Healthy
Educator honored with scholarship
Living ON PAGE ...7
ON PAGE ...4
JANUARY
28 2022
New owners plan changes but will keep Cuba, Wellsville Giant name, workers BY BOB CLARK Photo by Kathryn Ross Eliza Doolittle, played by actress Bridget Christman (left), and Professor Henry Higgins, played by Matthew Warren, confront each other at the flower market in Starlight Theatre’s “Mayfair Lady.”
Starlight Theatre Company to present ‘Mayfair Lady’ BY KATHRYN ROSS WELLSVILLE — Back on the boards a er a COVID-19 hiatus, the Starlight Theatre Company is doing its own take on a 100-year-old play. Thespians will present “Mayfair Lady” Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Grace United Mission Center on Maple Avenue. If the title seems familiar, their version is one of many adaptations, this one by Gary Peterson, of the George Benard Shaw rendition of “Pygmalion.” Shaw’s play, which was fi rst offered in 1918, is itself a rendition of
an ancient Greek play. Of course, most people will recognize the play as the romance musical “My Fair Lady,” but Brian Keib, the show’s producer, said the Starlight Theatre production is not the same romantic musical. For starters, no one will be hearing “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” or “I Could Have Danced All Night.” “This is not a musical,” Keib said. But then it isn’t a serious play, either, not with the delightful British accents and Victorian costumes. While
it is the light-hearted story of a pompous, upper-class linguist who accepts a tbet that he can turn a humble flower girl into a lady who could talk to a king, it is also about women’s empowerment. Shaw’s story was wri en at a time when British women were leading the international fight for women’s rights and reflects that struggle while Hollywood turned “My Fair Lady” into a romantic comedy where the two lead characters fall in love and live happily ever a er. “People will have to decide for themselves what will
happen to Eliza and Professor Higgins at the end of our last act,” Keib said. Keib, director Heidi Lawson and theater company members have been working on the play since November but have also put in time scouring the area for props and costumes. “We’ve go en some help with costuming from our own closet as well as the high school theater department, and we’ve gone on Amazon,” Keib said.
Starlight Theatre continued ..page 1
CUBA — Two of Allegany County’s grocery stores will see some changes coming thanks to new owners, but the names and faces should remain the same. Closing on a deal Jan. 17, the owners of Buffalo-area Market in the Square grocery stores purchased the Giant Food Mart stores in Cuba and Wellsville for an undisclosed amount. The stores are owned by a partnership among family members Brian, Nick and Erin Kumierski and Danielle Hastings, Nick Kusmierski told the Times Herald, expanding on father Brian’s two-store chain which opened its fi rst doors in 1999. The family has been in the grocery business for decades, with Brian Kusmierski starting out at age 16 working for Park Edge in Buffalo. Working with Wegman’s during the fi rm’s expansion into Buffalo and later with grocery wholesalers, the elder Kusmierski opened the West Seneca location in 1999
with a partner before becoming sole owner in 2015. The family made its fi rst expansion by acquiring Budway’s in North Tonawanda in 2017. Founded by John Berardi in the 1970s, Giant Food Mart was divided between his sons Michael and Chris following his death. Names and house brands will not change, Nick Kusmierski said, and officials are in the paperwork process of hiring as many employees who wish to stay. “We know those Giant Food Mart names have been there so long,” he said, with the Wellsville site carrying its name since the 1970s and Cuba dating back to the 1980s. Both Giant and Market on the Square chains use C&S Wholesale Grocers for groceries, including housebrands under the Best Yet label, and both were previously part of Olean Wholesale Grocery Co-op. Both chains already use the same website
Giant Food Mart continued .. page 7
THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th • THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th
Cuba • Wellsville
• THURSDAY, February 3rd
Special Orders Call:
Visit Us At: www.giantfoodmart.com
& Cut pped a r w For ! Free
Whole
Pork Loins
Bulk
’s Own
Breakfast Sausage Country Style or Maple
1
lb.
2
lb.
Wholesale Prices!
This is the big one!
Sale Starts January 30 - February 5, 2022
SAVE UP TO $8.01 lb.
Beef
New York
Strip Steaks
SAVE UP TO $2.01 lb.
98
• SATURDAY, February 5th
Wellsville: 593-Deli (3354) Cuba: 968-Beef (2333)
SAVE UP TO $2.21 lb.
78
• FRIDAY, February 4th
7
98 lb.
’s Own “Old World Style” Rope Style
Italian Sausage
SAVE UP TO $2.21 lb.
Bone In
Pork Loin Chops
1
78 Ground
Sold In 10lb. Package
73% Lean
lb.
Beef
SAVE UP TO $1.81 lb.
2
98
2
SAVE UP TO $1.01 lb.
98 lb.
THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th • THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th
THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th • THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th
THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th • THURSDAY, February 3rd • FRIDAY, February 4th • SATURDAY, February 5th