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From The Press of Atlantic City, compliments of Al Krigman.
Yes, we have some bananas IGA, which replaced Thriftway at
Renaissance Plaza, is set to open today
By JOHN BRAND Staff Writer, (609) 272-7275 Your eyes first will catch the produce displays when you walk into the new IGA Supermarket that opens for business today. Then, just to the left, you'll see the flags representing 15 countries and various ethnic foods commonly served in those nations stacked beneath them. It's all part of the new user-friendly supermarket at Renaissance Plaza, at the corner of Atlantic and New York avenues. "The common perception of the other store is that it didn't serve the different needs of all the people of Atlantic City," said Paul Buckley, general manager of Daunoras Family Market, which will run IGA. "We said, 'What's Atlantic City?' Atlantic City is a melting pot of many different faces." In June, Thriftway, the city's only all-purpose grocery store, closed because of economic losses and increased costs after serving the city for eight years. When Thriftway opened, it was billed as the first new grocery store to open in Atlantic City in 20 years. The new store will open at 9 a.m. today in what Buckley is calling a soft opening; a chance to give new staff on-the-job training. The store's official opening will be Friday, he said. Buckley said the store's management has hired between 80 and 100 employees, most of whom are resort residents. As far as planned changes at or around the store go, Buckley said the steel bars out front, which keep people from walking off with shopping carts, will stay. Shoppers will be able to buy small, personal shopping carts - that will fit between the bars - for $10 apiece, he said. Whether the Payless Liquor Store next to IGA will be replaced still remains an issue. City Council President Craig Callaway, who also represents the city's 3rd Ward, remains steadfast in his opinion that the liquor store must go. He says it attracts drunks and vagrants, and their presence has resulted in fights, cursing and lewd behavior. He is leaning on the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which, along with Mayor Lorenzo Langford, got IGA to turn the lights back on inside the store two months after Thriftway closed. "If the people who make the decisions in the CRDA lived in Atlantic City and had to shop in Atlantic City, and their children and parents and grandparents had to shop in Atlantic City, they would do something about it," he said. "Until the CRDA moves that liquor store they will not get cooperation from me or from City Council." Buckley said he does not think the liquor store is the problem. More security guards need to be hired and they need to strictly enforce loitering laws and keep away the unsavory characters who hang around the parking lot, he said. "The people who shop at the liquor store are just like you and me," Buckley said. "They want to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner or a case of beer for 'Monday Night Football.' No single vendor should be punished. "We will consider any plan to clean up the shopping center and end the scourge of soliciting and loitering," he said. |
