Ocean State Job Lot at
297 Great Road in the Great Road Shopping Center opened on October 1st. This is the previous location of Staples.
I recently spoke with David Sarlitto, the Head of Marketing. According to David, the Bedford store is the 118th Ocean State Job Store across eight states and is one of
47 in Massachusetts. David mentioned that they have the most number of stores in Massachusetts. He thinks this is due to the frugal New England mindset.
The Bedford store at around 20,000 square feet is smaller than the typical Ocean State Job Lot which averages 35K to 40K square feet. David mentioned they have been looking at opening a store in Bedford for quite some time. In fact, they looked at opening a store in the same shopping center about 15 years ago but back then, their stores were smaller and the space available for lease was actually larger than their average store size at that time.
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The store offers a wide range of name brand products at discount prices |
According to David, Ocean State Job Lot is an opportunistic company that takes advantage of manufacturers' closeout and overstock items so the available merchandise changes over time. David referred to it as adventure shopping in that you never know what you are going to find but you will get a good deal. He advises to buy it when you see it.
An Ocean State Job Lot store normally stocks about 4,000 different items. The merchandise varies from clothing to food to carpeting to pet supplies to outdoor items to electronics and more.
Along with their focus on low prices, David mentioned that Ocean State Job Lot spends a lot of effort on getting involved in the local community which has become deeply ingrained in the culture of the company. So rather than first open their doors and then start thinking about community philanthropy, Ocean State Job Lot is proactive about getting involved. Before opening the store in Bedford, they met with both town officials and community leaders to determine where help was needed most and tailored their community programs to meet those needs. For example, they have already donated food to the
Bedford Community Table and Food Pantry.
Ocean State Job Lot also gets involved on a national level such as being a sponsor for
The Honor Flight Network which flies World War II veterans to Washington DC to visit memorials built to honor their service to the nation.
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The merchandise changes over time. In one month many of these items will be replaced by new ones. |
The store currently employs about 30 people and is open from 8am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and from 9am to 8pm on Sundays. It's expected the store will have extended hours in December.
Comments:
While some have compared Ocean State Job Lot to a dollar store or Building 19, they seems to be closer to the formula that the
TJX Company (i.e. Marshall's, Home Goods, TJ Maxx) uses in that they mostly deal directly with brands not with liquidators. Unlike TJX, Ocean State job lot offers a much wider area of merchandise so they tend to compete more directly with supermarkets, department stores and speciality retailers.
Their model to get very involved in the community seems to be a smart business move.