![\"Date](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/web-MAIN-Grocery.jpg\")
Chris says it was an easy decision to make, but one that took a lot more work than they\u2019d anticipated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we\u2019d applied and been selected as candidates, we had to move to Los Angeles for more than seven months of very thorough training in how to operate such a store. Grocery Outlet had several possible openings, and we were very lucky to get this one, because the kids and grandkids are here. We now live less than half a mile from the store location, so that worked out even better.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Grocery Outlet\u2019s website, the company invests a lot into their independent operators and provides them \u201cwith the potential to earn significantly more than a typical store manager at a grocery chain, while sparing them from the millions of investment dollars it would take to build or refurbish a retail location and purchase inventory for their own store.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grocery Outlet, which is headquartered in Berkeley, California, is a little different from standard grocery operations. You\u2019ll find a complete selection of every kind of food you\u2019d want, but it might not be the precise brand you\u2019re used to finding. You might be used to, say, Best Foods mayonnaise, while, for this quarter at least, Grocery Outlet might be carrying Hellmann\u2019s. In the next quarter of the year, Best Foods might be back.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrocery Outlet stocks its stores by being huge in the market of surplus inventory that can be bought from others and immediately made available to its store owners. We get it cheap, so we can offer much lower prices than you\u2019d find at other area markets,\u201d said Holbrook.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll offer at least as many options as the other stores do. Fresh produce, meat, deli, dairy, packaged foods and everything else you could ask for. Some of the brands might not be familiar, but the quality will be just as good as the well-known name brands.<\/p>\n
The Holbrooks think you\u2019ll be agreeably surprised by the store once you see it in operation. It\u2019s not a corner niche somewhere \u2014 this is a big store, if not quite as big as the old Albertsons was.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the building will be shared by another operation \u2014 a smaller Dollar Tree store is being built inside the northern part of the overall structure. Dollar Tree is apparently not so far along as Grocery Outlet. It appears they may be several more weeks away from opening. It\u2019s almost impossible to get hold of anyone at the Virginia-based Dollar Tree, so we don\u2019t know what the progress is there.<\/p>\n
The Holbrooks don\u2019t know much about it either, but they think it\u2019ll probably work out.<\/p>\n
Chris and Gay hope there\u2019ll be a big crowd for the Grocery Outlet grand opening on Thursday morning, Aug. 3.<\/p>\n
They think the people will like what they see.<\/p>\n