Harvard Grocery Outlet shifting to Backyard Valley Buying Heart | Enterprise
The Grocery Outlet on West Harvard Avenue in Roseburg, which has been supplying customers with cheap groceries, housewares and other items under different names for 30 years, is moving.
The store at 930 W. Harvard Ave. will take over the former JCPenney area in the Garden Valley Shopping Center. The move is scheduled for early next year, said Stephen Burton, who has owned the grocery outlet with his wife Kelly since October.
The move will give the Burtons and their new grocery store more of everything, said Stephen Burton – more customer parking, more retail and storage space, and with that additional storage space, more community service.
“We’re really focusing on the positives of this move,” said Burton. “Not only is the new building a brand new building with the aesthetics of a new store and a vastly improved shopping experience for space and flow, it also allows us to become a stronger community partner and reach even more families in need.”
The JCPenney store closed in mid-October after having been in the same location for more than 30 years. Since then it has stood empty in the Garden Valley Shopping Center, which is located at 780 NW Garden Valley Blvd. is located.
Connie Bennett, who runs the Garden Valley Shopping Center for Silva Management Co. in Eugene, said transforming the former JCPenney, which included clothing, home accessories, bedding, and the like, into a grocery store with large refrigerated shelves is a huge task, and work on it should begin this month.
Bennett also said banners announcing the new Grocery Outlet should appear in the next few weeks, as well as a new sign on Garden Valley Boulevard promoting the Grocery Outlet and other stores in the mall, including Michaels, Ross Dress For Less, and Dollar tree.
The former JCPenney, at around 34,000 square feet, will give the Burtons a lot more space for their grocery store – about 3,000 square feet of additional retail space and even more storage space.
That will allow the couple to store more goods, which means more savings for customers and more opportunities for community service, said Stephen Burton.
In the 10 or so months that the Burtons owned the shop, they’ve been involved in several charity events, including fundraising for the Fish Food Pantry and the Dream Project, gift baskets for the Association of Vietnam Veterans of America, and providing food and water to the Senior center Roseburg during the recent heat wave.
More recently, Grocery Outlet donated pet food to the Saving Grace Pet Adoption Center to feed animals evicted by the Jack Fire.
“The equipment upgrades, the expansion of our retail space and the expansion of our warehouse will put us in an excellent position to take the next steps in our public relations,” said Stephen Burton. “It is currently under development, but one indication of our plans is to be able to send as many food insecure students home as possible with enough food for the weekend so they can focus without the distraction of an empty stomach. “
A LONG STORYThe Harvard Avenue Grocery Outlet Store has had a variety of owners over the past few years. In late 2017, Tom Leavitt retired and Mindi and Ken Admire took over the new shop owners.
Leavitt has owned the store with his wife, Ronda Leavitt, since it opened in 1975. It was then called Canned Foods and was located where Oregon Tool & Supply is now at 276 SE Stephens St.
A fire in 1988 resulted in the store being remodeled, then in 1991, when the store grew out of the old building, the Leavitts moved it to its current location, which offered more space and parking. Eventually, Canned Foods turned into Grocery Outlet as it began stocking more items such as meat, produce, clothing, and wine.
The history of the grocery outlet nationwide dates back to 1946 when Jim Read opened a military surplus store called Cannery Sales in San Francisco. In 1971 the Del Monte store signed its first supplier agreement.
In 1982 Peter and Steven Read took over the management of the company. In 1999 the business started selling fresh produce and four years later fresh meat was added.
In 2015, the Grocery Outlet expanded into the Los Angeles market. Today Grocery Outlet has more than 400 independently operated stores in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Last year has been a difficult year for Garden Valley Shopping Center, owned by RAM Property Development in Eugene. Pier 1 was closed earlier this year. The 10,000 square meter store had been in the mall for 15 years. The place is still free today.
In addition, the pandemic forced most of the mall’s stores to close for much of the year.
While the move of the grocery outlet gives the shopping center a boost, the south side of Roseburg will remain without a grocery store. A Safeway in downtown Roseburg was abandoned more than 20 years ago and razed to the ground in 2019.
The north side, meanwhile, has Fred Meyer, Safeway, Walmart, Sherms Thunderbird, Albertsons, and Costco. In addition, WinCo Foods has received its first permit to build a new supermarket on the site of the former Kmart, 2757 NW Stewart Parkway.
Scott Carroll can be reached at scarroll@nrtoday.com or 541-957-4204. Or follow him on Twitter @ scottcarroll15.
