The Safeway/Planet Fitness outlet is a large, ever-changing store complex containing dozens of shops. One of the new places planned to join this collection is 5 Below, which is soon to have two locations in Petaluma. Emma Kee, a senior at Petaluma High, commented on the business, “I love the store. It’s a good place to get out of the house, even for just a bit. I support any new businesses that come in, and being in retail, it’s one of my favorite things to try new places and find different people shopping, as well as new styles.” The first store opened in Petaluma is on North McDowell Boulevard, right next to the Dollar Tree where Tuesday Morning used to be. The shop has been there for under a year, yet many have grown used to it in the small town. This new chain spot, opening on June 7th of this year, is in between Harbor Freight Tools, a relatively new hardware store, and an Xfinity Comcast shop.
The space was previously owned by Party City, which recently had their Petaluma location closed down. Leading up to its closure, everything went on sale for the people who wanted last-minute decorations, toys, or candy. However, during October, Party City was turned into Spirit Halloween, selling costumes and decorations to those nearby looking for spooky things to fill their house. Vergara, a Casa freshman, said, “I think Spirit’s cool. I hope they bring it back during Halloween.”
5 Below sells items such as mini slime buckets and stress balls, like Party City, and includes items all the way up to different makeup supplies and iPhone accessories. Shoes and clothes are also sold at the store, alongside food and drink, which it holding a large candy aisle near the front of the store and another clothing section near the back. Living up to its name, the majority of the store is all $5.00 or less, with only a few items such as headphones, phone accessories, and certain clothing being up to $10.00. When asked about the price range at the store, Ty Ervin, a Casa Grande junior, stated, “I support it.”
With the opening of a store on East Washington and South McDowell, there comes the request of workers for hire. A banner over the doors of the building marks the set opening date, as well as lists a website for where to sign up. The job titles include sales associate, which pays between $16 and $17 an hour, to seasonal associates, with store managers making $63,875 a year. Other jobs include part-time support leads and customer-experience manager positions.
With the new store opening close to Safeway and Casa Grande, they are bound to have students showing up throughout the day. Many students will visit the store as consumers, but with school getting out on the same day of the grand opening, many kids may be looking for a summer job to hold them over into next year, and this would be a great opportunity.
