FAIRVIEW — Fairview will soon be the home of a retail grocery store its owners hope will rival the size and selection offered at major stores not just in Cullman County, but in larger markets as well. And, town officials boast, the enterprise will owe all of its success to home-grown initiative, investment and participation.

Modeled after mid-to-upscale food purveyors in major shopping destinations, the privately-financed and owned store will occupy a building left vacant after its former tenant, OECA Ozark Electronics home refurbishing and repair, permanently shut down operations August 2. The closure left 28 employees out of work. The new store is expected to employ approximately 40 people for full- and part-time positions.

The building’s new owner, Eva businessman Mike Hopper, said the new store would bear his family’s name and offer products and some extra retail niceties that, he hopes, will attract shoppers from both Fairview and more distant parts of Cullman County.

“We just felt there was a need for this, and hopefully it’ll be good for the community and us,” said Hopper. “You’ve got about a five-mile radius of nearly 9,000 people. The potential is there; the big part for us is going to be making it nice, and something that people will appreciate — to do it right. We’re wanting to offer the best meat and produce, great service to the customer and a clean, attractive facility with low overhead. And we want to listen to people in this community and respond to their wishes and input, and to give back to our community.”

The store will acquire its inventory through a relationship with Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), a Kansas City-based, retailer-owned food cooperative. AWG serves a network of 2,500 retail outlets throughout the United States. Products will come to the Fairview store from the co-op’s Nashville distribution warehouse. “They’re a huge company and can offer competitive prices,” said Hopper. “In the long run, if you buy cheaper, you pass those savings on to the customer.”

Work on the building’s exterior and interior is already underway. Hopper said the store will offer 30,000 square feet of shopping space, approximately 10,000 feet of inventory and receiving area, and ample parking on the building’s south and west sides. The town council and local legislative leaders have collaborated to fund modifications to the road infrastructure adjacent to the site on both the building’s east side and along the approach to the property along Ala. Highway 69.

While no firm date has been set for the store’s opening, Hopper said he hopes to have the market ready for customers by Spring of 2011.

Fairview Mayor Randall Shedd said the serendipitous turn of events that brought the market into town played out along a timeline that, once set in motion, was tailor-made for a smooth transition between tenants.

“One door closed; another door opened,” Shedd told a crowd of county leaders Friday at an announcement event that unfolded in front of the building while construction workers labored in the background.

“We received our real breakthrough with this project because of...The Cullman Times,” he told the crowd. “We hoped to get enough publicity about the building being available and we wanted to get the word out that our target replacement was a grocery store or supermarket...it worked.

“On Sunday night after the [newspaper] article came out, I received a call from one of our council members, Norman Dye. He said he had a name and number I needed to call...I immediately made the call. On [the following] Tuesday, I met with Mike and his wife, Jimmie Hopper and...talked for a long time about their plans and their vision for a market. Less than 30 days after we received word that OECA was closing, a deal was made between Mike and Jimmie Hopper and Ozark Electronics.”

Hopper said his family has deep business roots in rural Cullman and Morgan counties, and hopes to draw upon a knowledge of the area and the relationships they’ve cultivated to extend the success of their retail endeavors to Fairview.

“We actually built a Foodland in Eva back in ‘85 — it was my father’s — and I have a building supply store — Hopper Building Supply — right beside the Foodland there,” he said. “We have other businesses also. What we really want is to see this be successful here in this community in a way we feel we know how to do, and do well.”

Shedd agreed.

“They are committed to this community,” he said. “Mike and Jimmie will be making a substantial investment in this community and in Cullman County, and I encourage this community and this entire shopping area to support this new business — and when we do, we help ourselves with the taxes that are generated locally.”



* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.