Staff photo / Ron Selak Jr. .... Eric Senges and his wife, Sarah, own the new Grocery Outlet Bargain Market at 317 Boardman-Poland Road. The store opened to the public Thursday.

BOARDMAN — Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, the California-based extreme-value grocery retailer that’s beginning to establish its brand along the East Coast, opened its first store in Ohio on Thursday in Boardman.

“We’re honored to open the first store in Ohio … three weeks ago, we opened one in Pennsylvania, so we have been a little busy,” said Eric Senges, who with his wife Sarah, independently own / operate the two new stores.

“We live right here in Boardman, so this store is really special to us. We live like a mile from here, so we’re part of the community, and we look forward to partnering with schools and other organizations within Boardman and the surrounding community.”

The store opened at 8 a.m. By 10 a.m., when the couple cut a ribbon to mark the moment, the store was a beehive of activity and the checkout lines were full. Each time a shopper saved at least $100 on a purchase, an associate announced it across the store’s loudspeaker. That was followed by the ringing of a cowbell; the cowbell rang often.

Bob Soles of Boardman was among the shoppers.

“So far, it’s impressive,” said Soles, pushing a cart in the produce section. “It looks well stocked, neat, and they have a variety of things.”

The Senges relocated from California to open and run the Boardman store and another in New Castle, Pa., that opened Oct. 26.

Eric Senges said they operated a store in California and the company approached them with the opportunity for the two area stores, and “here we are.”

Construction on the 16,000-square-foot store at 317 Boardman-Poland Road — the plaza where Toys R’ Us previously was housed — started in March. The Senges moved from the West Coast in August, and setup started in late October.

“We’re unique, because one, we’re individually owned and we’re also, our culture is that you bond with the community and you give back, and that is really what we want to accomplish here is to offer great prices, a great selection, but also do more and give back to the community,” Eric Senges said.

Sarah said, “We’re very passionate about giving back and to bring low prices to our customers, especially during this time when everything is crazy high.”

Also to mark the event, the store donated $1,000 to the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. In addition, the store is hosting a food drive for the mission through Christmas.

That type of support means a lot to the mission, its Chief Development Officer Lynn Wyant said.

“We were just comparing our prices for food shopping, and comparing last October to this October, our spending doubled,” she said. “That is in part because of inflation and increased price of groceries that we all are feeling, and also the number of people we are serving has increased.”

The market employs 23 people, most of them full time.

The chain, based in Emeryville, California, a city north of Oakland in the northern part of the state, has more than 450 locations in California, Idaho, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Washington and Ohio. The stores are owned by independent operators.