Store owner builds on experience to design new supermarket
Tom Jamieson says he fell in love with the grocery business as a 12-year-old working with his father, then a meat cutter in a store in the Youngstown, Ohio, area.
Jamieson has used what he's learned over the past 29 years in the design of his latest Shop 'n Save store, which opens 8 a.m. today at the Laurel Mall, on Route 119.
"We tweak it a little bit, we try to get better," Jamieson said of the process he followed in developing the 11th store owned and operated by his family company.
The 50,000-square-foot Shop 'n Save at the Laurel Mall has wide aisles and a high ceiling that accentuates what Jamieson describes as "the theater of business." He said nothing is hidden from view, and that old-fashioned banter between employees and customers is encouraged.
In addition to what his father taught him, Jamieson said he picked up as many tips as he could in caddying for store owners on the golf course. He worked his way up through every supermarket department at various stores. He was also employed by food wholesaler Super Valu in New Stanton, before becoming an independent owner of their affiliated Shop 'n Save stores in 1989.
Jamieson, and his wife of 19 years, and business partner, Debbie, opened seven Shop 'n Save supermarkets in West Virginia, Shop 'n Save stores in Fairchance and at the Cherry Tree center in South Union Township, and a Save A Lot store in North Union Township.
His work has remained centered around family. He and his wife met at a store in Ohio, where he was manager and she worked in the office. The couple's oldest daughter, Shaina, 14, helped stock shelves last week and will continue to work at the store's bakery. The Jamiesons, who live in South Union, also have a younger daughter, Taylor, 8.
The new store at Laurel Mall is larger than the Shop 'n Save in South Union Township, and more akin to the stores in West Virginia, according to Jamieson.
In addition to the wide selection of meats, produce and other groceries, Jamieson said the store boasts one of the largest fish markets in the Shop 'n Save network. Amenities at the new store will include a large deli and food takeout area, and a Pizza Buffet franchise. The store will also have a separate MEDMART pharmacy.
In addition, Jamieson is introducing a new concept interspersing dollar-store merchandise with the grocery aisles, where customers can pick up tools, utensils, or other needs at a bargain price. Jamieson said that in addition to value, the emphasis of the new store is on "one-stop" shopping convenience.
The new Shop 'n Save is located in the former Montgomery Wards store that closed last year in the wake of the retail chain's bankruptcy.
Jamieson said he had his eye on the store even before its closing because of its layout and its location midway between Connellsville and Uniontown.
He said he developed the new Shop 'n Save from scratch in about five months, faster than he's done any of his other stores. Hiring the right employees for the store was even more important than the renovation work, according to Jamieson. About 100 new workers were chosen, including a few from the old Montgomery Wards store.
Last week, an army of construction workers and stockers hurried to get the store ready for today's opening. "We're getting down to crunch time," Debbie Jamieson said.
Tom Jamieson pointed out, however, that it is the nature of the business that there's always a last-minute rush to open a store.
While the opening is scheduled for 8 a.m. today, regular store hours will be from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days per week.
The couple is also in the process of developing another Shop 'n Save in a former Fisher Big Wheel store in Waynesburg, which is scheduled to open in October. Jamieson noted that when the Waynesburg store opens, the family company will have grown to include a total of about 1,000 employees.
Jamieson said, however, that the family company would continue with its "personal touch."
