Just because they have survived does not make them the better business or grocery store. They rely on their county name, as someone said good ole boys will continue to shop there. When people talk about the demographics in St. Mary's county they focus on the professional and military community that supports NAVAIR. That's a minority of the people who live in St. Mary's and Southern Calvert Co. There are many families that have lived here for generations that don't have that level of income and their diet and tastes are different. There is a fairly good size immigrant population, that falls into that same category. So when you think of supermarkets or grocery stores, there are niche markets in the area, McKays caters to one, shoppers had it's market.
An advantage McKays has is not having to answer and follow a corporate model which drives up costs.
Giant, Harris, and Aldis are required to carry certain goods. A long time ago, I learned truckers didn't want to make the one way run into St. Mary's and return empty - it wasn't profitable. This caused IGAs to have to deal with empty spots on their shelves and/or out of date products on the shelf (and dairy case). They weren't doing the volume to justify the run south.
McKays can do what they want. With more stores, and willing to accept an even lower profit margin, they can adapt.
It doesn't mean they are better, but that's how they survive the chain stores.
