News Photo by Steve Schulwitz The front entrance to the new Ollie’s in Alpena lists its business hours and has shopping baskets ready for customers. The store will celebrate its grand opening on Nov. 6.

ALPENA — Alpena’s latest retailer Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has announced on its website that it will celebrate the grand opening of its new store on Nov. 6.

The new store is located in the Thunder Bay Shopping Center inside the former Nieman’s Family Market.

Last week, Ollie’s hosted a three-day job fair to conduct interviews to fill the 55 or more positions needed to staff the store.

On Monday, workers were busy putting the finishing touches on the new store, and semi-trucks were delivering products to fill the shelves.

The doors will open to the public at 9 a.m. and the sales will last throughout the day. An ad with the sales for the event is posted on the Ollie’s website.

Local officials announced on April 1 that the new store was going to be opening in Alpena and contractors revamped the front of the old grocery store and prepared the interior of the building so it could be open before the holiday shopping season ramps up.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is an American discount and closeout retailer that features a selection of merchandise consisting of a variety of discounted household goods, apparel, pet supplies, kitchen supplies, and seasonal products. A majority of those items are unsold or overstocked merchandise purchased in bulk from other retailers and sold at discounted prices. Some of the overstock and discontinued items come from stores such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Kroger, and Costco.

For years, the south side of Alpena was the business hub. The Alpena Mall, Kmart, Peebles, J.C. Penny, and other retail stores lined U.S.-23, but all of them closed.

Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Director Mike Mahler said the new store will add a boost to that side of town and draw more people to it.

Mahler said after it was announced Ollie’s was opening a location in Alpena, filling the vacancy of the old grocery store was good, and adding more retail shopping options to the south side of Alpena was welcome and could help drum up more development down the road.

“Moving something like Ollie’s into that location will breathe some life into the shopping center and beyond, and it could increase interest in filling up the other vacant spaces and building around it,” Mahler said. “It is great for the community to see some life on the south side of town.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.