Shopping plaza revitalizes Youngwood community

When Matthew Hall's job was outsourced and he was laid off from AT&T, the Youngwood man spent five years unemployed, staying at home to care for his two daughters.

He said thousands of dollars worth of debt piled up as the family got by on his wife's salary as a worker at a cement testing company. For Hall and others like him, the arrival a year ago of Youngwood Commons shopping plaza, anchored by Shop 'n Save, was a godsend.

He landed a job in the plaza's Advance Auto Parts store. Nearly 200 others — about 100 at the grocery store — are now employed at businesses in the plaza.

“My life is better, my family is better, because of this plaza,” Hall said.

Youngwood Commons owners and borough officials say the plaza has been a resounding success as it celebrates its first anniversary, though minor traffic problems and a few empty storefronts remain lingering issues.

“On the good side, it's been a year, it's a very busy shopping center. I probably shop there a couple times a week, and it's always busy,” borough council President Lloyd Crago said. “You always see somebody from town.”

The development is owned by Jamieson Family Markets, which owns 18 grocery stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

Longtime Youngwood resident Thomas Shoff remembers what he felt 20 years ago when his employer, beloved local supermarket Young's Red and White, closed in 1995.

“It was scary,” he said.

Youngwood residents would be without a supermarket for the next 20 years. The federal government designated the borough a “food desert,” a term to describe communities without easy access to groceries.

Shoff, 64, a man with special needs who has to be driven to his job, worked at a McDonald's in New Stanton in the decades that Youngwood was without a supermarket, but now he's once again in the grocery business, working at the Shop 'n Save.

“Everybody loves it,” Shoff said. “Everybody couldn't wait for the store to open.”

Tom and Deb Jamieson said they have found their niche building plazas and grocery stores in small communities that might be overlooked by larger companies.

“We look at small-market sites, where we know we can make it work, where we know a large supermarket could maybe not make it work,” Tom Jamieson said, adding that sales in Youngwood have outpaced projections.

The couple's daughter, Shaina, owns the beer distributor in the plaza. The family says many of those they employ are like Hall and Shoff, local people who needed jobs.

“We're very excited to be there, and it's one of the best workforces I've seen in my life, out of all the businesses I've ever had,” Tom Jamieson said.

The shopping plaza also has a Chinese restaurant, pet store and Dollar General.

“I don't know if the full impact has really taken place yet, but it's picking up the volume of traffic through town,” Youngwood Realtor Mark Miscovich said. “Not just people passing through, but people stopping here.”

It's too early to quantify the value the plaza is having in the area, but he said it is noticeable. He's seen his own business pick up because of visitors coming to town, and expects to see more people than usual looking to buy property in Youngwood this spring.

“I think it's been a life-changing experience for a lot of people in town here,” he said.

But the shopping center still has a way to go. Three of its storefronts remain empty, with black sheeting covering the windows.

“I am a little disappointed,” Crago said. “It was my understanding while they were building it that all but one were rented and ready to go. Here we are a year later, and they're still empty.”

Jamieson said one businessman backed out of a plan to open a Little Caesars pizzeria. And paperwork has slowed the opening of a state liquor store, Jamieson said.

“It's just a long process with all the politicians and government involved on that one,” Jamieson said.

The Jamiesons are working on a deal to sell a corner at the property to another developer who wants to build a gas station and fast-food chain, but because the plaza is on Route 119 South, PennDOT needs to approve the plan first.

Getting the proper permits has taken longer than expected, but progress is “just around the corner,' and construction might start this spring, Jamieson said.

The borough used to make very little tax money off the lot where the plaza stands. It now brings in more than $15,000 a year, and that number will go up if the gas station is built, borough tax collector Ken Reger said.

Youngwood Commons has drawn some traffic complaints, especially because of the placement of the exit, Crago said.

The plaza is off a one-way street, and the exit is slightly offset from a connecting road that links to the street going the other way. Drivers will often turn the wrong way for a brief stretch to reach that connecting road.

“You can sit down there any given day and watch it happen 10 times a day,” Crago said. “They should have either put (the exit) straight across or in the middle, so people couldn't do that.”

Council has discussed the problem, though no solutions have been reached. Despite his reservations, Crago said the plaza has been a big step forward for the borough.

“Overall, I think it's one of the best things to happen to Youngwood in a long time,” he said.

Jacob Tierney is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6646 or jtierney@tribweb.com.