Discount grocer set to move in

Grocery Outlet to occupy former site of west-side Value Village

SCOTT WYLAND THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- A Berkeley, Calif.-based grocer will open a discount food store by May in the 15,000-square-foot, west-side space that Value Village vacated last year.

Grocery Outlet will sell food and housewares marked down by an average of 40 percent in what will be the 30-year-old company's 114th store.

Value Village, which is bound to a long-term lease, will sublet the site at Harrison Avenue and Division Street to Grocery Outlet.

"It really looked like the right space for us," said Jon Wiley, Grocery Outlet spokesman.

The site met all of the company's requirements -- high visibility, an affordable leasing rate, strong traffic flow and a fairly dense residential area, Wiley said.

The company has stores in eight states, including 21 in Washington. It will employ 30 to 35 people in Olympia.

Grocery Outlet buys goods at a discount from 2,500 manufacturers, then sells them at reduced prices to shoppers.

Manufacturers often pare prices to unload items with outdated packaging or to shed surplus stock, Wiley said.

A surplus can occur when a factory produces too much of an item, an overseas vendor cancels an order or a grocer falls into financial trouble, Wiley said. Although prices are trimmed, the quality is the same as what shoppers would find at regular stores, he added.

Larry Martin, a Vancouver, Wash., resident, will run the Olympia store and receive a portion of the profits. Grocery Outlet will pay for the remodeling work and the advertising.

The company forms these types of partnerships to run all of its stores, Wiley said. The agreements differ from franchises, which require the local operators to chip in more fees.

In July 2001, Value Village shut down the west-side store it had opened in the mid-1990s.

The company found that the South Sound market couldn't support that store and the newer, larger one in Lacey, said Robert Coron, an agent with Bellevue-based John Galt Corp., which represents Value Village stores.

Happy neighbors

A manager at a neighboring business is glad to see Grocery Outlet fill a space that had been vacant for eight months.

"Anything's better than the black void," said Peggy Brown, West Marine's manager. "We're really happy to have anyone come in that will generate traffic here."

Scott Wyland is a business reporter for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-357-0748 or swyland@olympia.gannett.com.

Grocery Outlet

- Based: Berkeley, Calif.

- Type: Discount sales.

- Size: Owns 113 stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Hawaii.

On the Web:

- Grocery Outlet

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The Olympian Copyright 2002

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