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Not hiring just yet, Super 1 Foods is fast
approaching |
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January 19, 2012 |
 Not but a couple of weeks ago, the site where
the old Lantern Tavern and the KOA campground
once stood, there was a massive back wall and
the hint of two sides ... heavy equipment and
the people to run it seeming in constant
movement.
Drive by today, and that grocery edifice has
three complete walls and the front is well
started.
The people who agreed to bring Super 1 Foods to
Bonners Ferry and the local people they hired to
build it are wasting no time ... but the
80-people who'll be needed to man the store once
it opens next summer need to exercise just a
little more patience ... Job Service can't begin
accepting applications for a few days yet.
"Super 1 Foods will contact us when they are
ready and we will put it out on the hotline,"
said Bonners Ferry Job Service Manager Dave
Darrow. "Just keep checking."
The
Idaho Business Review
published a report today that a small north
Idaho town is getting a new grocery store and
about 80 new jobs.
In November, they said, Super 1 Foods broke
ground on a 50,000 square foot grocery store
that’s scheduled to open in Bonners Ferry in
June.
IdahoBusinessReview.com reports the new store
will lower Boundary County’s unemployment rate
of 14.6 percent by two points. Here’s more from
the Business Review:
Ryan Wilson, Super 1 Store Director, said the
Bonners Ferry store will include a pharmacy as
well as a section of organic and gluten-free
products.
This will be the twelfth Super 1 Foods store
owned by the McIntire family of Hayden. Randy
McIntire, son of founder Ron McIntire, is now
running the business. He said the choice of
Bonners Ferry seemed obvious.
“We are from Idaho. We have several stores in
Idaho, and (Bonners Ferry) is the county seat,”
said Randy McIntire.
According to 2010 census data, the population of
Bonners Ferry is 2,543 people, up only 1.1
percent from the year 2000.
When complete, Super 1 will be competing with
two other grocery stores, Safeway and Akins
Harvest Foods, both located within the city
limits. But McIntire said his store is sure to
create an additional draw for people from
outside the area.
“The Canadian business is getting better and
better,” he said, adding that Super 1 will have
much larger meat and produce departments than
those of his competitors.
And because the town does not have chain stores
such as Home Depot and Staples, this Super 1
store will have an expanded hardware and school
supply section.
The unemployment rate in Boundary County is14.6
percent. These 80 jobs will lower that level by
about 2 percent, said Mike Sloan, director of
economic development for the county.
The construction of a new U.S. Border Patrol
station and a manufacturing company’s recent
purchase of land are also expected to create new
jobs.
Sloan said many people travel to Sandpoint to
shop at at Super 1, Yoke’s and Wal-Mart. If its
prices are competive, the Bonners Ferry Super 1
store will reduce the number of people leaving
Bonners Ferry to shop elsewhere, he said.
“Super 1 will need to be aggressive in the
market not just in pricing but becoming a part
of the community,” Sloan said. “There are a lot
of locals that have a bad taste in their mouth
over the high prices at Safeway and are looking
for some relief.”
To see if Bonners Ferry could support another
grocery store, McIntire used a market research
company that surveyed county residents.
“The economy is struggling in Bonners Ferry
right now but after meeting with city officials
and commissioners there, I feel there is a good
atmosphere for future growth of the town,” said
McIntire.
The building process involves more than just
constructing a building and paving a parking
lot. At a cost of about a half million dollars,
Highway 95 had to be widened. A new access road
was built, and two different water systems had
to be linked to one another.
But if the community grows over the next two
decades, McIntire said he believes they will be
able to recover some of that cost through the
Urban Renewal Agency.
The general contractor for the store is Bonners
Ferry Builders, Inc.. Wilson said that Super 1
has always tried to use local general
contractors whenever possible.
“And we’ve been very lucky to have almost all
local sub-contractors (in Bonners Ferry), “said
McIntire. “It helps get the job done a lot
quicker.”
In addition to the half million dollars spent on
preparing the infrastructure, the land was
purchased for $900,000; the cost of constructing
the building is slightly over $4 million; and
the cost of equipment in the store McIntire
estimates to be approximately $3 million.
Super 1 Foods has five Idaho stores, seven
Montana stores and four locations in Washington. |
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