Heights Plaza Shop 'n Save to become Community Market
HARRISON: The Shop 'n Save supermarket in the Heights Plaza Shopping Center is going to become a Community Market.
Saturday will be the last day of operation for the store as a Shop 'n Save outlet.
The store will close Saturday, and will remain closed for several days while it's transformed into a Community Market.
Jerry Rosenberg, part owner of Community Market, said the store probably will reopen sometime late next week.
It will be the fourth Community Market in the area. The others are in Fox Chapel, Lower Burrell and the family's first store, which was opened in Penn Hills in 1927.
Rosenberg said the business was started by his late father, Lou, and now is operated by himself, his brother, Paul, son, Howie, and associate George Thimons.
Rosenberg said the supermarket prides itself for having well-stocked shelves and a friendly atmosphere.
The Lower Burrell store, a former Shop 'n Save, was purchased from Joe Ferraccio last summer.
"We hope to make it as good as Ferraccio's, and maybe even better," Rosenberg said of the Harrison store.
Rosenberg said it will retain most of the store's staff and possibly hire more.
Ferraccio said retaining the store's employees was important to him when he decided to sell the store.
"I really wanted to protect my people," he said.
He said it also was important to him that the store remain as some type of grocery store.
Ferraccio, whose family has owned the store since 1980, said he's refocusing, and it's time to move on. Ferraccio said he's going to put his efforts into building more Save-A-Lot grocery stores, along with commercial and residential development.
He owns two Save-A-Lots in the Valley. One is in the Heights Plaza in Harrison and the other along Logans Ferry Road in Lower Burrell. He said he's planning on building as many as15 stores in the Pittsburgh area, the central part of the state and in other states. He said has no immediate plans for another store in the Valley.
Ferraccio said Save-A-Lot is the fifth largest grocery chain in the country.
"Things are great, and we're just ready to move on."
