MUNCY - A new retail store that specializes in items for preteens and teenagers opens next week.
Five Below, 360 S. Lycoming Mall Road, in the Lycoming Crossings Shopping Center, will host a grand opening starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday with special activities all weekend long, according to Elizabeth Romaine, director of marketing operations.
The activities include free T-shirts to the first 300 customers Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a raffle for a $100 shopping spree, trivia games, and a hot dog cart Friday and Saturday afternoon.
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Five Below, a store offering low-budget options to teens and young people, will open soon.
"Five Below is sort of like a five and dime for the Twitter generation," Romaine said. "Everything is $1 to $5 and geared toward teens and preteens. They're trend products that young men and young women would want."
The store is made up of eight categories: sports, media - which includes iPhone cases and accessories, crafts, party, candy, room, style and seasonal. The seasonal items are currently a mix of summer items and back to school items.
With the opening, there are 35 employees, Romaine said. The store will hire additional holiday help later in the year.
Romaine said that the Five Below company has been trying to open a store in the Williamsport area for some time. The closest stores to the area are in Selinsgrove and Wilkes-Barre, which are more than 30 miles and 77 miles, respectively, away.
"We like to go into communities with a lot of families and value-minded customers," Romaine said. "This is the first store for a lot of our customers. Many people have never seen a Five Below before. It's a cool place where they can get a lot of stuff."
Lycoming Crossings held appeal because of its easy access for customers.
There are 48 Five Below stores in Pennsylvania and more than 140 stores in 13 states. Five Below was founded by David Schlessinger, the creator and founder of Encore Books and Zany Brainy, and Tom Vellios, former CEO of Zany Brainy. The first store opened in October 2002 in Wayne.
