The loss of a Delmont-area venue for moviegoers has provided a new destination for the growing numbers of residents with home improvement plans.
Shoppers at the newest Busy Beaver Building Centers store filled the 350 parking spaces at the Salem Township outlet and stretched in a line around two sides of the lot Saturday morning as they waited for the 9 a.m. grand opening.
When the building’s former occupant, AMC Theatres, announced closure of many of its movie houses, Busy Beaver quickly eyed the theater along Route 22 in June 2020 for its 25th home improvement store.
The second largest of the regional chain’s locations, the store covers 55,000 square feet, including a 10,000-square-foot mezzanine set aside for training and conferences.
With lifestyle shifts prompted by the pandemic, “a lot of dollars went from entertainment into home improvement,” said Joe Kallen of Murrysville, Busy Beaver’s CEO and president. “We were one of the industries that benefited.”
After a soft opening in March, Kallen said customer response to Saturday’s official event was “amazing. It’s probably a record crowd. We’ve opened 11 stores in eight years, and we’ve had 12 grand reopenings of the original 14 stores.”
Gift cards offered to those who were among the first in line was part of the draw Saturday.
Rita Romagnoli of Greensburg and her husband, Robert, who arrived at 7 a.m., were the 47th and 48th customers in line. Each snagged a $50 gift card.
The trip to the store was an easy one that the spouses made a few weeks earlier.
“We were doing home repairs and needed a couple of specific screws,” Rita said. “They had them, and that was awesome.”
On Saturday, she and her husband returned to shop for bargains on a new tool box and some lawn and garden items.
Amid inflation and an overall increase in retail prices, she said, “You take a deep breath and prioritize what’s important, and our home is important. I think the cost of food is more hard to swallow.”
Cindy Carasia enjoyed shopping at the Busy Beaver store in North Huntingdon when she lived in nearby Adamsburg. After moving to Jeannette, she said she welcomes the new store in Salem.
Along the Route 22 corridor from Murrysville east to the county border in Derry Township, there’s no competition from any of the national building supply chains, such as Home Depot and Lowe’s.
“We prefer this over the big box stores,” Carasia said of Busy Beaver. “At the big box stores, you can never really get help. It seems like they’re not staffed adequately.”
The Salem store employs 32 people and is looking to add up to 10 more staffers, Kallen said.
Carasia loaded her cart with 10 sacks of soil, intent on addressing the incursions of groundhogs, and said she would have bought more if her husband’s truck had been available.
Store has high-tech features
Following a partial trial at the North Huntingdon store, Busy Beaver is equipping the Salem store with high-tech features provided by Badger Technologies. That includes digital price tags and a roving robot that scans shelves to complete a nightly inventory.
That technology is helping to alleviate two problems Busy Beaver is experiencing along with many other industries.
“Prices change so quickly in this industry, and the labor shortage has been a hindrance,” Kallen said.
Busy Beaver officials have been persistent in meeting supply chain challenges, according to Michael Slobodnik, vice president of merchandising.
“We have multiple sources for (products) and we don’t go away,” he said. “We keep calling and we keep asking until we get it.”
He noted paint supplies have been affected by shortages of some chemical components as well as cans. The Salem store is stocked with between 20,000 and 30,000 products.
Store gives to non-profits
The grand opening hoopla at the Salem store, recalling the building’s previous use, included lookalikes of Hollywood icons ranging from Marilyn Monroe to Star Wars characters.
Nonprofits, community organizations and first responders that received donations included Make-A-Wish, Pennsylvania State Police Troop A, Delmont police, Forbes Road and Salem Township fire departments, Animal Friends of Westmoreland, In Stable Hands, the Delmont American Legion post, Welcome Home Shelter, Franklin Regional Athletic Association, Boy Scouts of America Troop 208 and DeStella Dance Centre.
The multi-million-dollar conversion of the former Salem movie theater began last summer and was recently completed, said Karen Mayer, digital media coordinator for Busy Beaver. One of the features that had to be removed was a false floor that raised the level of the audience seating above a concrete base.
The remnants of the shuttered multiplex have been erased, with the exception of openings near the ceiling where the projectors once showed movies. Doors for receiving products and loading up trucks have been added, as well as an opening for a garden center.
Busy Beaver expanding
With the addition of the Salem store, Busy Beaver now has 25 retail outlets in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The 60-year-old company opened the Salem center on the heels of relocating and re-opening one in East Huntingdon last year.
That was at a time when the home improvement industry market grew by 15%, to about $526 billion, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute, an Indianapolis-based research organization on the home improvement products industry.
Busy Beaver is looking to expand both eastward and westward, in select markets, Mayer said.
Kallen’s burgeoning portfolio
Kallen purchased the 8.7-acre parcel with the vacant movie theater for $2.1 million in October 2020, through his Delmont Realty Associates Inc. of Oakmont, according to filings with the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds.
In creating Delmont Realty, Kallen followed a similar pattern of creating a company in the name of the community in which a store is located, and buying the property under a corporate name separate from Busy Beaver Building Centers.
Kallen acquired the 16.9-acre Countryside Plaza in East Huntingdon in March 2021, under the name of Mt. Pleasant Realty Associates, for $8.5 million, according to filings with the Recorder of Deeds. In buying the storefront for a new Busy Beaver, Kallen purchased the entire shopping center, which has about 20 retail stores, a bank and restaurant, all of which may help drive traffic to his home building store.
The Busy Beaver store in North Huntingdon is owned by North Huntingdon Realty Associates, with the same Oakmont address as the other realty firms.
Kallen, the son of a Philadelphia area construction firm owner, took over a CEO in September 2013. He had founded a holding company for operating and realty entities and was a retail shopping center redeveloper.
The company also operates five True Value hardware stores, including ones in Moon Township and Latrobe.
"Ceo" - Google News
May 01, 2022 at 05:21AM
https://ift.tt/KozqdNv
Delmont Busy Beaver's grand opening a hit; CEO looks to expand - TribLIVE
"Ceo" - Google News
https://ift.tt/jFM1s7o
https://ift.tt/RMnk2Zz
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Delmont Busy Beaver's grand opening a hit; CEO looks to expand - TribLIVE"
Post a Comment