Surplus grocery store helps customers save in Dorset

By CARL E. FEATHER - Staff Writer - cfeather@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

May 21, 2009 06:30 pm

— DORSET — It was just like old times for grocery-store veteran Mary Oliver.
On Wednesday afternoon, she was ringing up groceries, chatting with customers and processing credit cards just like she had done for the decades prior to her retirement 17 months ago.
Even the location of her work was the same: The corner of Mells Road and Route 193 in Dorset, the little gas station-convenience store her husband, Gordon, started back in 1972.
This time, however, Mary and Gordon Oliver own only the real estate. The grocery business, T&M Surplus, belongs to their daughter Shannon Edelman and her husband, Brian.
Wednesday was opening day for their new business, which for now is focused solely on groceries. Although there was only word-of-mouth advertising prior to the opening, the store’s cash register rang up sales for nearly four dozen customers by 3 p.m.
“At 9:05, there was a guy knocking at the door,” Shannon said. “I had to take the plastic off the door as he was coming in with his wife.”
The customer was an Amish neighbor, a population the Edelmans hope to serve with the convenience of their new store. There is a convenience store-pizza shop across the highway from T&M otherwise, residents have a nine-mile drive to the nearest grocery store.
The Edelmans want to make both grocery shopping more convenient for their neighbors and save them money. The store sells mostly surplus and slightly out-of-date groceries at deep discounts, as much as 50 percent off what big-box grocery stores charge. One satisfied customer paid only $56 for the groceries that filled two banana boxes.
Brian, a New Lyme trustee whose full-time job is firefighter with the city of Mentor, said they started shopping at surplus grocery stores about a year ago. They were sold on the concept and began talking about opening their own store. They did their research and, with the assistance of local surplus-store owners, found sources of products.
Finding a location for the store wasn’t a problem. Gordon and Mary closed their Oliver’s store-gas station in January 2008 as a result of skyrocketing gas prices and Gordon’s health. The business property was for sale, and while they had interested parties, the credit crunch kept prospects from getting financing.
Two months ago, the Edelmans made the commitment to go into business.
“It’s in my blood,” said Shannon, who spent much of her childhood and adolescence at the store.
“Mom worked in a grocery store, and dad owned this gas station for more than 30 years, so it must be in our blood.”
Mary said she used to take her daughter to the store at night so she could see her father, who also ran a wrecker business from the location. Mary is assisting her daughter and son-in-law in their new venture, as is Gordon.
“My dad and I were very depressed for a while (after the store closed),” Shannon said. “But now we’re happy. It makes us feel good that we were able to open this.”
An X-ray technician, Shannon is not quitting her day job, and neither is Brian. As was the case with Shannon’s childhood, Miley, 2, and Taylor, 12, will be pulling duty at the store. The girls even loaned their initials to the store’s name.
“Brian and Shannon would have been ‘B&S’ or ‘S&B,” and I said no,” Shannon said. “(T&M) flows better.”
The store will hold its grand opening today and Saturday with two-for-one specials and treats for the youngsters. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The store is closed Sunday through Tuesday.

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