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Highly anticipated West Point Market returns in Fairlawn after yearlong hiatus

A venerable Akron grocer is reopening its doors to shoppers Thursday after a nearly yearlong absence.

The new, smaller West Point Market is now located in Fairlawn — about two miles west of its former store that has since has been razed to make room for a 365 by Whole Foods grocery.

The first phase of the new store will open to the public from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday. It is at 33 Shiawassee Ave. in Fairlawn, off West Market Street, in a plaza that once was home to a beauty school and an auto parts store.

Rick Vernon, the store’s third-generation owner, said the staff is anxious, albeit a bit nervous, to throw open the doors to shoppers.

Most of the day Wednesday, Vernon said, was spent working the “kinks” out of the cash registers and decorating the store for the holidays.

“We’ve been putting up Christmas decorations as fast as we can,” he said.

At 10,000 square feet, the store is roughly half the size of the old location. “What we have is the best of West Point,” Vernon said.

The store promises more than 50 brands will be in stock Thursday, ranging from chocolates to potato chips to paper products. Find a product list at www.westpointmarket.com. No wine yet, though; the liquor license is not expected to come through until next week.

Vernon said all the merchandise — with the exception of wine — the store plans to initially offer is now on the shelves.

But there is still more work to be done, he said, including a second phase of work to add fresh and prepared food departments, including cheeses, meats, bakery items, oven-ready foods, deli, chocolate and even ice cream.

“We are still under construction,” he said. No timetable has been set for completion of phase two.

For now, the store hours — after Thursday’s soft opening — will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily with the exception of Monday, when it will be closed.

Vernon said the store might open the Monday before Christmas.

Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.


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