At their monthly Business After Hours event the Wellsville Chamber-of-Commerce played host to Mr. Henry Nenenz, owner of Save-A-Lot, for him to announce plans for a $2 million expansion of the Wellsville facilities. Mr. Nemenz is also a member of the Chamber. The event was held at the stately, historic house of Mrs. Pauline & the late Roy Carmichael's home on Riverside. The event was well attended with all three County Commissioners, local dignitaries, Chamber members, media and guests present.
Mr. Nemenz stated that his father started in the grocery business opening his own store in North Lima, Ohio, in 1930. From those roots he has 52 years experience in the grocery business and he and his son are owners of 17 Save-A-Lot stores from Ashtabula to Wellsville. He also owns three IGA stores in the Youngstown area. Additionally he added that the Wellsville store, on a monthly basis, is either number one or two for sales volume.
Shown here detailing plans for the new facilities, Mr. Nemenz said they will be building a new store basically in the present day parking lot. The new store will measure nearly 22,000 square feet and will be equipped with all new, energy efficient coolers, refrigerators, freezers and user friendly shelving. The parking area will be expanded from the present lot down to Mill Street. The two story block building will also be razed to accommodate additional parking and egress. Saying the old store is "tired" Mr. Nemenz said it made more sense to build new rather than trying to renovate and expand the present store. However, there are plans to use the old building once the new store opens.
Mr. Nemenz advised there will be absolutely no interruption of business with the proposed construction. Once the new building is completed and stocked they will end the grocery business in the old store at the regular closing hour on one day. The next day they will open at the regular time in the new building.
Once that is accomplished Mr. Nemenz plans to convert the old store into something that "Wellsville doesn't have now". Shown here are the plans for that. Included in those plans are a potential pharmacy, a coffee shop, deli, bakery, banquet facilities, a State Liquor Store and a restaurant/bar. In addition to these shops a deck will be built all along the back of the building over looking the scenic Ohio River for outdoor dining enjoyment. Obtaining the liquor permits is currently in progress. They presently have a carry-out license for beer and wine.
Once financing is arranged bids for the construction will be put out. From ground breaking to completion it is expected to be around 120 days. It is hoped to break ground before the end of the year. When all is completed Mr. Nemenz expects to add 35 - 40 new jobs to staff the facilities.
Praised for his innovative and progressive planning, I think Mayor Joe Surace summed it up when he told Mr. Nemenz "great things are going to happen in Wellsville and you are kicking it off". One long time observer of Mr. Nemenz told me "if Henry says he's going to do it, it'll get done". As did the Mayor, other officials present offered any assistance they could render. County Commissioner Jim Hoppel said that "although this is taking place in Wellsville it's great news for the county too".
ole nib
20 comments:
Wow, really cool.
Sounds like a great plan. Nib, did all the council members attend the after hours meeting? This is a wonderful project for the village so I'm sure they came out to support the project, Mr. Nemenz and the village of Wellsville.
I wish Henry the best of luck, but Wellsville has been a bad place to start a business.
Mr. Nemenz said that Wellsville is one his the best stores.
We wish him continued good luck and
thank him for the support of Wellsville.
Only one councilman attended the after hours.
Pretty sad, I wonder who will show if Baard comes to town??
Randy Allmon was the only councilman to attend the event and he is chamber president so was representing that organization, I assume.
Nib, one of your posters stated that Wellsville has been a bad place to start a business. I agree but I think it would be interesting to get peoples ideas about why that is.
Diliverance partially said:
"What is the deal with that house , from a historical point of view. The large columns in front resemble Roman architecture.
The plan is ambitious to say the least. There is just about everything under one roof anyone could need.
Good luck to Nemenz getting the 2 million dollar loan."
The balance of the elitist comments have been deleted.
nib
Did Mr. Nemenz elate any ideas about employing a contractor that uses a union workforce? It's great that his new establishment would bring around forty new jobs to the area once completed, but could bring a few more with the construction of it, if only for 120 days.
He did indeed. In fact Don Mace from the Bricklayers was there. He thanked Mr. Nemenz for his willingness to consider union labor stating that union workers are the best trained workers in America.
Personally speaking I think it will all boil down to what is bid. I would like to see union labor used on this project and believe they will be given favorable consideration if their bids are competitive.
nib
The name is Don Mays, FYI
My apologies to Mr. Mays.
nib
Anonymous of 7/24 - why would you say such a thing?
nib
To the commenter who posted about only one council member being present at the after-hours:
Was the other council members informed or invited to attend? Why was the big announcement made at an after-hours event and not a regular CoC meeting? Better yet, why wasn't it presented to full council and the mayor at a regular council meeting? Maybe Mr. Allmon dropped the ball?
No, the chamber had a specific reason they didn't want the announcement made at one of their functions but I'm not at liberty to mention why here. Allmon did not drop the ball.
Since Allmon used the auction that they had as a benifit to raise money for the gazebo, how much money did they make, it should be publicly announced.
The Chamber is a private organization. It is not funded by tax payer dollars. Consequently, it is no body's business how much they made at the auction, other than Chamber members. From attending the auction and seeing the overwhelming community support for this fund raising effort I would venture to say it was quite successful. Other than that it is up to the Chamber's Board of Directors to decide if they want to publicly announce anything about how much they took in. Personally I don't care. If the gazebo gets renovated I'll be happy.
Allmon is the President of the Chamber this year but there was a whole committee that worked on organizing and running the auction. As President he is the chief spokesman for the Chamber this year but there was a whole group of Chamber members that made up the auction committee. I have been told that Randy did a lot of the grunt work picking up & hauling some of the donations. He also went around placing the signs & later picking them up that advertised the auction. He did this willingly as part of the committee.
nib
The President of the Wellsville Area Chamber of Commerce "Randy Allmon" is doing a remarkable job. The facts are under his leadership the Chamber membership has grown at least 20%, and for the first time Wellsville has its very own brochure. Plus a successful auction to raise funds for the repair of the Gazebo. He has the support of the Chamber Members, Officers and Board of Directors.
Oh, do the other council members attend the Chamber luncheons?
The answer is no.
It would have made no difference whether the Press Release was done at a "BAH" or luncheon. It is always Mayor Surace and Councilman Allmon representing the Village at functions throughout the County.
Henry Nemenz press release was not decided by Mr. Allmon. We should be happy we have another investor in the Wellsville Area. We are looking forward to Mr. Nemenz plans becoming a reality and creating jobs. We wish all involved continued success.
Response to "Me said", Allmon was introduced by Moderator Ed Bauer as Councilman Allmon. He was not introduced as Chamber President.
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