Store regulars, like Michael Kaufman, went to the restaurant on its final day to give it a proper farewell. The staff and customers knew the store was closing by the end of the year, but when they found out it would be closed suddenly, “we all just collapsed,” he said.
Bob Donegan, president of Ivars Inc., which owns Kidd Valley, said the company has been talking with employees since it first decided to sell the property to CVS. The company was waiting for official confirmation that the deal went through before it closed its doors, he said. They gave customers final notice the weekend prior.
Of the location’s 10 employees, three resigned to go back to school and the other seven were transferred to the Green Lake location, which is the next closest to Queen Anne.
It was decided last year that Kidd Valley would sell the property to CVS.
The development met strong community opposition early on, particularly when initial designs showed a one-story shopping center. Newer design proposals on the Department of Planning and Development’s website show a two-story, mixed-use building with a pedestrian-oriented streetscape.
“It’s going to be terrible,” said Kaufman, who has lived on Queen Anne for 25 years and has gone to the restaurant five days a week for almost as long. “Bartell’s is a block away.” Kaufman doesn’t like the idea of an East Coast-based chain taking the place of his favorite, local hamburger joint.
Customers were disappointed the store closed, Donegan said: “We’ve been there for a long time. We were an active part in everything that goes on in the community.”
Now, Kaufman plans to spend his days at Dicks’ Drive-In down the street and eventually venture beyond the hill to Kidd Valley’s Green Lake location, to visit the old staff.
“Everyone is very sad,” he said. “I’m sad about it.”
But customers might not have to be upset for too long: Donegan confirmed that Kidd Valley, which had been in Queen Anne since 1986, is looking for another location in the neighborhood. Retail space is limited, but Donegan hopes to secure a new Queen Anne Kidd Valley “as soon as possible.”
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