KOREATOWN : Free Course Offered for Grocery Owners

The Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment will offer a free course in small grocery store management and operation to store owners whose businesses are in areas affected by the 1992 riots.

The program will cover marketing and merchandising, business math, pricing and inventory, bookkeeping and accounting, advertising, customer relations, taxes, business planning and law.

The 10-week, 40-hour course begins Jan. 31. Applications are being accepted; 20 will be selected.

The program is geared toward store owners, although employees who are thinking of opening their own stores will also be considered. Applicants should be Los Angeles residents or have a store in Los Angeles and must be able to read, speak and understand English.

“Small grocers are out there in the trenches,” said Kerry Doi, the consortium’s executive director. “Many are just getting back on their feet after the riots. We want to help them make their operations profitable so they can expand, hiring people from the neighborhoods where they do business.”

Staff members of the consortium’s Business Development Center will teach the course with assistance from consultants in the grocery industry. The program also offers graduates five hours of free technical assistance.

“We believe the technical assistance portion of the program is the real key to its success,” said Tim Maschler, director of the Business Development Center. “Often graduates leave a training program with lots of ideas, but no hands-on way of applying them. This program addresses that by having seasoned professionals actually visit the stores and make direct suggestions on the improvement of operations.”

The training program will be conducted at the consortium’s Community Wholesale Grocers store, 13719 Crenshaw Blvd. in Hawthorne.

Applications are also being accepted for the consortium’s next entrepreneur course, which begins Feb. 7. This free course is for low-income entrepreneurs who want to start or expand their own businesses. Maschler said about 17 applicants will be selected for the course at the consortium’s office, 2525 W. 8th St.

In addition, the consortium has 20 spots open in its free job-training program for low-income residents, funded under the Job Training Program Act. Participants will be able to learn clerical skills, including word processing, office management and business math.

Grocers’ and entrepreneur program information: Tim Maschler at (213) 389-8483. Job-training program information: Susan Ng at (213) 389-2373, Ext. 237.