By Paul Post
A crowd of well-wishers braved freezing temperatures recently for a ribbon cutting ceremony welcoming Queensbury’s newest retailer to town.
An Ocean State Job Lot store, at Glen Square on Upper Glen Street, is the Rhode Island-based company’s 153rd location in a territory that encompasses all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
It’s also the retail chain’s northernmost site in New York, joining three other Capital Region stores in Ballston Spa, Clifton Park and Schenectady.
“This is great!” customer Jim Northrup said. “It’s good to have a place like this instead of people doing all their shopping on Amazon. It contributes to the tax base.”
The 30,000-square-foot space, adjacent to Uncommon Grounds coffee shop, was previously occupied by Big Lots.
Ocean State’s motto is “Brand name merchandise at closeout prices.”
Shoppers find an ever-changing array of merchandise including grocery items, garden tools, outdoor furniture, household goods, pet supplies and seasonal lines from Christmas ornaments to beach wares, at highly competitive pricing.
“Prices here are very reasonable,” said Darleena Ball of Moreau. “I found a suitcase for $40. Gain laundry detergent is $24 over at Hannaford; $15.99 here. So that was a good deal.”
She and her husband also enjoyed free coffee and donuts courtesy of Dunkin, to help celebrate the grand opening.
The new outlet has created jobs for almost 50 people, led by Bill Mapes, who is managing a store for the first time. He’s been with the company for three-and-a-half years, most recently at its Ballston Spa site on Doubleday Avenue (Route 50).
“We offer great value to customers, great deals,” he said. “You never really know what you’re going to get.”
Ocean State Regional Director James Hines calls it “adventure shopping.”
“When you walk in you don’t necessarily know what you’re going to find,” he said. “We’re a closeout retailer. Our core merchandise remains the same, but we get a lot of good buys, so a lot of things change. When you come in, you never know what you’re going to see or what you might need. You might come in for one thing and end up filling a cart with 10 others.”
Queensbury officials are especially pleased about Ocean State’s presence as another generator of sales tax revenue, which totaled more than $12 million last year, comprising roughly 46 percent of the town’s revenue for General Fund operations.
But such positive news is tempered by the recent announcement that a highly popular Joann Fabric and Crafts store, directly across the street, is scheduled for closure. The Ohio-based company is going out of business and closing 800 stores including others in Clifton Park and Colonie.
Many of the nation’s largest retailers have been greatly impacted by the rapid growth of online shopping, especially since the COVID pandemic that encouraged such trends.
JCPenney, for example, agreed to close nearly one-third of its stores after filing for bankruptcy protection during the pandemic. Its store at Aviation Mall in Queensbury isn’t affected, but plans call for closing eight other locations across the country this year from California to New Hampshire.
Barring unexpected developments, the management consulting firm Bain & Company projects nominal U.S. retail sales will rise 4 percent in 2025, “a strong outlook given a stagnant consumer outlook” and other negative factors such as diminishing consumer savings, potential trade disruptions and rising credit card delinquencies.
Ocean State District Manager Patrick Bridgett said the retail industry’s economic climate is “challenging in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of difficulties out there.”
But Ocean State’s discount pricing, similar to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet at Aviation Mall, “makes it a positive environment for us,” he said. “It allows us to do what we do best, offer name-brand items at a reasonable price. We’ve got some pretty high-end items here that we get from other retailers that have canceled orders. It’s a pretty robust environment right now to buy what we buy.”