March 12, 2009

New ‘Label Shopper’ store open

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Store open, Grand Opening to follow

Big block letters announced the arrival of the much-anticipated new store in Granville. Once a sign for a Laundromat, the roof at the Granville Plaza now glows red and reads: Label Shopper.

“We’re happy to be open,” Label Shopper president Peter Elitzer said Wednesday. Elitzer was busy, as every member of the staff at Granville’s newest store was, wheeling boxes of merchandise into an already packed store.

Now an area resident doesn’t need to go to Glens Falls or Rutland for a pair of socks.

Racks of clothing crowd the aisles of the store and line the walls with shirts, pants, blouses and shoes.

Elitzer said the shoe inventory is limited now, but like most of the inventory in the store it will be constantly changing. March is an unusual month, he said, not yet spring and not completely winter, meaning the shelves are more densely packed as the inventory tries to bridge both seasons.

Manager Missy Downey said the plan was to always have the bargain clothing store’s racks full of inventory and continue to get some in each Monday, “but give us a few days to get it out, we’re good, but…” she said.

Store hours will be Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.

Downey said the hours allow those who work outside of the town or village or those coming to the Granville location to shop to make it to the store after work on weekdays.

At least three employees joined Elitzer and Downey in continuing to ready the store even as sales were taking place.

The much-anticipated store opened doors March 2 for a ‘soft opening’ which, she said, would be followed by a Grand opening on March 11.

Downey, who previously managed the chain’s location in Queensbury, said the opening had been “hectic, but exciting,” and she was eagerly anticipating the store being open. The soft opening allows time for training the new staff members hired for the Granville location and to “work some of the bugs out” with the set-up or the register or any other issues that arise.

Downey said the store still plans to hire “at least one or two” additional workers to add to the five already working there.

With just a few days of business at the new location, Downey said she was excited because she had already received a lot of compliments about the store, some of them from customers she used to see in Queensbury.

“We’ve had a lot of good feedback and it’s made us feel very welcome – we’re looking forward to doing a booming business here,” Downey said.