Customers shop the frozen foods section of the Giant Eagle grocery store Saturday afternoon in Fairview Park. The store held its grand opening Jan. 18. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

Giant Eagle opens at former Tops location
By Kevin Kelley
Fairview Park
Published Jan. 24, 2007

Marcy Feldt and her daughter Breana Reed, two residents of Fairview Park, did their grocery shopping in their hometown Saturday for the first time in over a month.

The two made their first visit to the new Giant Eagle grocery store at Fairview Shopping Center on Lorain Road to shop for fresh produce, among other items.

The Tops Friendly Markets store, which had been at the location, closed Dec. 6. Ahold, the Dutch parent company of Tops, had announced its decision to divest of its Northeast Ohio Tops stores in July. Giant Eagle purchased 19 former Tops locations, including the one at Fairview Shopping Center, in the ensuing months.

Breana Reed and her mother, Marcy Feldt, pick out some peaches Saturday in the produce section of the newly opened Giant Eagle grocery store in Fairview Park. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

Fairview Shopping Center’s Giant Eagle held its grand opening Jan. 18.

While their local grocery store was closed, Feldt and Reed said they shopped at the Giant Eagle on Center Ridge Road in Rocky River.

“We basically had no other choice,” Feldt said.

Apparently others switched to that store as well; Reed told West Life she noticed it was a little busier than normal in recent weeks.

Both say the new Fairview Giant Eagle will be more convenient for them, although Feldt said she was a fan of Tops.

“I’m hoping they’re going to have a gas station sooner or later,” Reed said, referring to the GetGo gas stations owned by Giant Eagle which offer customers gas discounts based on grocery purchases through its “Fuel Perks” program. However, company spokesperson Daniel Donovan said Giant Eagle currently has no plans to place a GetGo station at Fairview Shopping Center.

In addition to returning customers, the Fairview Giant Eagle is attracting new customers like West Park residents Kristine and Nick Quint. The couple seldom shopped at the old Tops, preferring the Rocky River Giant Eagle.

“I’ve always been a Giant Eagle shopper,” Kristine said.

She’ll probably do her regular shopping at the Fairview Giant Eagle from now on, she said.

“I’m coming to check it out,” she said, adding she believes Giant Eagle’s prices were generally lower than Tops’ and that she likes the chain’s Fuel Perks program.

Another person glad to have an open grocery store at Fairview Shopping Center is Mayor Eileen Patton.

At a ribbon cutting ceremony Jan. 18, Patton welcomed Fairview Park residents back into the community for their grocery shopping needs.

“I was very concerned about the Tops store being vacant due to this being our only major grocery store in the city,” Patton told West Life. “But more importantly, I was concerned about the employees losing their jobs at the holiday season. Many of them have returned to the Giant Eagle as employees, which we were all glad to see.”

According to Giant Eagle’s Donovan, “the vast majority” of the store’s 125 employees were hired from the former Tops operation, although he said labor agreements prevented him from providing more specific details.

Patton said in December that 81 Tops employees would at least temporarily lose their jobs.

The store’s layout isn’t much different from the one Tops used, so customers should have little trouble finding items.

Giant Eagle’s corporate policy precluded any interviews with store employees. However, Donovan said the store’s produce and deli departments received new cases.

“Obviously we went in there, we restocked, re-branded and re-merchandised,” Donovan said. “We added full-service seafood and meat departments.

“So far it seems very, very well received by the community and customers alike.”

As part of the grand opening of the 57,000-square-foot store, $10 Giant Eagle gift cards were given to the first 50 customers. A sweepstakes in which customers can win free fuel for a year or $1,000 in free groceries with any Giant Eagle Advantage Card purchase will run through Feb. 14.