The owner of a cosmetics and beauty supply chain is renovating a former Save A Lot in east Ocala into the largest beauty supply warehouse in Florida.
On October 6, the city issued a building permit to Inception Engineering & Consulting, a Gainesville-based firm founded by Mohsen Hatami, for the former grocery store site.
In an email to Ocala-News.com, Hatami indicated that his firm serves as both the engineer and general contractor for the project, which is located at 1926 E Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala.
The property is owned by a company of similar name, 1926 E Silver Springs LLC, which is registered to George Mobassaleh of Hollywood, Florida.
Mobassaleh owns multiple Giorgio’s Beauty Supply Warehouse locations and will soon bring the brand to Ocala. The business owner purchased the Ocala property from P. G. Sarres, Inc., for $1,880,750 on April 9, according to Marion County property records.
Hatami describes the new, large facility as a “beauty-industry version of Costco.”
According to city records, Hatami’s firm, who designed and built similar establishments in Gainesville and Fort Myers recently, applied for a building permit for the Ocala location in May.
The permit was approved in June and was just issued to the company recently.
Giorgio’s carries over 250 different beauty products, including wigs, electronics, and supplies for nail salons, barbershops, and other full-service salons.
There are currently 40 Giorgio’s Beauty Supply Warehouse locations scattered across the state of Florida.
Save A Lot operated for multiple decades at the site in east Ocala. Its permanent closure left the grocer’s establishment at 9264 SE Maricamp Road as its sole location in Ocala.
Hatami says the business is planning to open the new location by the end of the year, but could open as early as next month.