Tony and Kaylie Greene recently became the new owners of the Airway Heights Grocery Outlet, and celebrated with a ribbon cutting thanks to the West Plains Chamber of Commerce on April 9.
AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Tony and Kaylie Greene are the new proprietors of the Airway Heights Grocery Outlet. On April 9, area residents celebrated with the Greene's at a West Plains Chamber of Commerce a ribbon cutting. The store had games set up with prizes to win for everyone.
The Greene's said community involvement is one of the main focuses of the store.
"A big part of the Grocery Outlet model is community," Kaylie said. "We are going to be part of Airway Heights Days and Skyfest 2022, plus we have a couple of military spouse days planned and a family day planned in Spokane."
Being part of a smaller community makes it easier to build relationships, according to Tony.
"We wanted to be in a smaller but growing community," he said. "It has made it easy to partner with groups such as the Parks and Rec. Department and Fairchild of course."
Tony got his start in grocery industry at age 16, working at Safeway in Portland, where he spent 26 years working as a checker, stocker, and filling other roles until he eventually reached a management position.
Having worked in a busy area for that long, Tony was set on shopping for a store in a smaller community.
After hearing about some different ownership opportunities, he and Kaylie submitted paperwork to Grocery Outlet corporate to start moving their dream forward.
The couple was approved and went through six months of systems training in Portland before they could look at locations. Tony said they chose Airway Heights because it became available when they were looking at stores in the region, although they considered stores in Spokane, and even over into Idaho.
"We are excited to serve the community of Airway Heights and the other residents of the West Plains," the Greene's said.
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