Four years after the Von's grocery store in the Edmond Town Center on Owens Avenue closed, Buy Low Market has opened a 43,000-square-foot store at the same location.

The opening comes after several false starts, including a failed attempt by local shopping center developer Laurich Properties to lure a Food4Less store to a nearby site.

Las Vegas Councilman Ricki Barlow has made attracting a grocery store to the neighborhood a priority since being elected last year.

"This is a big day for this neighborhood," Barlow said. "Residents no longer have to go two or three miles to a grocery store."

Because of the departure of Von's, which closed its store with 10 years remaining on its lease, Las Vegas officials have had a tough time attracting another grocer to the area.

Buy Low market at Owens Avenue and H Street is the first grocery store to open in West Las Vegas in several years. TIFFANY BROWN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, when he was a city councilman, enlisted a New York-based firm that specializes in attracting grocers to urban neighborhoods in an effort to find a grocer, but those attempts were unsuccessful. Interim Councilwoman Brenda Williams, who briefly filled Weekly's council position after he was appointed to the commission, held a neighborhood forum to get input from residents about the type of grocer they wanted, but she also made little progress.

Shortly after Barlow took office last summer, officials from Food4Less all but guaranteed they would build a grocery store at Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards if Laurich was named as the developer.

Despite a generous incentive package offered by the city, Food4Less failed to deliver the store.

Mario Berlanga, who owns a small grocery store in the neighborhood, also presented a bid to the city to build a larger store, but was never chosen as a preferred developer.

Despite the long delay in attracting a grocer, Barlow said the city ultimately made the right choice.

"We didn't just get a grocery store, we got the right store for this neighborhood," Barlow, who has picked up the nickname Ricki Buy Low because of his success in luring the grocer, said. "The fact that they are hiring most of the employees from this neighborhood means a lot."

Buy Low is a low-price supermarket that takes a no-frills approach to merchandise and decor. By offering a full selection of items, but limiting brands and overhead, the chain is able to keep prices down. The store has hired more than 100 people from West Las Vegas and is expected to have an annual payroll of about $1.6 million.

Buy Low Market in West Las Vegas is a low-price supermarket that takes a no-frills approach to merchandise and decor. TIFFANY BROWN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Las Vegas, through its redevelopment agency, offered several financial incentives to entice Buy Low to develop the store at Edmond Town Center. They included up to $200,000 toward the purchase of new equipment, annual tenant improvement and remodeling rebates not to exceed $100,000 a year for seven years, and the right to apply for up to $50,000 in grants through the redevelopment agency's commercial visual improvement program.

Buy Low will sublease the space from Von's.

Paul Vazin, president of KV Mart Co. that owns the local Buy Low as well as 24 grocery stores in Los Angeles, says the company specializes in bringing stores to underserved urban areas.

"The city asked us to come take a look at the store here, and we thought it was a good fit for us," Vazin says. "This is what we do well."

Vazin said the store will offer special pricing on produce and meat one day each week, and the prices customers saw on opening day are the same prices they can expect every day.

If the opening day crowd was any indication, West Las Vegas residents have sorely missed having a grocery store. Hundreds of people packed the store, many leaving with several bags and carts filled with groceries.

The neighborhood median income is among the lowest in the Las Vegas Valley and many residents do not have cars, so not having a neighborhood grocery store was a hardship.

Barbara Tyler hasn't had a grocery store in her neighborhood since she moved to West Las Vegas 14 months ago, after 27 years in St. Louis. Tyler, who lives a few blocks away on Owens Avenue, doesn't drive and had to take a long bus ride to get groceries.

Now she could walk to the store if she needed to, but still plans to take the bus because she suffers from arthritis.

"It's a lot shorter bus ride now, and I just love the prices," she says. "We had a Buy Low in St. Louis and the prices were low there, too, so I believe them when they say they will keep the prices down."

John Edmond, president of Nucleus Investments, which owns Edmond Town Center, said the grocery store should help revitalize the center and the neighborhood. Edmond held a business seminar on the opening day of the market to attract prospective business owners. There are still several vacant stores at the center, and Edmond said he would like to see a mix of local and national tenants.

"We think the grocery is a great anchor store that should generate a lot of foot traffic," Edmond said. "This would be a good location for a sandwich shop, such as Subway or Port of Subs, which we really don't have around here."

Edmond was greeted by a steady stream of residents, many of whom he knew by name.

"This is my business, but this is also my neighborhood," Edmond said. "It would mean a lot if we could be successful here."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman offered praised to everyone involved with the project for persevering to get a commitment from a national retail chain.

"This is a great day for the city of Las Vegas," Goodman said. "It was very disturbing that for all of these years one neighborhood didn't have what every neighborhood should have.

Goodman was disappointed that the store's liquor department was not open yet and he could not by his trademark gin. He had to be content with his purchase of a six pack of beer.