Mike Faher
mfaher@tribdem.com
JOHNSTOWN —
When Upper Yoder Township’s Giant Eagle store closes tonight, a new owner will take over.
After operating the grocery at
344 Goucher St. for six years, the Hathaway family has sold the business to the Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle. The store will continue to operate but will function as a “corporately owned location.”
Shoppers may notice some changes after the transition, but nothing will be drastically different, administrators said.
“Overall, our Goucher Street customers will still find the vast majority of products and services that they have come to expect from their local Giant Eagle,” company spokesman Victor Kimmel said.
No purchase price was disclosed.
Giant Eagle in a press release said Hathaway family members “decided to sell the retail business and transfer the operations of their store” to the grocery chain.
The family had run the store as an independent operator under the Giant Eagle company name.
“We greatly enjoyed the years we spent serving our customers and thank them for their patronage,” John Hathaway said in a statement released by the company.
Kimmel said every Giant Eagle store “experiences changes in product rotation on an ongoing basis.”
“Regarding our corporately owned Goucher Street Giant Eagle, we will deliver a mix of nationally, regionally and locally sourced products and services,” Kimmel said.
“For instance, we will continue to carry products from Galliker's Dairy, and we will also introduce some Giant Eagle-branded dairy products.”
The ownership change apparently will not affect ongoing talks regarding the possible construction of a GetGo gas station on the store’s Goucher Street property.
“We continue to evaluate opportunities to increase our GetGo footprint,” Kimmel said.
“We also continue to look for opportunities throughout Johnstown, including on site at this Giant Eagle property.”
The GetGo concept has been a hit with shoppers, who earn gasoline discounts based on their grocery spending at Giant Eagle stores.
There is a GetGo at Giant Eagle’s Scalp Avenue store in Richland Township.
In March, the company obtained approval for a Goucher Street GetGo from Upper Yoder Township’s zoning-hearing board.
But some issues remain. Ken Mesko, the township’s engineer, said Giant Eagle’s GetGo plans still require a recommendation from Upper Yoder’s planning commission as well as approval from township supervisors.
“It is still in the process,” Mesko said.
“They’re working on a traffic study.”
