Hunt’s Food & Supplies this week celebrated its tenth anniversary and this weekend, they want the community to come out and celebrate with them.On Saturday, from 10am to 3pm, the wholesale retailer will host a party at its Warwick store. Inside, they will be offering 15 percent off, storewide. Outside, there will be vendors from the rubber tree market along with hot dogs, snowballs and funnel cakes for sale along with face painting and balloon sculpting for the little ones.Hunt’s president Stacey Janelle Gibbons says they wanted to do something to thank their customers and the community.“We just want to bring the community together and celebrate our ten years in business and show that we really have to stick together as a community to make this work — to keep business alive,” Ms Gibbons said.In a time when many small businesses in Bermuda have been forced to close their doors or lay off workers, Hunt’s has managed to do something that seems rare these days — keep going strong for a decade long.Selling everything from diapers to dog food and everything in between — Hunt’s 7,000 square-foot warehouse carries it all and in bulk.But, Ms Gibbons says that while they’re known for being the place where you can get big bargains and buy in bulk, they’re still just a mom and pop store. With just 15 employees, many of them family, she says they haven’t been without their own struggles in this difficult economy.“We’ve actually seen a slight downturn,” she said “Bulk purchasing is down. Now that people have lost their jobs, it’s hard for them to come here and spend 50 bucks on one item. I mean, they need that $50 to feed the family for the week.”Ms Gibbons says while not as many people are buying in bulk individually right now, they are seeing more people going in on purchases together.“We’re seeing more families sharing now, so you may have a group of three or four that will come and split the paper towels,” she said. “We have a deal for the seniors so we have lots of seniors doing that. We offer ten percent off to seniors every Thursday. So a lot of the times, they’ll shop together and then split the items three or four ways. And everybody’s shopping around a lot more.”Along with the senior discount day, Hunt’s for years has offered a five percent discount for cash purchases on Tuesday. And soon, they’ll be offering ten percent off on Mondays and Wednesdays to shoppers with a friends and family discount card.“We’ve just joined a friends and family package with Fresh TV. You buy a membership card from them and there are different stores involved. Once you show this card, at participating stores, you automatically save ten percent here on those days.”Ms Gibbons says a representative from Fresh TV will be on sight Saturday offering the membership cards to people.With people shopping around for deals now more than ever before, Ms Gibbons says it’s important to not only be competitive, but innovative.“After ten years, I personally feel we set the tone because everyone comes in here to check our prices and see what we’re doing,” she said. “So now we’re actually trying to be a bit more innovative and change the game. We have a lot of exciting new things coming up.”Hunt’s is offering refillable detergents — a first on the island.“So far, we refill two types — one out of Trinidad that’s really affordable. The initial purchase is $15 and you refill for $10 and it’s a four-litre bottle,” she said. “The other we just introduced is called ECOS — it’s an all natural, environmentally friendly detergent based from coconut and essential oils. It’s $31.95 and refillable for $25 — for a 210 oz bottle (about 1.6 gallons).”Ms Gibbons says the refillable detergents have become very popular because it’s cheaper and also cuts down on waste.“We can’t go green all the way here, but we’re trying,” Ms Gibbons added. “We’re also introducing some new vegan food lines. If our customers are coming here for one or two things, we’d like them to be able to find everything here and get a full variety.”Hunt’s also has plans to start selling discounted gas in Bermuda like warehouse clubs such as Costco and Sam’s Club offer in the US.“We’ll be offering our customers membership which will give them discounts on their items all of the time and give them a discount on gas,” she said. “We’ve received approval for it — we’re just trying to get it up and running. It would be right in the yard here.”While people are looking for new products and good deals, Ms Gibbons says there’s more to it than that when it comes to ten years of success in Bermuda.“I think the number one thing that’s kept us in business is customer service. That’s the number one thing for us. The good morning, the good afternoon. A hello, how can I help you? Just assisting customers. Taking their groceries out to their car, remembering them by name. That’s the main thing that really sets us apart from anyone else. They can buy anything anywhere on the island so we have to sell service.”Ms Gibbon’s father, Nelson Hunt, who started the business and owns others — as well as well as a stake in the Morgan’s Point development — says the key to staying in business so long is simple.“I think longevity comes from really doing what you like. It’s not really a job for me, it’s just one of my loves I guess,” he said. “Business has evolved really. Gone are the days of really high profits and the ‘you bring it and they’ll buy it’ mentality.”Mr Hunt says people in Bermuda are more price-conscious than ever before because of the state of the economy, but that that keeps businesses on their toes.“It makes business more competitive and brings prices down where they should be. Even though we can’t drop prices like people think because the prices in the US have gone up,” he said. “I think people are going to go where they can find the better prices.”He says he thinks people have always shopped around, but now, it’s more out of necessity.“I think women are the best finance ministers there are because of the fact that they are really good shoppers,” he jokes. “Men just pick something up and they don’t care how much it costs — that’s how we think, right? But now, it’s absolutely necessary we [Hunt’s Food & Supplies] shop around just like a shopper shops around. We look for better prices overseas — where we can get them, try to bring it in and then pass it on to the consumer.”While the company strives to provide customers with the products they want at prices they can afford, Mr Hunt says being a better business — one with longevity — is also about getting back to basics.“I think you have to give good service — that’s number one. Be polite. And that basically determines who’s going to keep coming through your door.”The company’s tenth anniversary celebration takes place tomorrow, July 21 from 10am-3pm at Hunt’s Food & Supplies, 1 Quarry Drive, off Khyber Pass in Warwick.