Workers prepare for end of Marietta Food 4 Less
MARIETTA — When Marietta resident Gary Wells, 64, graduated from high school he knew more schooling wasn’t for him.
“It was time to work. School wasn’t really my thing but my parents taught me to work hard and do right,” said Wells.
He spent the next 46 years and 11 months working as a grocer in the meat department at Foodland, Warren’s IGA and most recently, Food 4 Less.
“My uncle was a meat cutter and there was an opening in the meat department for cleaning and making the ground beef and things,” said Wells. “Then when the Newport IGA opened and my supervisor went to work up there I got to learn to cut the meat.”
His first 20 years working, Wells said he only ever took two days off sick.
“Most of the people I worked with and worked for were really good people,” he said. “It was more than just a paycheck.”
Now as Food 4 Less and the Newport IGA are closing, Wells is stepping into semi-retirement.
“I don’t really see it as retirement, I’ll just be working a little less but now over at Warren’s IGA,” he said.
Other employees of the Marietta store are looking for jobs in nearby businesses and some of those businesses are stepping up to make sure those losing their jobs don’t stay unemployed.
“All the local grocers are looking for quality people,” said Bucky Lee, co-owner of Food 4 Less and owner of Newport’s IGA. “Foodland and Giant Eagle are trying to help us place our people and we’ve had auto sales and other retail stores call looking for people.”
Lee said he’s kept applications for other local businesses in the Food 4 Less office and between the two stores hopes to find training or positions for all 50 employees.
“Some are changing professions, some are even taking a little vacation between returning to work, but the whole community has really reached out, looking out for our people,” he said.
Tony Huffman, adult technical training director at the Washington County Career Center, said he reached out to Kin Brewer, chief financial officer and co-owner of Food 4 Less, about retraining some of the laid-off employees.
“I shared some information with him about programs we have and the people we have to help work out funding for retraining,” said Huffman. “We have several programs beginning July 3 including instrumentation and electricity, chemical technology, medical assistant, medical billing specialist, pharmacy technician, welding and building technology.”
Also a new program coming in either August or September would allow for job seekers to be trained in the highest demand industry not only locally but nationwide.
“We’ll be starting our CDL/Truck Driver program which will be a five-week course,” said Huffman.
He suggested that those with customer service experience on the front-end of grocery stores like Food 4 Less and the Newport IGA sign up for training as a medical billing specialist, while those with warehouse experience could translate their skills into construction and industrial programs.
Before an auction removes the coolers, racking, front-end structures and carts on June 14 from the Newport IGA and June 15 from Food 4 Less, additional markdowns and a 25 percent reduction off total purchase price will hopefully clear the store’s shelves.
“We’d like to liquidate as much of what’s in stock as possible,” said Brewer. “It gives the consumers a fantastic value. I was even in there grabbing up some items before they’re gone.”
Still stocked with cleaning supplies, paper goods, some freezer items and meats and plenty of canned and bulk foods, people can stop in to not only add to their food storage, but also grab memorabilia with store shirts also on sale near the checkout counters.
Food 4 Less opened on Dec. 28, 1993, after Lee and Brewer purchased a little more than four acres in Marietta. Construction began in late 1992 after the front two acres were purchased from Apex True Value and the back two acres were purchased from the City of Marietta.