Sharp Shopper opens Wednesday
BUTLER TWP — The Point Plaza will see new life with the grand opening of the Sharp Shopper on Wednesday.
The store will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on its first day and will feature some discounts, according to Leonard Clymer, the chain's operations manager.
“We will have a few opening specials,” Clymer said. “(But,) we kind of feel our prices are specials all the time.”
Privately owned by Dennis and Bonnie Sharp, the Ephrata, Pa.,-based Sharp Shopper is a surplus goods chain of nine stores — six in Pennsylvania and three in Virginia.
The goods on the store's shelves come from surpluses by manufacturers or other grocers who have overstocked the items.
This allows Sharp Shopper to sell the products at much cheaper costs, but it also means their stock could be inconsistent.
“We don't have everything all the time, but we do have grocery items at great prices,” Clymer said.
Some employees from other businesses in the plaza are intrigued by their new neighbor.
Anku Bhalodia, owner of 3B's Tobacco, said the building has been vacant since she took ownership of the tobacco shop more than three years ago.
She said the plaza does fairly well already and this will only help draw more interest to all of the stores.
Other employees are looking forward to checking out some of the stock for themselves.
Tiffany Carlson, a cashier at Scrapbook Super Station, said the new store could be good not only for the Butler community but the whole county. She said many people living on tight budgets could enjoy shopping at the new grocer.
“What interests me are the cheaper prices,” Carlson said. “It'll help people be able to actually live off minimum wage.”
The company received nearly 275 applications from one job fair, according to Clymer. He said it hired 90 employees and is still taking applications.
“We had a really good response from the job fair,” he said. “We have roughly half and half, full-time to part-time employees,” Clymer said.
Clymer said he feels good about the response the store will get from Butler. He said Butler County residents already traveled to the Knox location to shop.
He said he expects a busy first day, despite not having special deals.
“We pretty much open the doors, and the low prices pretty much speak for themselves,” Clymer said.
