Saturday, January 12, 2008
Shop owner hopes new store will feed Northwest Roanoke
The owner of Tinnell's Finer Foods is opening a Save-A-Lot in an area underserved by grocery stores.
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The owner of an established neighborhood grocery store is bringing new flavor to Northwest Roanoke.
Rett Ward, owner of Tinnell's Finer Foods in South Roanoke, will open next month a discount grocer on Melrose Avenue, a move that could benefit residents of a local neighborhood and enliven a blighted retail center.
The new store is Save-A-Lot, a St. Louis-based chain that claims to sell common items at prices 40 percent lower than conventional stores. Its arrival was first reported by The Roanoke Times in August.
It's slated for the former Office Outlet space, which fronts the Roanoke Salem Business Center, a once thriving shopping area that now houses industrial and service businesses. The 18,000-square-foot store will open Feb. 13.
Ward said he'll continue to operate Tinnell's, a cozy specialty grocer on Crystal Spring Avenue founded in 1937 by his grandfather. He did not offer much detail about why he's expanding his reach into a new grocery concept.
"It's just a natural interest in expanding," he said. "We feel like a Save-A-Lot fits here."
Ward said he approached Save-A-Lot a year and a half ago. He was familiar with the chain through his work with Supervalu, a grocery supply chain operator that owns Save-A-Lot.
At least 75 percent of Save-A-Lot's 1,200 stores are operated by licensed owners such as Ward. Under an agreement, Ward must sell Save-A-Lot's products, but he does not have to pay the company a certain percentage of his store's profits.
Ward plans to split his time operating both Tinnell's and Save-A-Lot, stores with widely different offerings.
Save-A-Lot will carry a basic selection of meat, produce, baked goods, general merchandise and nonalcoholic beverages. By comparison, Tinnell's carries the same offerings, plus a deli, specialty products and a diverse selection of wines.
At Save-A-Lot stores, there is a limited selection of brands of certain grocery products. Its locations carry about 1,250 typical items, while larger food retailers might sell 40,000 to 60,000 products, Ward said.
Roanoke Salem Business Center, which has fallen into disrepair, previously has been home to Miller & Rhodes, Peoples Drug and Winn-Dixie.
Paul Moock, co-owner of Outdoor Power Equipment, a retailer at the center that sells and services lawn mowers, tractors and chain saws, said Save-A-Lot's opening there will drive business to his shop. Other businesses there include Computer Exchange and Harbor Freight Tools.
"Any traffic helps," Moock said.
The center is surrounded by a Northwest Roanoke neighborhood that is largely underserved by grocery stores, Ward said. The closest are two Food Lion stores about one and a half miles from the site.
Duaine Boone, president of Northwest Crime Stoppers, said the area could use a grocery store. She remembers when Winn-Dixie was there.
"They could walk from several of the different areas" to the store, Boone said. "Up and down Melrose, you really don't have a grocery store."
Save-A-Lot does not have other Roanoke Valley locations, but there are stores in Clifton Forge, Pearisburg and Pulaski.
