Super 1 breaks ground in Bonners Ferry

BONNERS FERRY - Excitement, smiles and handshakes warmed up the frosty air at the Super 1 Foods groundbreaking ceremony in Bonners Ferry Wednesday.

About 50 people including city officials, Super 1 Foods owners and representatives, Bonners Ferry Urban Renewal Agency, Idaho Department of Labor, Chamber of Commerce, URM Food distributors, general contractor and community members attended.

The 49,000-square-foot full service supermarket will sit on 5 acres at 6452 Main St. across from the Conoco.

The store will have a bakery, deli, seafood and a large natural/organic foods department.

Idaho Department of Labor manager Dave Darrow said they will be taking applications to fill 90 positions at the store in January.

"We have already had people call and stop by the office to see how to apply for a position," Darrow said. "The applications won't be available until after the first of the year, but this is great news for Boundary County."

Ryan Wilson, Super 1 store director, said the Bonners Ferry Super 1 store will be owned and operated by the McIntire family which is based in Hayden.

There are 12 Super 1 stores with five in North Idaho. Super 1 in Bonners Ferry will be the sixth Super 1 in North Idaho. The McIntires have owned and operated stores in North Idaho since 1970 and also own several Super 1 stores in Montana.

"This store will be almost exactly like Sandpoint's store," said Wilson.

Wilson said the hope is that the store will be completed by early summer 2012.

Father and son Ron and Randy McIntire are owners of Super 1 and were in attendance for the groundbreaking.

"We look forward to being Bonners Ferry's hometown grocer providing excellent value on a wide variety of quality products combined with exceptional customer care," said Ron McIntire. "We are also pleased to work with local contractors and suppliers to support the local economy."

City of Bonners Ferry officials are excited for the Super 1 to open as well.

"The city of Bonners Ferry welcomes the Super 1 Foods store to our community," said Stephen Boorman, city administrator.

"We are excited about this opportunity for a long-term relationship with the McIntire family who have been good citizens of other Idaho communities for many years."

Veterinarian Jerry Lewis co-owned the property with Tony Villelli of Bonners Ferry and sold it to Super 1 Foods. Lewis also recently expanded Pend Oreille Vet Clinic and opened an office in Bonners Ferry.

Lewis is very excited to have been a part of bringing this project to the community. He said this is how free enterprise should work.

The store will not only employ 90 citizens, but the McIntires chose local general contractor Bonners Ferry Builders to build the store.

The Wedel family owns Bonners Ferry Builders, Inc. and have been in business for 50 years in Bonners Ferry.

"You couldn't find a better contractor to build this store, these guys are wonderful, it is very exciting," Lewis said.

Denny Wedel said they are very pleased that their bid was chosen for the build.

"We have kept pretty busy over the summer but not a lot of projects going for the winter, so this is the frosting on the cake," Wedel said.

They will sub-contract out to as many local businesses as possible and of the sub-contract out of town, Wedel said they would ask that the companies hire local labor.

Mike Winger of URM thanked land owners Lewis and Villelli for pulling the rope for the past year and a half to get the project under way.

"The city stepped up and did a fantastic job and had a fantastic attitude moving the project along," Winger said. "This will be a first-class store and a huge investment into the community of Bonners Ferry."

City officials said the hard work of the Bonners ferry Urban Renewal Agency helped facilitate this project.

The URD board is made up of Mike Klaus, Mike Sloan, Cal Russell, Dave Walter and Jim Greenslit.

"We greatly appreciate their work toward improving the economic vitality of our community."