Archival TH-Record Articles relating to Sav-A-Lot opening and CDA Money Used:
Pair hope grocery will produce for both them and Port Jervis
By Skip Leon
The Times Herald-Record
sleon@th-record.com
Is Port Jervis on the upswing?
Two young entrepreneurs willing to risk their money on the city's future think so.
Chad Goetz, 32, and Sean Scully, 35, will be co-owners of the Save-A-Lot supermarket on Jersey Avenue, which is expected to open in the spring.
Most of the funding for the project will come from a 10-year loan from the Port Jervis Community Development Agency for $385,000 at 6 percent interest. The rest will come from a Small Business Administration loan from a local bank as well as their own private capital.
Both men have ties to the community and said they have seen an improvement in Port Jervis's business climate over the past few years.
"The city has an initiative now to try to do something," said Goetz, who grew up on Neversink Drive in the Town of Deerpark and in Howells. He has an insurance company in town.
"They've helped us out and they continue to help out other businesses in town. Look at downtown, you're starting to see businesses pop up on Front Street. People are buying buildings and redoing them," he said.
Scully, who owns AVS Telecommunications in the old Erie Depot on Jersey Avenue, moved to the area from Long Island more than a decade ago. He never saw the town during its heyday when the railroad provided jobs for city residents and customers to a full compliment of downtown businesses.
"I never saw Port Jervis when it was prosperous. I saw it on sort of the bottom of a curve," said Scully, who is also on the Tri-State Chamber of Commerce's board of directors.
"In the 10 years I've been here, I've seen progress and the progress seems to be accelerating."
The city's reputation has been the opposite, with businesses closing or leaving town for greener tax pastures across the Delaware River in neighboring Westfall, Pa.
In fact, Goetz had to do some soul searching when he had the opportunity to return to the area in November 1996. He was working in Wayne, N.J., at the time.
"I had to think hard and long about (coming back)," Goetz said.
"A lot of people tend to badmouth Port Jervis, its reputation. I came back and have been successful. Obviously I'm convinced that you can do business here and be successful."
The supermarket will be on Jersey Avenue in the current Family Dollar store and former Nichols Auction Company. Years ago, the building housed the A&P supermarket.
The Save-A-Lot was scheduled to open Jan. 31, 2001. But Family Dollar, which was scheduled to move into an adjoining store earlier this month, will not move until late January.
That will push back the supermarket opening until March or April.
In addition to the supermarket, Scully has invested in other real estate around town. But this project tops his agenda.
"This is not just a fun project for me. Everything I own is going behind this. It's an all or nothing risk. My future lies with the future of Port Jervis. I need to see Port Jervis thrive if I'm going to be successful," he said. http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2000/11/20/slowners.htm
Supermarket plans to open next month
PORT JERVIS: The city's downtown has been without a supermarket since Great American closed in February 1999.
By Skip Leon
The Times Herald-Record
sleon@th-record.com
The city will have a new supermarket downtown by the end of next month, if all goes according to plan.
Work has begun on the interior of the 15,000-square-foot store on Jersey Avenue, which will house a Save-A-Lot supermarket.
Chad Goetz, one of the Save-A-Lot's co-owners, knows what day of the week the store will open its doors for business. He's just not sure of the date.
"We're having a grand opening on a Wednesday. We're trying to do it Feb. 14 or 21, maybe the 28th, in that area," Goetz said.
Mike Hylas, who owns the building where the store will be located, said work is progressing quickly. Contractors were in the store yesterday working on the electrical and lighting systems.
The automatic doors have been installed, but they aren't hooked up yet. Hylas said improvements in the heating system and lighting in the parking lot are also planned. He said all the renovations should take about four weeks.
Goetz said he expects preliminary work on installation of coolers and display cases to begin this week. He estimated it will take five to six weeks to complete.
The Family Dollar store, which had occupied part of the space being renovated for the supermarket, opened at its new location next door on Thursday.
Family Dollar originally was going to move Nov. 1, and the Save-A-Lot was to open Jan. 31. But due to rapid expansion by North Carolina-based Family Dollar, which is building 500 new stores in the United States this year, the move was delayed until after Christmas.
The Save-A-Lot will be the first supermarket downtown since Great American closed its doors in February 1999. Port Jervis' only supermarket since then has been the Orange Street Market, in a residential section of the city.
http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2001/01/10/slmarket.htm
Save-A-Lot to save a lot of time for Port Jervis residents
By Amy Berkowitz
The Times Herald-Record
aberkowitz@th-record.com
Port Jervis – Residents won't have far to travel for their food now that plans for a local Save-A-Lot have come through.
Mayor R. Michael Worden said that Port Jervis received an $860,000 community development block grant, announced yesterday by Gov. George Pataki at a meeting in Highland Falls.
Chad Goetz and Sean Scully, two Port Jervis businessmen, will open the Save-A-Lot market with the grant money and a small business loan.
The store will move into the building on Jersey Avenue where the RJ Nichols Auction Company was located and that presently houses Family Dollar.
Family Dollar is erecting a new building next door. That should be ready by Nov. 1.
Goetz said he hopes to hire about 25 local people.
He is confident in Save-A-Lot's success because he said it is a small store that sells a variety of foods under private labels at reduced prices.
Save-A-Lot is a corporate store of SuperValu, which is the 10th largest distributor in the nation of food, merchandise and pharmaceuticals to supermarkets.
Port Jervis has been without a supermarket for more than a year, ever since the Great American closed its doors March 14, 1999.
Shoppers were excited to hear yesterday that they will have the luxury to stay within state lines when buying groceries.
"Instead of running to ShopRite in New Jersey and buying a head of lettuce, the community will be able to do it right here," said Margaret Degraw of Port Jervis.
Gina Heinicke, who teaches at Sullivan Avenue Elementary School, discussed Port's need for any kind of commercial growth.
"When I grew up here this city was thriving," Heinicke said. "Port Jervis has been dormant for the last eight years. Any kind of new business is good for Port. A supermarket is our biggest need."
Mayor Worden said, "Our citizens will be very pleased with the store and the product availability. It will provide a nice affordable shopping opportunity to our citizens."
Janis Osborne and Adam Stone contributed to this report. http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2000/08/08/asmarket.htm
Pageantry, produce meet in supermarket opening
PORT JERVIS: A new supermarket fills the void created two years ago when Great American closed.
By Michael Levensohn
The Times Herald-Record
mblevens@th-record.com
In the week since the Save-A-Lot supermarket opened on Jersey Avenue, Linda Lazier has shopped there four or five times.
"I like it. It's convenient," she said the other day, waiting for a cab in front of the store. "We needed a grocery store."
Since Great American closed its doors two years ago, residents of this working-class city have been crossing the border into New Jersey and Pennsylvania to do their grocery shopping.
Save-A-Lot's grand opening was marked yesterday by a ceremony inside the store featuring a visit from Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue and the standard 21-camera salute.
But most shoppers ignored the pageantry as they pushed their carts up and down the aisles, taking notice only after they cleared the checkout lanes and encountered the crush of bodies blocking the way to the exit.
"Busy, busy, busy," said one elderly woman, shaking her head in disbelief as she pushed her way through the crowd.
The host of dignitaries gathered at the store yesterday may have inconvenienced some shoppers, but their cooperation was vital in bringing the supermarket to town.
A grant to Port Jervis from the governor's Office for Small Cities funded a $385,000 loan to the store. The federal Small Business Administration added $150,000 in loans, and the two owner/operators pitched in another $100,000.
The store, which employs 25, is part of the 900-store Save-A-Lot chain owned by Supervalu Inc. The store is operated by local businessmen Sean Scully and Chad Goetz. Both already run businesses in town, but they saw an opportunity created by Great American's demise.
"The absence of a supermarket told us there should at least be some revenue coming in," Scully said.
The store, at about 15,000 square feet, is small by modern standards, and the merchandise mix is limited. Save-A-Lot stores typically carry only 1,500 items, compared to 30,000 or more at stores like ShopRite and Stop & Shop.
"You're going to find the most popular size of the item instead of different sizes," said Save-A-Lot spokesman Dan Kimack.
There's an eclectic mix of national and private label brands, including Save-A-Lot's own Wylwood label. Breakfast cereals bear names like "Hoot 'n Honey" and "Apple Bobbers."
The store doesn't have seafood or deli departments, but offers a range of meat, produce and frozen food.
The shelving system is simplified, with most products stacked in vendor cases. Full pallets of merchandise – some still partially wrapped in plastic – serve as end caps.
The store is easy to navigate, and prices are clearly marked. The store's Spartan design is geared toward minimizing cost to the customer.
"We figure they'd rather put the savings in the bag," Kimack said.
A banner hanging on the front of the store boasts savings of 40 percent. Many customers confirm that the prices beat the living daylights out of those competitors across the border. But they add that they'll still make trips to the ShopRite in Montague, N.J., or the GU Market (formerly Grand Union) stores in Pike County, Pa., to shop for the things Save-A-Lot doesn't stock.
Shoppers are asked to bag their own groceries. And they pay for the bags – three cents apiece for small, a dime for large. If they choose, customers can pack their groceries in empty vendor boxes at no charge.
As Scully explained, the idea is to keep operating costs – which inevitably get passed along to the customer – as low as possible.
"We're working on pretty slim margins here," he said. http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2001/03/16/mlsave.htm
Port Jervis
Portion of Port Jervis grant used for market
The City of Port Jervis was awarded a $860,000 community-development block grant Monday. A portion of that money, $385,000, will be used to help fund a Save-A-Lot supermarket on Jersey Avenue where the R.J. Nichols Auction Company was located and that now houses Family Dollar. The $385,000, a low interest loan, will be used by Chad Goetz and Sean Scully, two Port businessmen who will co-run the supermarket when it opens.
Also, a large portion of the overall community development grant – $360,000 – will be provided as a low interest loan to help in the demolition of the old Barrier's science factory. The space will be used to construct a senior housing facility, said Mayor R. Michael Worden.
http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2000/08/09/briefs8.htm
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