Joeten to open Kagman store

J.C. Tenorio Enterprises, Inc. is branching out to the fastest growing village on Saipan with the expected opening of Joeten Kagman Market before the end of the summer.

Vice president Clarence P. Tenorio Jr. said that the locally owned retail company, which is celebrating its 59th year of doing business this month, is planning to construct a 5,500-square-foot medium-sized grocery store at its expansive Kagman property.

He said the store, which is about a $1 million overall investment, will be slightly smaller in size than its Joeten Dandan Market and will essentially carry the same variety of items.

Tenorio added that they recently received approval from the Zoning Board to construct the store and are currently awaiting other regulatory agencies to green light their construction plans.

“We feel right now that the Kagman area with its large population is under-served. People who live there have to drive to the Susupe area and the Garapan area to get a lot of their needs. And with gas hitting $4.50 it really hurts people to drive that far away to get the variety that they want and at the price they can afford,” said Tenorio.

He said it is his company’s hope that the opening of a Joeten store in Kagman would give residents there more choices for their grocery needs.

“I understand that there are currently stores in the Kagman area but they are kind of smaller and they just have the basic needs,” he said. “We’d like to bring the Joeten brand, the Joeten variety, and the competitive Joeten pricing, especially when we have our promotions. Imagine when we have our Early Bird sale in Susupe, the same price will apply in Kagman because we’re all under the same umbrella.”

Tenorio said that as an added bonus, KUMHO Asiana also broke ground on its Golftel and golf course expansion last May 1 and he said this is yet another sign that branching out to Kagman was indeed the right decision.

And according to Tenorio, Joeten Kagman Market is just the start.

“The overall plan, the grand plan, is for a commercial complex. We’re just going to start with a medium-size grocery store but expansion plans can call for, maybe an Ace Hardware, a restaurant, other retail outlets…it’s such a big property that you can just add on. But for now the demand is for a grocery store. The grocery store will come up but then the option exists to put other [facilities] when the time is right,” he said.

Aside from fulfilling their grocery needs, the new Joeten Kagman Market may also provide employment for residents in the area.

“A store that size would need anywhere from seven to nine employees and the positions to run a medium-size grocery store can definitely be filled by all local hire. If we find qualified residents in the Kagman area it just makes sense to hire people from that area,” said Tenorio.