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The Modern Grocer — Vincent Finazzo, Riverwards

What earns shelf space? Inside Riverwards, Vince Finazzo breaks down proximity, curation, and why brands lose their edge.

A neighborhood grocery store where 70% of customers live within half a mile—and come back multiple times a week.

Inside Riverwards Produce, Vincent Finazzo has built something that feels simple on the surface, but is actually very hard to execute. This isn’t about scale, more SKUs, or bigger stores. It’s about proximity, judgment, and a clear point of view on what deserves to be on the shelf.

From local brand presence to intentional sampling, everything in the store is designed to get you to try something—and come back for it.

This conversation goes beyond the store itself. We get into how products move from Instagram into real-world retail, how earned media and in-store experience work together, and why small-format grocery can outperform traditional supermarkets.

Vincent also breaks down how he builds assortment starting from cookbooks, works directly with local suppliers, and thinks about the lifecycle of brands—especially what happens after acquisition. From Poppi and Siete to the role of companies like Unilever and Campbell’s, the conversation explores why many brands lose their edge once they scale.

We also talk about:

It’s also the clearest example I’ve seen of what Pacvue has been calling “discovery commerce”—the loop where you see something, whether it’s a recipe, a product, or a post, and it actually changes what you do that night.

I’ve been living that loop here. Seeing something Vince posts and completely changing my evening around it.

This episode was about understanding how that actually works.

Recipe Inspiration

Chicken & Creamy Orzo by Jesse Jenkins

https://kitchenstudio.substack.com/p/chicken-and-creamy-orzo

The Modern Grocer — Vincent Finazzo, Riverwards - YouTube
The Modern Grocer — Vincent Finazzo, Riverwards
The Middlemen Podcast