The former Parkrose Grocery Outlet owner hopes to open a locally owned market by Thanksgiving with community support and fundraising.
PORTLAND, Oregon — A coalition of community leaders, business owners and residents are working to bring a grocery store back to Northeast Portland’s Parkrose neighborhood after the area’s Grocery Outlet closed earlier this year.
Former Grocery Outlet owner and manager Don McKeeder hopes to open a “fully locally-owned” store in the vacated building by mid-November.
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McKeeder is partnering with Historic Parkrose and other community leaders to raise $30,000 to launch the business. The project has already received an $8,000 no-interest loan from Historic Parkrose, along with a $6,000 donation from Portland City Council President Jamie Dunphy’s office.
City council members said they became involved after hearing about the crime and lack of city support McKeeder faced while operating the Grocery Outlet.
Dunphy, who lives just blocks from the former Grocery Outlet, encouraged others to support the effort.
“I hope everyone else in the community, who is able, will meaningfully chip in, and we can see this project come to reality,” Dunphy said.
McKeeder said the new grocery store will have a better security system and offer more than food. Plans include creating a community gathering space, as well as expanding products for families with infants and toddlers.
“They all expressed their wish they wanted a warm deli, or to get a coffee or to get something, a bite, and they could have their conversations,” McKeeder said.
Parkrose Coffee owner Lily Burnett said community support helped her own business get started and could do the same for the new grocery store.
“We raised $10,000 on GoFundMe from community members who wanted to see something positive being developed in Parkrose,” Burnett said.
Supporters hope the coffee shop and proposed grocery store will help revitalize a neighborhood that has struggled with crime and disinvestment.
“A lot of people are jaded right now and are just trying to figure out if the hope is real or not,” said Hector Marquez, executive director of Historic Parkrose.
McKeeder said reopening the store is about refusing to let crime define the neighborhood.
“Because of a few bad apples, you can’t retreat. You can’t ditch the effort, and other people suffer. You have to stand your ground, find solutions, and that’s what we’re doing,” McKeeder said.
Local business owners say reopening the grocery store is critical to preventing Parkrose from becoming a food desert.
“People are having to travel by car or bus to get out of the neighborhood to buy groceries, and we have a lot of homebound seniors in Parkrose, and this is just too big of a lift,” Burnett said.
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