Johno’s Greenville Market opened its doors July 3 at 74 Main St., and the owners are making the people of Greenville their priority. 

Jacki-Ann Roy and her son, John Lang, purchased the building in the spring of 2022. Renovating the building took approximately five months, and has allowed the new ownership to implement new features. The store has just opened a burrito bar, with pizza, home meals and ice cream on the horizon. Roy and Lang see the establishment as an opportunity to provide accessibility to the people of Greenville, and have kept the community at the forefront of their business model. 

“Everybody seems to be really excited to have the store open again,” said Roy. “They haven’t had their store in a lot of years.”

Roy and Lang have kept shelves open to allow community members to voice their desires.

“The community wanted just something as quickly as possible,” said Lang. “We left it… not sparse, but open… So we left rooms and spots to be able to fill the needs that we didn't think about.”

Roy noted that their building, formerly the Lizotte Superette, was not the only one in recent years to change ownership. 

“Another one down the street closed off,” said Roy. “So that's what we hear from everybody, ‘Thank you for opening the store.’”

The new owners, both originally from Bedford, decided to open the store after initially being interested in a different facet of the property. However, they changed their plans upon realizing the inconvenience of commuting long distances to the nearest store.

“We saw the building for sale, and at first, we were just interested in the two apartments upstairs,” said Lang. “We figured out that, every time we needed something, we had to drive really far to go get it.”

After deliberating on the notion of owning the store as well as the apartments, Roy and Lang decided to make the purchase. 

“We all kept talking, [saying], ‘Boy, it would be really nice if there was a convenience store around here,’” said Lang. “Talking with some of the neighbors around, they're all saying it'd be really nice if there was a convenience store around here. Finally we said, ‘Let’s put a convenience store back in here.’ There was a need.”

The new owners have made sure to keep in touch with the heritage of the location, as well. 

 “Many of the previous owners, the Lizottes… a lot of them are bringing pictures of the old building,” said Roy. “We've kind of put the word out. We love to see those so that we can make copies and put them up.”

“A tribute to how the town used to be back in the day,” said Lang. “A little nostalgia.”

Roy and Lang have been welcomed by the people of Greenville and are thankful to have received support from the town.

“We love the people in this town,” said Roy.

“This town has a sense of community that you don't see everywhere else,” said Lang. “When somebody needs help, people rally around.”