JOHNSTOWN —
There’s a standard deli, meat cooler and frozen-food section.
But, near the front of the new Valu King store in Johnstown’s Westwood Plaza, there also are fortress-like stacks of Niagara bottled water and DelGrosso pasta sauce.
“It was such a great buy, we said, ‘Let’s buy a truckload of it, and let’s bring it here,’ ” Valu King Senior Vice President John Tedesco said, motioning toward the tomato sauce offered at $1 per jar.
Beyond the expected grocery-store fare, Valu King’s large, stacked quantities of name-brand products best illustrate the chain’s strategy: Take advantage of a big, relatively inexpensive purchase and then sell at a discount.
Valu King is owned by Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle Inc.
And the discount company’s bottom-line philosophy is spelled out in its slogan: “Where food costs less.”
In advance of the Westwood store’s grand opening celebration at 10 a.m. today, Tedesco walked the former BiLo market’s wide aisles, examining products and chatting with customers.
Company executives make no apologies for not being a “one-stop shop” in the vein of a Walmart store.
In fact, Tedesco started a tour Wednesday morning by declaring what Valu King is not: There are no health and beauty products and few offerings for pets.
There also is no guarantee that certain name brands will be available from week to week.
“We might not have Tide every time you’re in the store,” Tedesco said. “But we will have an offering of laundry detergents that meet your needs.”
Discount brands such as Food Club and Valu Time will be staples at the store.
The availability of national brands – for example, Heinz ketchup – will depend on whether Valu King can get a deal from the manufacturer.
For instance, there was a large stock of Kraft macaroni and cheese available Wednesday. But there were no Kraft cheeses.
“We can’t buy Kraft cheeses at the price we need to get to,” Tedesco said.
“We’re working on it.”
The Valu King chain also has cut costs in other ways.
At checkout, boxes are available for free.
But customers should bring their own bags and should expect to bag their merchandise, though there are Valu King plastic bags available for
5 cents.
At the same time, Valu King administrators say they’re offering a few amenities not found at some deep-discount retailers.
Meat is cut and processed in each store. And there is a full-service deli, a feature that the Valu King chain added four or five months ago.
“We listened to what our customers told us,” Tedesco said.
The Westwood store – which will compete locally with other discount chains such as ALDI and Save-A-Lot – is the fifth Valu King and the first in Pennsylvania.
Four other stores, the first of which opened in November 2008, are in Ohio.
Tedesco sees the company’s Pennsylvania presence increasing in the near future.
“We are looking to expand,” he said.
“Our intention is to go into Erie next.”
Local News
Related Photos
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Jen Buck of Richland Township shops with her 15-month-old son, Drake, in the produce section of Valu King on Wednesday at the former BiLo site in Westwood Plaza. John Rucosky
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