ALCO opens its doors in Grants

ALCO managers Victoria Reidell, left, and Ruby Pena hand "shopping cart bingo" prizes out to customers during the grand opening of the store on 700 E. Roosevelt Ave. in Grants on Tuesday. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — The ALCO store had its grand opening Tuesday and the parking lot at La Mesa Mall was filled with cars.

Store Manager Sandra Stewart, a former Grants resident who came back to Grants from an ALCO in Holbrook, Ariz., had just two words about the grand opening: "It's fantastic."

The ALCO Store took up residence in the old TG&Y building at La Mesa Mall. ALCO used to part of the Grants business landscape until the company made the decision to move out of Grants in 1999.

"I am ecstatic to be back in Grants," Stewart said.

From the moment ALCO opened its doors Tuesday and all day long, the store was a mass of wall-to-wall shoppers trying to pick up grand opening bargains. "We are swamped," Stewart said.

When ALCO began the hiring process last month, the company brought in Stewart and staff from the company headquarters in Abilene, Kan., to do the interviewing at the New Mexico Department of Labor, 210 E. Santa Fe Ave., Grants.

At the time ALCO District Manager Jack Neiman said about 30 employees would be hired.

When the doors opened Tuesday for the grand opening, about 40 employees were at work and each of them had gone through an in-house training period.

Stewart said the reaction to ALCO has been positive. "Our public is excited about us," Stewart said.

ALCO is a full-line general merchandise discount store. It carries such items as food, clothing, jewelry, shoes, beauty aids, non-prescription medicines, toys, pet supplies, automotive supplies, sporting goods, shades, crafts, curtains, housewares, glassware, stereos, television sets, plants and a wealth of other goods.

ALCO is part of the Duckwall-ALCO Stores, Inc. chain of 186 ALCO stores and 80 Duckwall variety stores. The 104-year-old company has stores in 21 states in the West and Midwest.