Harbor Freight is scheduled to open this summer at 1502 Harlan Drive in the Bellevue Plaza and Craig Hoffman, Harbor Freight Director of Corporate Communications, is very excited about their latest venture.
“We’re excited because this will be our second store in Sarpy County and our tenth store in Nebraska. It will be much more convenient for our customers in the Bellevue community, as currently, they have to travel about 6 miles (and across state lines) to our Council Bluffs, Iowa location, 8 miles to our LaVista store or 12 miles to our Omaha location,” said Hoffman.
According to Hoffman, Harbor Freight has been looking to open another location in Sarpy County, specifically in Bellevue, for a while now. “We always believe in waiting until we find a location that meets our needs and the needs of our customers: good visibility, easy access, ample parking, and the right square footage,” said Hoffman. “This particular location, in the former Salvation Army store, will be 16,400 square feet, which is smaller than the so-called ‘Big Box’ stores in our category, and which we feel is a competitive advantage. Many of our customers are professional trades workers who want to stop in, find what they need, and then head out quickly to their job site or workshop. For other customers, this size makes it easier to browse and find our great deals.”
The first Harbor Freight opened for business in 1977, owned by Eric Smidt and his father, Allan Smidt. Over 45 years later, they have expanded to over 1,500 locations and, according to their site, they have served over 75 million customers. However, they still remain family-owned.
Hoffman said that Harbor Freight chose to open in Bellevue because they felt there is a wide pool of qualified applicants for their team. “We hire locally, and in addition to the construction workers we’ll be hiring, we’ll be bringing an additional new 25-30 jobs to the Bellevue community,” said Hoffman. “We consider ourselves to be one of the best places to work in the retail industry, with highly competitive pay, great benefits, and the opportunity to advance in one of the fastest-growing companies in retail. We were recently certified as a Great Place to Work™ for the second year in a row, and we’ve been recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 20 Best Large Employers in Retail for four years in a row and one of the top Employer for Veterans for three years as well. They’ve also recognized us as one of the Best Employers for Women and for Diversity, an honor we’ve received from Diversityjobs.com for two years as well. The company has also been named by Fortune as one of America’s Most Innovative Companies, and by Newsweek magazine as one of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies, and most recently, as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Veterans.”
Interested applicants can apply online at www.harborfreightjobs.com/retail and search Bellevue, NE
Image provided by Harbor Freight. It is a stock image and not a picture of the new Bellevue location.
