Roger’s Market Place is officially closed.
The store announced it would be closing nearly two weeks ago. Signs in the window showed a progressive sale happening until March 1, but a sign in the window on Feb. 29 explained the store had closed “due to the overwhelming response.”
“Thank you for your support!” the sign reads.
Inside, the shelves of Roger’s Market Place are bare.
Sad to see them go, a horrible site to see driving by the store the last 2 weeks and see the parking lot FULL. Too bad the customers couldn’t have come sooner to support them. I have not heard what is going to happen next, another grocery store?? Anyone know?
Like many others I would like to know what will replace Roger’s Market, I sincerely hope that the building will not stand empty for any length of time. It’s a disappointment to have them close. I hope the workers have obtained other jobs. Monette Partin
I am curious… what would people like to see go in that spot?
Another small grocery store…Red Apple, Trader Joes or Whole Foods??
I would like all those options 🙂
Like you, I’d love to see that type of store replace the old Roger’s (which I didn’t care for). Here’s another possibility in that small-store concept from Kroger, the grocery giant (QFC, Fred Meyer, and many more): “Main & Vine” grocery. Its first such local store, recently opened at a former QFC site in Gig Harbor, seems to embody the same concepts as PCC (my #1 favorite), Red Apple, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Moreover, it provides community amenities such as eating space and cooking demos, as well as fresh and organic foods besides standard grocery items. While I’m not a fan of mega-corporation-owned businesses and sprawling supermarkets, Kroger’s newest store seems like the perfect fit for our Town Center. Plus, the name “Main & Vine” fits right in.
We too would love another grocery store in the old town center. However, the wise folks at city hall have long wanted all of that core populated with multi-family projects while not being equally committed to the accompanying commercial presence we were promised ten years ago. If they were they would take note of the challenge parking presents for tenanting the ground floor commercial component of such mid-rise projects.
I’m not for more cars clogging our streets, but the future of alternative transportation modes is just that, in the future. Based on the budgetary hole they’ve dug, I think the movers and shakers around here want development now. The Rogers site would work perfectly for a multi-story residential building over commercial and underground parking on essentially the same footprint as the current store. That would leave the surface parking for customers of the ground floor retail – maybe including a grocer and perhaps another regionally notable restaurant.
Done otherwise – maximizing density and minimizing on-site residential parking is just a formula for expanding the problem of on-street parking and crowded streets even farther north while doing little to fulfill the promise of a viable commercial core.
A great deal is made of the success of the strip mall including Diamond Knot and D&D Meats. Those are both great businesses, but if anyone wonders why that property is full and the commercial space at 236th and 56th is virtually empty three years after opening, parking might have something to do with it.
Len is absolutely correct about parking when he says: “The Rogers site would work perfectly for a multi-story residential building over commercial and underground parking on essentially the same footprint as the current store. That would leave the surface parking for customers of the ground floor retail – maybe including a grocer and perhaps another regionally notable restaurant.”
Ensuring enough surface parking is important to attract and retain grocery and other in-and-out shoppers. The visual effect of open space in front of a business(es) is inviting and says “welcome.” Moreover, cars on such lots convey business success, in turn drawing in more consumers, as we’ve seen at the DD Meats/Diamond Knot/Snohomish Pie/Romio’s lot (and the popular espresso stand). Leave the parking garages for the multi-story occupants.
Here’s another point: Cars aside, many of us are fortunate to live within walking distance to the town center and most of us want to keep it that way. It’s crucial that our nearby residential areas be protected.
Thank you Eiya for the shout out in support of protecting nearby residential neighborhoods. That has been my priority as respects the Town Center environs for over 20 years.
I loved Roger’s, particularly the wonderful people who worked there, and was so very sad to see it close. I hope we get in something similar–a single grocery store, hopefully remodeled on the inside, if not rebuilt. I remember shopping there when it was Lucky’s back in 1974, and it was so convenient, and small enough that I didn’t get exhausted just getting from one end of the store to the other!
I sure hope they don’t put one of those big multi-use places here–the SHAG one they are opening soon only has half as many parking space as apartments!! That’s sheer stupidity. Putting too-few parking spaces for apartment buildings in the Hopes that everyone will ride buses everywhere is simply unrealistic, especially for seniors. Likewise, that they will just ride bikes everywhere. There comes a point in life when you can’t physically DO that any more!!
I don’t know what our city council was thinking, allowing that kind of nonsense….
I drove by on Friday and was surprised to see at least 6 semi trailers in the parking lot and bright lights on inside. I will have to take a closer look sometime soon to see if I can spot any clues. I’d love to see a TJs there or even something like a Red Apple. That store was/is the core of downtown MLT. Now there is the old Red Onion drive in across the street and Roger’s creating a vacuum there.