Jul 28, 2014 4 min read

Valley Pool & Spa is heading south – to Washington County.

Eric Cassidy, vice president of the pool and hot tub supply firm, said in a news release the company plans to open two locations in the county: in the Old Mill project, South Strabane Township, and in Charleroi on Lincoln Ave (Route 88).

The new stores, he said, will create up to 18 jobs, from seasonal to management.

Valley Pool is planning to open in Old Mill by mid-September, Cassidy said in an email. He added the company would like to launch at the same time as the Field & Stream outdoors store, which last week announced a Sept. 12 target.

That isn’t prime pool season, Cassidy acknowledged, but Valley Pool also is in the Halloween costumes business and will focus on that during the fall. The store, at that time, will be only partly set up for pools and hot tubs. Although it will be open all winter, Cassidy said there will be a formal pool/hot tub grand opening in March.

Old Mill is off Route 19, on the site of the failed Foundry project.

April 1 is the targeted opening in Charleroi, Valley Pool’s first “express” store. It also will be a distribution center and will have 15,000 square feet of space.

The North Versailles-based firm, launched in 1967, currently has stores in North Versailles, Monroeville and Greensburg.

For more information, visit www.ValleyPoolSpa.com or www.facebook.com/ValleyPoolSpa.

The storefront lettering was going up Saturday morning, but Giant Eagle landed in South Fayette last Thursday, opening where Shop ‘n Save had operated for a number of years.

The 70,000-square-foot store at 3239 Washington Pike is a 24/7 operation with about 200 employees. Dick Roberts, spokesman for Giant Eagle, said in an email the store will have “conventional and organic fruits and vegetables, full-service seafood, bakery and floral departments, as well as meat and prepared foods departments.”

This new Iggle also features an in-store pharmacy, a PNC Bank branch, domestic, craft and imported beers, and an adjacent state liquor store.

The phone number is 412-914-0830.

This supermarket changeover may contribute to a future glut of Giant Eagles within about a 10-mile radius. One exists along Route 50 in Collier Township, near Kmart; another is planned for the Newbury Market development in South Fayette, off Interstate 79; and a Giant Eagle Market District Express opened in December on Route 19 in Peters Township.

An iron-clad agreement has panned out between All-Clad Metalcrafters and an all-world chef.

The iconic cookware company has partnered with Thomas Keller on the design of a collection the firm just launched, All-Clad TK. The Cecil Township-based firm said in a news release it is the first collection “specifically designed to deliver optimal results for each culinary technique.”

All-Clad TK comes in three sets, each named by Keller: Foundation Set (four pieces), Integrity Set (eight) and Inspiration Set (11). The collection is available only at Williams-Sonoma, at the Galleria in Mt. Lebanon, or at williams-sonoma.com.

Prices range from $44.95 for one piece to $1,599.95 for the Inspiration Set.

Stepping to the plate … a team that stepped up the plate.

Precision Marshall Steel, a leading supplier of deluxe tool steel and alloy plate, is now providing its Marshalloy MQ/FM product in a steel plate that is up to 12 inches thick. This expansion allows mold makers to use MQ/FM for more applications while using fewer raw materials. This results in more uniformity and consistency.

“Uniform hardness makes Marshalloy FQ/FM a more cost-effective choice than many conventional P-20-type products,” said Jackson Milhollan, Precision Marshall’s president and chief executive officer.

Precision Marshall was founded in 1948. For more information, visit www.MarshalloyMQFM.com.