Ocean State Job Lots store set for Thursday opening in Saugus

SAUGUS – What was once a sprawling Shaw’s supermarket on the Lynn Fells Parkway will be reborn Thursday as an Ocean State Job Lot store, a deep-discount shopping center offering stockpiles of discontinued or surplus merchandise.Although the store’s signs haven’t been affixed to the building yet, the shelves are stocked and a ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned, said David Sarlitto, head of the privately held company’s marketing department.Sarlitto said the Rhode Island-based company was attracted to the site at 400 Lynn Fells Parkway for several reasons – the motor vehicle traffic along Route 1; the existence of an abutting Target department store; its proximity to the next-nearest Job Lots stores in Medford (eight miles away); the mammoth size of the former Shaw’s at 54,000 square feet, making it among the biggest of the Job Lots and the availability of potential employees.”We have over 100 stores, but this one is different because it’s so big,” said Sarlitto. “Our stores range in size from small at 19,000 square feet to the low 50,000, so this one is definitely on the big side.”The Target department store could also provide a customer draw, he said, explaining the shopper profile is similar.”If these customers find something in one store, they’re likely to come into our store for something else,” he said.Asked if having two other Job Lots within an eight-mile radius isn’t too heavily saturated, Sarlitto said, “It seems close, but it isn’t. We have opened stores in the past few years much closer than that. Providence and Cranston are only a few miles apart, but both are doing very well. There was concern one would cannibalize the sales of the other, but that’s not what we are finding.”The Saugus store is expected to create 40-50 jobs, he said, adding, “Steve Delaney will be the store’s general manager, but we like our employees to be local. In fact, when we did our call for help, our HR (human resources) people were impressed by the quality of the folks who came in for interviews.”Although Ocean State Job Lots are discount stores, Sarlitto said the stores attract a wide range of customers.”People think closeouts attract a certain kind of person. But you’ll find Mercedes and BMWs parked next to 15-year-old Toyotas in the parking lot. You’ll see college students shopping alongside senior citizens who are trying to stretch their food budget,” he said.Regular shoppers soon learn that the shelves are stocked with whatever the company was able to purchase cheaply and sell for a profit. At any given time, 80 percent of the merchandise came from closeouts, Sarlitto said.”Big companies like Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson frequently change their product packaging, or change the size. They clean out their retailers and then sell off what’s left over in large amounts,” he said. “When people ask who is our competitor, I have trouble answering them. Right now we are selling $600 Coleman kayaks for less than $200. We have olive oil that retails for $18 selling for $6, and Godiva chocolate bars for a buck that sell elsewhere for $4. It’s all about value.”The Job Lots sell food, clothing, household goods, toys, sporting equipment and just about anything else that can be obtained in volume at rock-bottom prices.Ocean State Job Lots does $500 million in sales annually. It is the brainchild of Marc Perlman and his business partners, brother Alan, and the now-retired Roy Dubs, who began reselling goods bought at bankruptcy auctions.At first, they sold the merchandise at flea markets. By 1977, they had opened the first store in North Kingstown, R.I., where the company headquarters remains.The Medford store, opened last November, was special because it marked the company’s 100th retail outlet, said Perlman, the chief executive officer. The early stores were small and basic because the company lacked capital. That has changed, he said, with far larger stores with neat, well-lighted interiors.