By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON -- The new Save A Lot supermarket opens in the University Plaza in Canton Thursday, Sept. 18 with a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting at 8:45 a.m.

This is Jeff Proulx’s eighth Save A Lot store. He owns others in Potsdam, Gouverneur, and Ogdensburg in St. Lawrence County.

“This is an exciting time for another business to open in Canton,” said Canton Mayor Mary Ann Ashley in an email message.

Proulx describes the stores as price-driven with an “edited” assortment of food and household items that amounts to 70 percent “exclusive label” and 30 percent national brands.

“We’re the market leader in price, and we don’t sacrifice quality in trying to get a better price.”

The are 1,400 Save A Lots nationwide, which permits the chain to compete on price through volume purchases, Proulx said.

The Canton store took a little longer to get open once he decided to go ahead, Proulx said, because he had committed to another store in Norwich, which jumped ahead in the schedule when an opportunity there he had been seeking for some time became available.

The store in Canton is larger than the Potsdam store by about 3,000 square feet, totaling 18,700 square feet.

About 22 full and part-time workers have been hired for the Canton location.