TRUSSVILLE, AL- Robbie Norman has had his eye on the Trussville area for quite a while. Stopping in town three years ago in route to a family vacation, Norman took his children to the go-cart track located on Waterson Parkway.
“I pointed out the Food World and asked my children what they thought of having a store here,” Norman said. “It’s taken a while, but here we are.”
The Fresh Value Marketplace is undergoing an extensive rebuild at the site of the former Food World on Main Street in Trussville. Norman and Melvin Smith of Associated Grocers said there will be no remnants of the former tenant when construction is complete and the new business opens to the public.
The store will feature a cost plus 10 percent concept that Baker says will represent big savings for shoppers.
“Many supermarkets today have established their pricing programs to disguise their twenty, thirty, or forty percent mark up of prices above their original cost of merchandise,” Baker said. “Featured advertised prices try to hide the high mark ups on all merchandise except the advertised items.”
Baker said the advertised items only make up a small percentage of the total inventory
“It’s not unusual for supermarkets to carry more than 10,000 different food items,” Baker said. “Printed advertisements rarely carry one percent of the items on the grocer’s shelf. If your image of a supermarket’s low price is based on what you see in their ads, then 99 percent of the items on their shelves are priced well above the 10 percent mark up level. Because of other stores pricing policies, value minded customers will appreciate the simple, truthful idea of our cost plus 10 percent on every single item in the store.”
The price of items on the shelf will reflect the store’s cost on any given item, including freight and fees or other associated cost. The 10 percent mark up will take place at the cash register.
Baker said there will also be special purchase items available for a limited time.
“Robbie is really good at searching out and finding great buys on different items,” Baker said. “We’ll bring those products in and pass on the savings to customers, but when they’re gone, they’re gone.”
The grocery store will offer a full lineup of brand names and also carry store brands under the Shurefine and Shurefresh labels.
Norman said the meat and produce departments are a source of pride for his stores.
“We’ll carry all grades of meat, but only American meat,” Norman said. “Nothing from Mexico or anywhere else. Our butchers will be able to cut meat the the customer’s order.”
The Fresh Value Marketplace plans to open later this year.
