Boulevard Park Thriftway and Normandy Park Market Closures.

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marshd1000
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Boulevard Park Thriftway and Normandy Park Market Closures.

Post by marshd1000 »

Here's an article about the Boulevard Park Thriftway, with a brief mention of the Normandy Park Market:

http://b-townblog.com/2019/04/15/b-town ... sing-soon/

http://normandyparkblog.com/2019/02/02/ ... eb-1-2019/
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Re: Boulevard Park Thriftway and Normandy Park Market Closures.

Post by storewanderer »

This has been a tough couple years for independents and small chains...

Normandy Park Market is particularly interesting. The operator who just closed was Myers Group. They also run the IGA in Downtown Seattle as well as various other assorted stores in various locations like the IGA in Ocean Shores. Myers Group was trying to also take over a store in Klamath Falls (Haggen/Safeway) but ultimately that store went to Holiday instead. I'm not quite sure how Holiday is doing with the store but they did a pretty nice remodel and are putting out a good effort.
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Re: Boulevard Park Thriftway and Normandy Park Market Closures.

Post by marshd1000 »

storewanderer wrote: April 24th, 2019, 10:14 pm This has been a tough couple years for independents and small chains...

Normandy Park Market is particularly interesting. The operator who just closed was Myers Group. They also run the IGA in Downtown Seattle as well as various other assorted stores in various locations like the IGA in Ocean Shores. Myers Group was trying to also take over a store in Klamath Falls (Haggen/Safeway) but ultimately that store went to Holiday instead. I'm not quite sure how Holiday is doing with the store but they did a pretty nice remodel and are putting out a good effort.
You are partially right about Myers Group and Normandy Park Market. It was NOT owned by them but managed by them and was running a IGA program. The store was owned by the owner of Normandy Park Towne Center. They cancelled the contract for Myers to run it. Eventually it was run by a direct employee of the shopping center. By this time it was running a Supervalu/Unfi independent store program. At this point, I don't see grocery returning to Normandy Park Towne Center. Too bad, it was a nice store, kind of a mini Metropolitan Market!
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Re: Boulevard Park Thriftway and Normandy Park Market Closures.

Post by SamSpade »

Some really good quotes from this store owner in the article, definitely a class act that the community should be sad to lose as a partner:
“I’m not going to blame the internet though, as the grocery business is more about the economies of scale,” Bill added. “I run a union shop and pay the same rates for our employees as Fred Meyer or QFC do. We have similar expenses, but you just need to generate more sales to do well.”

Like when the QFC closed in Des Moines, a Dollar Tree store will be taking over this location.

“It’s sad,” Bill said, “and the fact is I looked for two years to find a grocery buyer for this place, preferably union. But no luck.”
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Re: Boulevard Park Thriftway and Normandy Park Market Closures.

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: April 29th, 2019, 9:06 am Some really good quotes from this store owner in the article, definitely a class act that the community should be sad to lose as a partner:
“I’m not going to blame the internet though, as the grocery business is more about the economies of scale,” Bill added. “I run a union shop and pay the same rates for our employees as Fred Meyer or QFC do. We have similar expenses, but you just need to generate more sales to do well.”

Like when the QFC closed in Des Moines, a Dollar Tree store will be taking over this location.

“It’s sad,” Bill said, “and the fact is I looked for two years to find a grocery buyer for this place, preferably union. But no luck.”
Too bad he couldn't have found some employees who wanted to move up into an ownership position.

You would think if the store was profitable enough to make a living off of. Hard to know the situation. If this owner was running the store and acting as manager and getting paid as such, and the rest of the employees were paid clerk wages... I can see how it may be hard to find someone who wants to be an owner and manager.
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Re: Boulevard Park Thriftway and Normandy Park Market Closures.

Post by SamSpade »

I think what also happens for these independents is that unless they are the only place in town, when you start looking at having to replace 20-30 year old fresh and frozen refrigeration, it's such a large expense to overcome at the volume / competitive environment changes.

Washington state also has a "weird" B&O tax that businesses have to pay. I feel like it might be a "gross receipts" tax so it can be terribly burdensome on smaller employers.

Factor three is that the Puget Sound region is so limited when it comes to land, it might make more sense to sublease or sell to a developer.
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