Giant opening at Tecumseh Mall

By Tamas Miko

Giant Tiger celebrated the grand opening of its new store in Windsor’s East end.

The grand opening took place at Tecumseh Mall on Saturday morning. The new store is 25,000 sq ft and offers a variety of items such as trending fashion and family clothes, brand-name groceries and other necessities.

An estimated of 50 people were lined up in front of the store before the event started at 7.30 a.m. It began with the national anthem followed by two speeches from the owner, Brian Banks. Later on, the ribbon was cut by Banks and his team. The store officially opened at 8 a.m. and by then an estimated of 130 people were in line.  

 

“Just want to welcome everyone to the grand opening today. Your Giant Tiger store, Windsor,” said Banks.

The grand opening included activities for both children and adults, including face painting for children, promotional giveaways and product sampling for those in attendance. Banks said the store’s mission is to provide everyday low prices with the best value and service. He also said he could not have done it without his team.

Brian Banks also hosted a charitable barbeque for the Windsor Lifeline Outreach.

“They talked this morning about being a team and could not done this by myself,” said Banks.

Nello Paolini, the president of WLO, offered hot dogs with his associates. The WLO offers food and clothing distribution, small group mentoring, personal coaching as well as other services. The fundraiser was sponsored by the Giant Tiger to help the WLO to raise money.

According to Paolini the WLO is feeding an estimated of 750 people in Windsor per month about 25 people per day. Paolini said the organization has existed for over 20 years and the purpose of the organization is to transition people out of poverty.

“We start with the food. But eventually we try to find out what their real needs are and try to help them out,” said Paolini. “We thank Giant Tiger for doing this for us.”