SOUTH SIDE Sparkle Market plans to close

Community leaders said they'll keep trying to find a grocery to occupy the spot.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Demographics, the nature of the grocery business and a culture of desperation on the South Side all play into the demise of a supermarket.
The Sparkle Market at Market Street and Midlothian Boulevard is closing less than a year after it opened, another setback at the struggling corner.
"It's horribly sad," said the Rev. Edward P. Noga, pastor at St. Patrick Church. He also is president of the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods. The faith-based coalition has pushed for a grocery store at the location.
City and religious leaders persuaded Phar-Mor to open a store with grocery items there in 2000. The chain went bankrupt in 2002, however.
Father Noga, Mayor George M. McKelvey and councilman Clarence Boles, D-6th, all said they will just keep trying to find a grocery to occupy the spot.
Vince Furrie Jr., Michael Furrie and Joe Vitullo, who own other Sparkles in the area, opened the full-service grocery in November. In March, however, the store was said to be in trouble because of low sales.
Closing date
Vince Furrie Jr. said Monday the store would close Saturday.
The store's per-transaction receipts were much lower that other Sparkle locations, Furrie Jr. said. That's one reason Giant Eagle gave when it closed a store there in 1998, too.
"There just wasn't enough traffic," Furrie Jr. said.
McKelvey said he doesn't fault the owners. They made a sincere investment but have lost a lot of money, he said. They can't be expected to lose money indefinitely, he added.
"I couldn't have higher praise. They're outstanding people," McKelvey said. "They did more than they said they'd do."
Rev. Lewis Macklin III, pastor at Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, said the store provided quality service, staffing and food.
"They really were trying to provide a good service," he said.
The school board approved a 25-percent tax abatement in June, in addition to the 75-percent break council had granted, said M. Mike McNair, district spokesman. Even the 100-percent abatement, however, wouldn't have been enough to offset the owners' losses, city officials said.
Factors
The neighborhood doesn't have enough large families that would do all their shopping there and help sustain a store like Sparkle, Boles said.
Many neighborhood households are small, such as single, elderly people, he said. Thin profit margins in the grocery industry mean volume is important for survival, he said.
The large number of desperately poor residents in the neighborhood also is a factor, Boles said.
Some neighborhood residents fail to support stores such as Sparkle in favor of smaller, higher-priced convenience stores and small groceries, he said. Such stores are within walking distance and some, illegally, allow customers to do things like buy just a few cigarettes or other items instead of whole packages, Boles said.
Complaints about such practices were a topic at a recent Youngstown 2010 meeting in the area.
Such circumstances make it hard for legitimate stores to compete, Boles said. "That culture plays into the closure of places like Sparkle," the councilman added.
rgsmith@vindy.com