Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Super S
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Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by Super S »

The property and building has been gradually deteriorating for years, and the future is in question:

https://www.chronline.com/stories/yard- ... ure,281778

The grocery anchor moved out a few years ago, and the building is mostly a flea market now. Not sure if the RV park is actually full hookups or if it's just a portion of the huge parking lot. There have been rumors about a redevelopment for a number of years now, but it seems like everything moves very slowly in Lewis County.
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by storewanderer »

When the grocery store left, that was basically the end here. I think the ownership group was more interested in getting stores in captive audience locations than having to operate in a place that actually had competition. Hence they leave Chehalis (which has Wal Mart) yet turn around and buy a store in Centralia (has Safeway but no Wal Mart... not too hard to compete with Safeway) or Long Beach (Sid's- completely captive audience there).

It is too bad the grocery store left. They could have run a successful operation in that format by looking at the operation of Sherm's Thunderbird in Roseburg/Medford/Klamath Falls using the supplier options available in the Pacific Northwest. For some reason they seemed like they were running the same general type of operation but for some reason not as successful with it. I suspect it came down to pricing, or buying issues where they could not get the quantity buys necessary to price competitively. Sherm's will be up to its biggest test yet when WinCo opens in Roseburg basically right next to their store there... I expect they will continue to be successful, but the WinCo going right next to them is going to be pretty tough.
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by Super S »

The future isn't looking good:

https://www.chronline.com/stories/city- ... ess,285597

I have heard rumors that Fred Meyer was interested in the property, and this could also have potential for WinCo (which has gone nowhere yet with Centralia Station) but in either case it seems like it would make sense to demolish and rebuild. I really can't see a full renovation taking place given the building's age and deterioration in recent years.
storewanderer wrote: January 2nd, 2022, 12:32 pm When the grocery store left, that was basically the end here. I think the ownership group was more interested in getting stores in captive audience locations than having to operate in a place that actually had competition. Hence they leave Chehalis (which has Wal Mart) yet turn around and buy a store in Centralia (has Safeway but no Wal Mart... not too hard to compete with Safeway) or Long Beach (Sid's- completely captive audience there).

It is too bad the grocery store left. They could have run a successful operation in that format by looking at the operation of Sherm's Thunderbird in Roseburg/Medford/Klamath Falls using the supplier options available in the Pacific Northwest. For some reason they seemed like they were running the same general type of operation but for some reason not as successful with it. I suspect it came down to pricing, or buying issues where they could not get the quantity buys necessary to price competitively. Sherm's will be up to its biggest test yet when WinCo opens in Roseburg basically right next to their store there... I expect they will continue to be successful, but the WinCo going right next to them is going to be pretty tough.
Yard Birds in it's prime was more like a Kmart or Walmart in that they pretty much operated one big store in most of that space, and leased out the grocery store. It started going downhill when the main store went out of business. (shortly after Walmart arrived) The grocery operator also took over the Fuller's store in Centralia while the Yard Birds grocery store was still open. Closing the grocery store at Yard Birds kinda puzzled me because at the time the grocery operator owned the Yard Birds building. It's making a little more sense now.
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by Super S »

The tenants are now being evicted...

https://www.chronline.com/stories/yard- ... ain,302960
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: November 3rd, 2022, 5:00 am The tenants are now being evicted...

https://www.chronline.com/stories/yard- ... ain,302960
Seems like the building is a goner and the flood history of the site is going to really hurt future development.

The grocery operator bought Sid's in Long Beach since closing this store and is also one of the few independents who is supplied by C&S in the Pacific Northwest. This Chehalis Store must have been so far gone beyond worth saving, I would think he could have made a deal with C&S if it meant getting C&S another store to supply, given C&S is not having much luck signing up independents up in WA (URM trying to sign independents in these areas now too really hurt those efforts as URM is a far better choice than C&S).
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: November 3rd, 2022, 10:45 pm
Super S wrote: November 3rd, 2022, 5:00 am The tenants are now being evicted...

https://www.chronline.com/stories/yard- ... ain,302960
Seems like the building is a goner and the flood history of the site is going to really hurt future development.

The grocery operator bought Sid's in Long Beach since closing this store and is also one of the few independents who is supplied by C&S in the Pacific Northwest. This Chehalis Store must have been so far gone beyond worth saving, I would think he could have made a deal with C&S if it meant getting C&S another store to supply, given C&S is not having much luck signing up independents up in WA (URM trying to sign independents in these areas now too really hurt those efforts as URM is a far better choice than C&S).
This site could be attractive though if they decide to bring in fill dirt/sand for new construction, which is the direction new development has been going along I-5 near Walmart. Although that area hasn't entirely escaped flooding, the buildings are high enough where damage would be minimal. I do know that Fred Meyer has looked into acquiring the Yard Birds site in the past.
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: November 4th, 2022, 5:11 am
storewanderer wrote: November 3rd, 2022, 10:45 pm
Super S wrote: November 3rd, 2022, 5:00 am The tenants are now being evicted...

https://www.chronline.com/stories/yard- ... ain,302960
Seems like the building is a goner and the flood history of the site is going to really hurt future development.

The grocery operator bought Sid's in Long Beach since closing this store and is also one of the few independents who is supplied by C&S in the Pacific Northwest. This Chehalis Store must have been so far gone beyond worth saving, I would think he could have made a deal with C&S if it meant getting C&S another store to supply, given C&S is not having much luck signing up independents up in WA (URM trying to sign independents in these areas now too really hurt those efforts as URM is a far better choice than C&S).
This site could be attractive though if they decide to bring in fill dirt/sand for new construction, which is the direction new development has been going along I-5 near Walmart. Although that area hasn't entirely escaped flooding, the buildings are high enough where damage would be minimal. I do know that Fred Meyer has looked into acquiring the Yard Birds site in the past.
I still think Fred Meyer should have a full line store in that city. I suspect Yard Birds may be what kept them away back in the 80's when they were expanding rapidly. I guess now they'll get the Safeway, but, that is no Fred Meyer and never will be.
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: November 5th, 2022, 11:38 am
Super S wrote: November 4th, 2022, 5:11 am
storewanderer wrote: November 3rd, 2022, 10:45 pm

Seems like the building is a goner and the flood history of the site is going to really hurt future development.

The grocery operator bought Sid's in Long Beach since closing this store and is also one of the few independents who is supplied by C&S in the Pacific Northwest. This Chehalis Store must have been so far gone beyond worth saving, I would think he could have made a deal with C&S if it meant getting C&S another store to supply, given C&S is not having much luck signing up independents up in WA (URM trying to sign independents in these areas now too really hurt those efforts as URM is a far better choice than C&S).
This site could be attractive though if they decide to bring in fill dirt/sand for new construction, which is the direction new development has been going along I-5 near Walmart. Although that area hasn't entirely escaped flooding, the buildings are high enough where damage would be minimal. I do know that Fred Meyer has looked into acquiring the Yard Birds site in the past.
I still think Fred Meyer should have a full line store in that city. I suspect Yard Birds may be what kept them away back in the 80's when they were expanding rapidly. I guess now they'll get the Safeway, but, that is no Fred Meyer and never will be.
Safeway is already in Centralia and Chehalis. The irony here is that Fred Meyer actually operated the Yard Birds grocery department at one point. I never fully understood why Fred Meyer never opened a full-line store in the area years ago though....
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: November 7th, 2022, 6:13 am
storewanderer wrote: November 5th, 2022, 11:38 am
Super S wrote: November 4th, 2022, 5:11 am

This site could be attractive though if they decide to bring in fill dirt/sand for new construction, which is the direction new development has been going along I-5 near Walmart. Although that area hasn't entirely escaped flooding, the buildings are high enough where damage would be minimal. I do know that Fred Meyer has looked into acquiring the Yard Birds site in the past.
I still think Fred Meyer should have a full line store in that city. I suspect Yard Birds may be what kept them away back in the 80's when they were expanding rapidly. I guess now they'll get the Safeway, but, that is no Fred Meyer and never will be.
Safeway is already in Centralia and Chehalis. The irony here is that Fred Meyer actually operated the Yard Birds grocery department at one point. I never fully understood why Fred Meyer never opened a full-line store in the area years ago though....
How did Fred Meyer lose the grocery department in the Yard Birds?

That Shop N Kart chain, seemed to be some kind of format connected to Fleming. There was one in Reno on East Plumb in the 70's or 80's, then turned into Sak N Save (Scolaris discount format) and eventually closed under that banner as Scolaris was downsizing in the 2010's. The White City, OR Shop N Kart was sold to Ray's and closed during bankruptcy but it was somewhat similar to the Yard Birds one in layout/feel. The Ashland Shop N Kart has morphed into a nutrition focused store, I like what they've done there. There was a Shop N Kart in Lebanon, OR which rebranded to Mega Foods then later closed. This store struck me as a former Food 4 Less but it may have just been a knockoff since both Shop N Kart and Food 4 Less in OR were being supported by Fleming before they left OR/WA.

It appears the Shop N Kart in Lebanon was a corporate owned store by Fleming in 1998.
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/19 ... 268806007/
Never heard of this arrangement they formed with AG-Seattle in the late 90's, always just assumed Fleming left the PNW and some stores continued on as F4L/SNK in the market and slowly closed over the years (except the few that are still open...). This AG-Seattle/Fleming joint venture blew up fast. F4L was carrying AG Labels (Western Family) in the late 90's in OR already and IGA was gone from OR and the WA IGAs were primarily supplied by Supervalu.
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Re: Future of Yard Birds in Chehalis, WA

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: November 7th, 2022, 11:48 pm

How did Fred Meyer lose the grocery department in the Yard Birds?

That Shop N Kart chain, seemed to be some kind of format connected to Fleming. There was one in Reno on East Plumb in the 70's or 80's, then turned into Sak N Save (Scolaris discount format) and eventually closed under that banner as Scolaris was downsizing in the 2010's. The White City, OR Shop N Kart was sold to Ray's and closed during bankruptcy but it was somewhat similar to the Yard Birds one in layout/feel. The Ashland Shop N Kart has morphed into a nutrition focused store, I like what they've done there. There was a Shop N Kart in Lebanon, OR which rebranded to Mega Foods then later closed. This store struck me as a former Food 4 Less but it may have just been a knockoff since both Shop N Kart and Food 4 Less in OR were being supported by Fleming before they left OR/WA.

It appears the Shop N Kart in Lebanon was a corporate owned store by Fleming in 1998.
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/19 ... 268806007/
Never heard of this arrangement they formed with AG-Seattle in the late 90's, always just assumed Fleming left the PNW and some stores continued on as F4L/SNK in the market and slowly closed over the years (except the few that are still open...). This AG-Seattle/Fleming joint venture blew up fast. F4L was carrying AG Labels (Western Family) in the late 90's in OR already and IGA was gone from OR and the WA IGAs were primarily supplied by Supervalu.
I don't know the whole situation with Fred Meyer and Yard Birds, except that there are several pictures of the exterior of Yard Birds with the Fred Meyer sign in the background. I do remember at one point seeing an old labelscar on the interior where Fred Meyer lettering was removed.

As for Shop 'N Kart, I always thought it was more of a franchise. Longview at one point had two locations, which were very small and very old and dated. One was at the Triangle Mall (a former Albertsons, long since demolished) which later became Shop 'N Kart Thriftway, and was eventually replaced by a new build Thriftway which dropped the Shop 'N Kart branding altogether. This new store was not open long and is currently a Ross and some smaller stores. Thriftway was built a few years before the mall was redeveloped and WinCo built its store. The other was on Ocean Beach Highway, ironically, in front of Safeway on the site of the current Safeway gas station. That one was known as Schureich's Shop 'N Kart. There was also another location in St. Helens, Oregon but was never mentioned in local ads. Shop 'N Kart was about as bare bones and no frills as it came...no bakery, deli, etc. They carried some private labels I have not seen before or since, two I remember were TV (True Value Brand) and Rainbow.
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