Ground broken for County Market in Palmyra

  A new grocery will offer jobs and competition in Palmyra.
   Niemann Foods broke ground Monday for a $3.5 million County Market store at the intersection of Stanley and Main on the south side of Palmyra.
   “It’s always exciting when we can open a new store,” said company chairman Rich Niemann Sr. “Palmyra has been on our list for a long time. It’s a great community. This is a perfect fit for us.”
   When completed in January, the 25,000-square-foot store will have 75 to 100 employees. It will not offer 24-hour shopping, but there will be a drive-through pharmacy.
   “It’s going to be a big benefit to the city,” said Mayor Loren Graham. “We appreciate Niemann Foods believing in Palmyra.”
   Niemann is a 93-year-old Quincy-based, family-owned firm that operates groceries, hardware shops, pet supply businesses and convenience stores in the Midwest.
   It has 4,000 employees, most of whom take advantage of a stock option that lets them own part of the company, which was founded by Ferd and Steve Niemann in 1917.
   The only other grocery in Palmyra is C & R Supermarket, a 53-year-old Macon-based chain that operates in 11 other Northeast Missouri cities.
   Niemann said the Palmyra County Market would complete the chain of successful stores from Canton and Quincy to Hannibal and Pittsfield, Ill.
   The company builds or renovates five to six stores a year, and Niemann said it always tries to stay ahead of the game. Hy-Vee and Walmart are two of the company’s  biggest competitors.
   “We have never stopped moving forward,” Niemann said. “We need to keep updating stores because we compete against the nation’s largest retailers.”
   The Palmyra store will follow the County Market “traditions” theme that emphasizes what Niemann called a “warm, country, hometown feeling.”
   Information about employment opportunities will be listed as the opening gets closer.