediaries and bulk buying, dodging credit card fees, eliminating high-labor departments, loss leaders to drive food traffic (gas station), and no extravagant store displays.

The food market is unique in many ways, one being that the store is selective in ways to pay. Accepted payment methods include: cash, check, debit cards (PIN required), and Discover credit cards.

There are a few jobs available for teens at the grocery store: bagger, parcel clerk, cashier (for older teens), stocking clerk (grocery/produce), and cart attendant/janitorial support. All of these jobs are easy to apply to and allow students to learn good communication skills while still in high school. 

“This job is convenient for highschoolers because it allows them to gain skills like communication and hands on customer service experiences that can be used in future jobs.” Mallory Weitzmann, a junior at Plainfield North and bagger at Woodman’s, explained. 

To be able to work at Woodman’s, you must be 16 or older, and the process to apply is fairly easy. If you are interested, go to: Woodman’s Employment Application and select the “Plainfield” store. Once you submit your application and get an interview, the rest is simple. 

“We grabbed a number to get called on and we were taken to a private area to get interviewed by a manager where they asked simple yes or no questions and asked about your availability and flexibility,” explained Weitzmann. 

Working at the food market means reasonable hours per week. On average, they hope to get teens 15-25 hours a week during the school year, this ensures that student workers can balance school, home, and work life; this aims to prevent burnout in teen workers. 

Other than reasonable hours, Woodman’s also offers flexible scheduling for students. On breakdown, the food market is a great place to work while studying, since the store is open 24/7, managers can easily make schedules around high school classes and extracurricular activities. 

There are other benefits to working at Woodman’s as well, such as competitive starting wages. Woodman’s has historically been known for their higher wages between 15 to 18 dollars per hour, with an average price of 16.65 dollars per hour.

“I would promote working at Woodman’s to high school students because it is a welcoming community that allows character growth and development for future skills that help for future leadership roles,” Weitzmann reported.