WILKES-BARRE -- A new grocery store is scheduled to open in Wilkes-Barre in September, and on Wednesday, the owners held a job fair to try fill about 30 positions. There was a huge turnout.
At one point several hundred people waited in line, some for hours, for a chance at one of those 30 jobs at what will soon become a Save-A-Lot grocery store.
Applicants met with interviewers inside the soon-to-be grocery store on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, but outside, the line snaked into the parking lot.
It was a turnout even the store owners didn't expect.
“We knew we were going to have a good turnout today. We didn`t think it was going to be lined up at noon. We weren`t opening until one,” said Neal Fasula, store owner.
Store owners said the jobs will range from part-time minimum-wage to full-time with benefits at around $14 an hour.
Kelly Freeman stood in line for over an hour. She said she needs a full-time job to help raise her son. Freeman also said this many people showing up for a few dozen job openings wasn't a surprise.
“I`ve heard that Wilkes-Barre and Hanover and nearby cities that unemployment is higher than any other county in the area and this is so sad,” said Kelly Freeman of Wilkes-Barre.
Kareem Wiggins of Wilkes-Barre said he's been putting in applications up and down the Wyoming Valley. She said she would take a minimum wage job just to be working.
"I want to go to college. That`s all I want to do, go to college and do something with my life.”
The owners said the store should be open by the end of September.