Jim Fair
Lowes Foods President Tim Lowe led dignitaries in the "Chicken Dance" a signature of the grocery store's fun theme.
Jim Fair
Workers display the Lowes Food sign at the corner of Suber and Hammett Bridge Road.
Julie McCombs
Tim Lowe, president of Lowes Foods, told the gathering at the groundbreaking, that his company represents the same family values he has found in Greer.
Julie McCombs
Mayor Rick Danner spoke eloquently of the importance of Lowes Foods coming to Greer and specifically the Riverside community.
Lowes Foods put its first stake in the upstate today across from Riverside High School at Suber and Hammett Bridge Road.
A contingent of executives and promotional staff from Lowes introduced the fun-oriented grocery store concept to a large crowd at Riverside High School that included city and business leaders. Several area farmers also attended to learn of the store’s concept of embracing local produce and products.
So happy were the people attending the ceremony they were invited to perform the chicken dance, a Lowes signature event when rotisserie chickens are brought out of the oven.
“People ask us, ‘how did you pick Greer’? We like to think of it in reverse, how did Greer pick us? ”Tim Lowe, president of Lowes, said.
“We actually came down and met with local folks in the area did some demographic visits and we really found an opportunity where we think we fit geographically,” Lowe said.
Lowes will be atypical of its new prototype, built from the ground up, with products added between now and its scheduled opening in late summer or early fall 2016. About 100 “hosts” will be employed with “casting calls” for the more “entertaining jobs”.
The store will be 45,000 square feet. A 10,000 square foot strip mall was also included in the original plans. That has not been announced.
“This is a big deal for Greer,” Mayor Rick Danner said in his welcoming. “We are a community that is progressive and enthusiastic about what we do and focus on local issues. And Lowes is exactly the same kind of organization.
“They are focused on local issues. They work with the community in a lot of different ways. They are progressive. And they are going to bring a lot to this community,” Danner said.
Lowe said, “The things we do, we want to do it with purpose. We want to give back the way the community gives to us.”
Danner said the partnership with Lowes represents Greer’s philosophy. “I think that fits with the product we have created here in Greer and I think it’s the reason that you see them on this corner right here across the street because I think they recognize that,” Danner said.
“They have fun with their employees and what a great organization to work with when you can go to work, do things you enjoy and do things differently.
Mark Owens, President/CEO of the Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce, mentioned there have been 123 housing starts this year valued at $26 million in terms of residential permits.
“It’s very much a boom factor right here in the upstate, specifically in the Greer area,” Owens said.
“We are growing here in the Greer area and it’s great to have another hundred employees working across the street,” Owens said. “It’s just another notch that’s great about Greer and why Greer is a great place to live, own a business, play and go to school.”
Reno Deaton, Executive Director of Greer Development Corporation, said, “I think there are a lot of reasons to be excited. To add a blue chip company like this to the roster of businesses in Greer is phenomenal,” he said.
“The sense that Lowes will anchor this development on this corner … if you look at the site plan as outparcels, this intersection, this part of our community, now has the opportunity to add the commercial components to really it a well functioning part of the community to live in and work in.”
“Our product is the hero,” Lowe said. “We want to make sure the product, and the people we hire are nothing but the best.”