Reader's Choice

A business obviously is doing right by its customers if it's picked any year as No. 1 in Yuma's Best, The Yuma Sun's poll of readers' favorite commercial establishments and service providers in Yuma County.
 
But if it's chosen year after year, that means it doesn't rest on its laurels, that it always strives to satisfy consumers' needs.
 
A handful of area businesses have been picked as Yuma's Best in one category or another since the newspaper began the poll 12 years ago. They include Stan's Grocery,  picked each year as serving the Best Breakfast Burrito; Julieanna's Patio Cafe, picked annually as providing the Most Romantic Dining; Fry's Food Food Stores, the recurring Best Grocery Store, and Hastings Books, Music & Video, which consistently wins the Best CD/Record Store category.
 
The others are Goldsboro Bakery, Best Bakery each year; Red Lobster, Best Seafood, and Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Best Bookstore. Also the city of Yuma's Smucker Park has been picked every year as Best Place to Walk and Jog.
 
So how do these establishments with the unbroken winning streaks keep their edge?

Fry's Food Stores
 
JoEllen Lynn, director of communications and public affairs for Fry's Food Stores, credits friendly checkers and a varied selection of affordable products for the continuing popularity of the grocery chain's two Yuma area stores, located at 500 W. 24th St., and in the Foothills at 11274 S. Fortuna Road.
 
Fry's stores were also picked by readers as having the Friendliest Checkers in 2009.
 
The Yuma store phone number is 329-1055. Call the Foothills store at 305-1922. For more information, visit www.frysfood.com.

Goldsboro Bakery
 
The assurance they will be buying fresh baked goods brings back customers to Goldsboro Bakery, said Bobby Goldsboro, who with his mother Jan owns the bakery at 2345 S. Avenue A, as well as another bakery in the Foothills at 11805 S. Fortuna Road.
 
"We put out the best product we can put out, the best handmade product we can put out, at a good price. We want to see our customers come in over and over and again."
 
Goldsboro has longtime employees - some of them with 20 years' experience at the bakery - who take pains to make the freshest baked goods possible, he said.
 
Only goods made that day are placed in the display up front, he said. "We make sure we're not putting out products that aren't fresh."
 
Goldsboro's main products are the cakes it makes for any occasions, he said, but it also makes pastries, donuts, bagels, cookies, brownies, muffins, strudel, coffee cakes, nutbreads and other baked goods.
 
For 2009, the bakery was readers' pick for Best Donuts.
 
Customers can phone in orders to Goldsboro's, 782-2277, and then pick them up, he said.
 
The bakery has been in business in Yuma since 1978.

Stan's Grocery
 
Joann Rodriguez, Stan's owner, the business stays fresh in poll respondents' hearts - and stomachs - by using all fresh ingredients in its breakfast burritos, which are made in number of variations according to customers' tastes.
 
Each morning, the potatoes that some customers like in their burritos are peeled, sliced and diced, she said, and the salsa is made from scratch, as are the refried beans that some like mixed in the tortilla with the egg and potatoes.
 
About all that Stan's doesn't do is slaughter the pig to get bacon, another popular ingredient.
 
"Nothing is bought in a can," she said. "Everything is fresh. I think I'm nice to people. They keep coming back."
 
Stan's, located 1920 S. 1st Ave., was started by Rodriguez's father 35 years ago. Phone is 783-2526.

Hastings Books, Music & Video
 
Lucas Gurss, manager of Hastings's Yuma store, attributed its continuing dominance of the CD/Record Store category to partly to a wide selection of CDs that goes far beyond the chart-topping tunes. The store at 2820 S. 4th Ave. also carries music from independent artists and small record labels.
 
Whether customers like rock, pop, country, Latin, rap, soul, jazz or easy listening songs, Hastings has the music on its shelves, he said. And if Hastings doesn't have a particular album, it can be ordered at no extra charge.
 
"If it's in print, we can order it."
 
Customers can also trade in their music CDs, books and DVDs for cash or credit, he said. "We're a one-stop shop."
 
For 2009, Hastings also was picked by poll respondents as offering Best Video Rentals.
 
Amarillo-based Hastings opened the Yuma store in 1990. Today it employs about 40 people.
 
Hastings can be reached at 344-4614.

Red Lobster
 
Red Lobster has been readers' ongoing pick as Best Seafood spot in the area, whether at its former location in the Yuma Mesa Shopping Center at 4th Avenue and 16th Street or in its current site in the Yuma Palms Regional Center.
 
"I think Red Lobster has always been the place America goes for seafood," said Erica Jaeger, communications manager for the Florida-based restaurant chain that started in 1968.
 
In recent years, she said, the chain has relied on customer feedback to develop a menu of daily fresh fish specials consisting of five to eight choices in its restaurants in Yuma and across the country.
 
In each of its nearly 700 restaurants, Red Lobster has installed or is installing wood-fired grills designed to enhance fish flavors, she added.
 
Only certified grill masters are allowed to operate the grills, Jaeger said, and Red Lobsters seeks to make its employees "experts" in the dishes they serve.
 
The Yuma restaurant can be reached at 329-0104. Or visit www.redlobster.com.

Julieanna's Patio Cafe
 
Ambiance is part of the reason for Julieanna's reign as Most Romantic Dining spot, says Brant Gordon, the general manager.
 
"It's the music. We play romantic music. The lighting is romantic - all the tables have candles. There are lots of mirrors."
 
But the restaurant, located at 1951 W. 25th St., also has excellent food and service, he said.
 
"I personally eat here each day" to monitor food quality and meal preparation, Gordon said, adding that the owner, his mother Julie Fritz-Feinberg, provides similar oversight.
 
"It's a concerted effort to be the best we can be."
 
The restaurant's wait staff come with prior experience and undergo further training based in standards set by the Culinary Institute of America, he added.
 
For 2009, Julieanna's also captured the Best Fine Dining and Best Outdoor Dining categories in Yuma's Best.
 
Julieanna's can be reached at 317-1961.

Smucker Park
 
Smucker Park, located on Avenue A south of 24th Street, "has been a long-standing favorite" in the community, said Becky Chavez, the city's parks and recreation director.
 
It's popularity, she said, provides a "nice setting" where the public can exercise on a concrete walking and jogging track that measures exactly one mile in distance.
 
"It's a beautiful place to walk at sunset because it overlooks the valley," said Chavez, who walks on the track herself.

Barnes & Noble Booksellers
 
Barnes & Noble, 819 W. 32nd St., isn't just a place where books sit on shelves waiting for someone to find them. The store's associates can help customers find those books that suit their individual reading likes and interests, said Penny Bell, the store's merchandising manager.
 
If the store doesn't have a book in stock, she said, it can be ordered. And if the book is no longer in print, Barnes & Noble can refer the customer to a dealer network.
 
"If it's an obscure title, we will find a way to get it for them."

The store also hosts twice-a-week children's story hours to help youngsters develop a love for books and lifelong reading habit, Bell said.

Phone is 317-1466. Also, visit www.barnesandnoble.com.