Rullis plan new South Avenue store

By Denise Dick

Rullis plan new South Avenue store

Construction is expected to take between seven and eight months.

BOARDMAN — A new grocery store is expected to open on South Avenue at Maple Avenue in the coming months with a new traffic signal to facilitate travel.

Rulli Brothers, which has stores on Kirk Road, Austintown, and on South at Mathews Road, has had signs posted announcing the new location for a couple of years.

Last week, the township zoning office issued a permit for the new store placing the valuation at $3.1 million.

“The zoning department at Boardman wanted to have a traffic signal at Maple at South Avenue,” said Frank Rulli, who is also an architect at Faniro Architects, Youngstown.

The exact cost hasn’t been determined, but Rulli said estimates have run between $80,000 and $120,000.

“We needed to coordinate everything with the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office,” Rulli said.

Darren Crivelli, township zoning inspector, said that other businesses, including the Shops at Boardman Park, had to install traffic signals at their own expense when they developed their locations.

The store will have two accesses from South Avenue: one at the new light and a second on South between Beech Avenue and Mahoning Valley Hospital. If the store opens before the light is operational, that access will be restricted to right turns both in and out until the light is up and running, Crivelli said.

Rulli said that preparation started in the fall at the site but halted when the weather turned. He expects work to resume when the weather breaks.

After that, construction is expected to take between seven and eight months, he said.

“We want to let our customers know that we appreciate their patience,” Rulli said.

People coming to the other two locations often inquire about the status of the new store.

“It really is coming,” Rulli said. “Construction can be a long process. We weren’t anticipating having to install a traffic signal so we had to work through all of that, and these things take time.”

Rulli said that his father drives by the location each day to his other locations and thought it would be a good spot for a new store.

“Maple is one of only two connectors between Southern Boulevard and South Avenue,” Rulli said.

The South-Mathews store also is limited in its ability to expand. Whether that store remains open when the new store opens hasn’t been determined.

Voters last week approved a liquor option for the store, allowing beer and wine sales, which aren’t permitted at the store at Mathews.