Euclid residents told the city years ago that they wanted a high-quality, affordable supermarket right in their neighborhood," said Roger Sikes, program manager for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health's Creating Healthy Communities initiative.
EUCLID, Ohio -- Simon Hussain didn't want to simply open a supermarket in the Euclid Richmond Shopping Center; he wanted to open a neighborhood grocery store that would draw people now driving miles out of the city to feed their families.
On Feb. 4, when he formally welcomes customers to the grand opening of his third family-owned food market, he will find out if he succeeded.
More importantly, his store will provide an oasis of fresh food in an area that both the city and state had previously identified as a food desert -- a census tract with a poverty rate of 20 percent or higher, where residents live more than 1/2 a mile from a full-service supermarket, but may not drive.
Local and state officials believed so strongly in Simon's Supermarket that they awarded Hussain $775,000 in grants and loans to help defray his startup costs: a $250,000 grant and a $400,000 loan from the Healthy Food For Ohio Program; and a $125,000 grant from the City of Euclid's HUD-funded storefront renovation program.
Roger Sikes, program manager for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health's Creating Healthy Communities initiative, said officials are pleased with how the store turned out, as well as how responsive Hussain has been to his neighbors' suggestions. Hussain has a strong track record of listening to his customers.
"There's no store like this one, with fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and fresh meat," Hussain said on Thursday, stretching out his arms in the spacious produce aisle.
"We have all the brand names and national-name groceries. We offer what they [other stores] offer, but at very, very competitive prices," he said. Comparing himself to a nearby chain discount store, he said: "That store is run by an operator; this store is run by the owner.
"Everything is super-fresh. All the store was designed with the fresh stuff first," he said.
By that he means that the perimeter of the 27,000-square-foot store is lined with perishables: 100 feet of fruit and vegetable coolers, 64 feet of fresh meat cases, 36 feet of deli meats and prepared foods, 48 feet of packaged lunch meats, bacon, and baloney, and 84 feet of dairy cases.
Behind the "Employees Only" doors, workers are busy wrapping packages of spinach leaves, trimming pork butt into smaller portions, and logging just-arrived inventory. The floor-to-ceiling shelves are lined with paper towels, cereal and bottled water, the walk-in freezer is full of shrimp, sherbet, and frozen food, and there's another 11,000 square feet of storage space waiting to be filled downstairs.
Hussain says he keeps his costs down by not having a loyalty card program, buying larger quantities when wholesale prices drop, and eschewing weekly promotions in favor of everyday low prices.
Simon's Supermarket is Hussain's third East Side Cleveland store. In 2003, he opened Five Points Family Food store at 1010 E. 152nd St., a store now run by his younger brother.
Then five years ago, he took over the failing Church Square grocery store at 7973 Euclid Ave. near the Cleveland Clinic. "The store was closing, with almost $55,000 worth of expired groceries," he said. He tossed out the old food, repaired and remodeled the interior, and opened five months later as Simon's Supermarket. That location is now run by his nephews.
His second Simon's Supermarket in Euclid almost didn't open. "I was almost out of cash," and no banks would loan him any money without proof the store would be profitable, he said. "Without the funds from the state, we're not able to make it, it cannot be happen."
Sikes helped him apply for loans and grants for grocers moving into a food desert. "This Ward is the City of Euclid's lowest income ward, with the highest percentage of people of color and recent immigrants, and the poorest access to fresh food," Sikes said. That, combined with residents' longstanding desire for "a high-quality, affordable supermarket right in their neighborhood" helped the city, county, and state get behind the store.
In return for the Healthy Food For Ohio money, Hussain will track the next five years' worth of data on:
-- How many full- and part-time jobs he creates and retains.
-- What percentage of his store's square footage is devoted to fresh produce, and how well he maintains that share of his store.
-- Total sales, the total number of transactions, and what percentage of shoppers paid with their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits.
-- How he plans to keep the project going beyond the loan and grants he has received.
Hussain has already hired more than 40 employees, mostly people from the neighborhood, and hopes to make enough to eventually double that number.
He says he has openings for all kinds of jobs: produce managers, front-end cashiers, floor managers, shelf stockers, meat cutters, and meat managers. He interviews job seekers almost every day.
Hussain welcomed his first customers on Dec. 19 to his largest and most modern store, with brand-new freezer cases and reach-in coolers. "We want to make sure everything is working in the right condition" before streams of shoppers come in, he said. ""Simon's really made an effort to ask the community what it wants," Sikes said.
Hussain attributes some of his tenacity to his family. He came to the U.S. at age 19 from Punjab, Pakistan, with his parents, six sisters and two brothers. The middle of nine children, he earned a certificate as an automotive technician from Apex Technical School before going into the supermarket business.
Now married with four children of his own, ages 13 to 18, he says he wants all of his children to stay in school as long as possible.
Hussain used to drive past this shopping center and thought it was the perfect spot for a supermarket: surrounded by homes and apartments, close to major roads and the RTA, and behind a nice, wide parking lot.
"I always liked this location," he said. "For 2-1/2 miles, there's no other neighborhood grocery stores around." He estimates that 95 percent of his customers live in the neighborhood.
Beyond what's on the shelves, "they want customer service," Sikes said. "They want to feel welcomed and respected when they come to the store." When residents told him they needed motorized shopping carts, Hussain ordered them.
Hussain says the key to keeping his customers happy is by selling what they like to eat: Pork chops, spareribs and neck bones; mustard, turnip and collard greens; yams; chicken wings; and ground beef. He has a meat cutter on duty every day the store is open.
Hussain said he learned from Tops Markets, once Northeast Ohio's second-largest grocery chain, what can happen when retailers stop listening to their customers. "When you do the prepackaged meat, you don't have the selection and variety. They have only one size of packaged chicken wings. I have three, four, five sizes.
"If you say, 'I'm a single person,' we can repackage it. If you want to cut it, we can cut it for you," he said. "No problem. Whatever you want."