When shoppers stop at the Sparkle Market stores in northern Trumbull County, they will notice new signage after store ownership joined the Golden Dawn supermarket chain.
The sign unveiling took place Thursday at both locations —169 S. High St., Cortland, and 5634 Mahoning Ave., Champion.
Co-owners Chris Klingemier and Michael Rice said the stores now operate under the Golden Dawn nameplate.
Rice said the change will allow the stores to obtain better pricing and greater buying power from more than one supply warehouse.
Klingemier said the Champion store has been at the same location for 140 years and will continue to operate with the same store hours and employees at both locations. The Sparkle name came to the Champion store in the 1960s.
Rice said the original location of the Champion store is not far from where the current store is located.
Rice said the Cortland location was added in the early 1980s.
“We are all independently owned. Chris and I own the two store locations,” Rice said.
He said the change allows the stores to go back to their roots when they were previously Golden Dawn stores in the 1950s.
“This is not the first time the Klingemier family had a Golden Dawn store. We are going back to our roots and having the ability to go back to buying from multiple suppliers and work on our retails moving forward,” Rice said.
Rice said the two stores have between 70 and 75 employees, including many high school students.
“We work around the high school students’ schedules,” Rice said. “I was one of the high school students who worked here at 16 in January 2007 and so did my brother Bobby. Chris had just become the owner at that point.”
Rice said he stayed with the Sparkle store and then went to another management position before coming back. He and his wife moved to Pittsburgh for a decade before coming back to the Champion area in 2022.
“A manager position opportunity came up here, so Chris and I became business partners,” Rice said.
Klingemier said the Champion store was a Golden Dawin until 1962 when it became Sparkle.
“We have more flexibility under the Golden Dawn label and are now able to shop at more warehouses and look for the best deals based on what we can do. We can make our own decisions,” Klingemier said.
He said the biggest change he has seen as a store owner is the bigger chains that have come into the area.
“We have been able to tailor our store to the needs of the residents in our neighborhoods. We have to find a way to be unique,” Klingemeir said.
Rice said, “The goal is to serve the community the best we can.”
Klingemier said he grew up in the store helping his family when he was 10 years old.
He said he remembers the former Champion store location, which sat in a nearby field.
Klingemier said the current Champion site opened in the late 1950s.
“As the community grew, we grew with it. We have been a fixture in Champion and intend to stay,” he said.
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