(Editor’s note: This is a follow-up to the story first reported by the News online Wednesday, July 11 at QueenAnneNews.com and Magnolia News.net)
Magnolia Thriftway owner Jim Penhollow was feeling the time had come to begin looking towards retirement after 34 years of running his grocery store. According to Brad Halverson, Metropolitan Market’s Vice President of Marketing, Penhollow picked up the phone and called Met Market, with whom he had had a long-standing relationship, dating back to when Met Market was a Thriftway store.
Metropolitan Market was interested. If you were to ask them, both Penhollow and Metropolitan Market officials would likely tell you that their like-minded customer service and community values made the transaction a natural fit.
“We want to be part of the close-knit community and continue the investment that the Penhollow family and store team has made, including the way in which they have taken care of customers,” said Terry Halverson, Metropolitan Market president and CEO in a prepared statement. “We look forward to taking part in the neighborhood’s rich history-the Magnolia Little League, SummerFest, schools like Catharine Blaine K-8, Lawton Elementary, Our Lady of Fatima, and other organizations supported over the years.”
For Penhollow, “it is a bittersweet” leave-taking, made easier, perhaps, because “we leave Magnolia Thriftway in the capable hands of Metropolitan Market,” he said in a news release.
Although purchase of the 17,500-square-foot store at 3830 34th Ave. West in Magnolia won’t be finalized until early September, Metropolitan Market has already begun meeting with Magnolia Thriftway employees and conducting interviews for staffing their new store. It plans to make changes in the store, but before launching that task, officials will be talking with customers to find out what they want, creating places inside the store and on their Web site where customers can give specific feedback.
A full-scale remodel is set for 2013, and the store will remain open throughout the transition and remodel. Until then, “we’ll be making slight adjustments, applying some of our colors, signage and fixtures at the store starting in September as well as introducing some of our tasty signature products,” Vice President Brad Halverson said.
Met Market officials are currently getting to know Magnolia Thriftway employees, providing them with information about the Met Market company, and having them apply to join the Met Market staff, “keeping in mind the bond that exists between them and the Magnolia community,” said Halverson.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Market is taking care of its own employees in its now-closed upper Queen Anne store by providing jobs for them in the lower Queen Anne store or in their other stores. “(Upper) Queen Anne customers will immediately recognize them on their shopping trips and can interact with them about food and community life, as usual,” Halverson said.
Earlier this month Metropolitan Market announced an investment from Endeavour Capital, a West Coast private-equity firm, to help fund its growth, providing the money it needs to open new stores and improve current locations.
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