IGA Village Foods closes its doors
September 11, 2008
By Laura Geggel
Pharmacy to remain open on Ridge
Another grocery store is expected to take the place of IGA Village Foods, which closed its doors on Snoqualmie Ridge over the weekend. Photo by Laura Geggel
Less than three years after opening, IGA Village Foods on Snoqualmie Ridge has closed its doors.The grocery store’s owners converted the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection they acquired in January to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which effectively shut down the store Sept. 5.
“(Chapter 7) means its gone out of business and the corporation is being liquidated,” said Jeffrey Wells, attorney for Village Food Markets. “Corporations do not survive Chapter 7.”
The Snoqualmie Village Pharmacy, a separate company located on the left side of the store, will remain open, said Pharmacist Terry Clinch. He said he heard that the pharmacy would soon have a window bordering the sidewalk that will allow customers to drop off prescriptions and pick up medications. Until then, one of the automatic doors is still working for pharmacy employees and customers.
Clinch added the pharmacy would keep its normal business hours of 9 a.m. — 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. — 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Although IGA Village Foods has closed, produce and partially stocked shelves can be seen from the windows. Wells said Key Bank was liquidating the store’s assets. He predicted that another grocery store would reopen in the same location, “but how fast and who it is, I don’t know,” Wells said.
Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said the space would not remain vacant for long.
“I am aware of at least two future options currently under negotiation,” Larson wrote in an e-mail. He declined to name the companies, but said the city would assist them “in any way that would be helpful and appropriate.”
IGA Village Foods — which stands for Independent Grocers Alliance — opened in February 2006. The 21,400-square-foot store struggled with finances, which only worsened after the December 2006 storm.
As a result of the storm, storeowners John Weller and Pete Ferren lost $60,000, of which only $10,000 was covered, according to their Chapter 11-bankruptcy declaration.
Wells said the owners continued to face financial problems, making it difficult for the store to restock its supplies.
“Basically, if you start to get behind, it gets harder and harder to catch up,” said Wells.
“You go down a slippery slope, and that’s what happened to my clients.”
Ridge resident Stephanie Kampschror said she shopped at the Safeways in North Bend and Issaquah for most of her groceries, but said she used IGA Village Foods for spur-of-the-moment purchases.
Kampschror called the store “convenient” but “expensive.” Still, the store had a good selection of produce, she said.
IGA’s closing caused Kampschror to change her Monday plans — she had intended to buy salad materials for dinner, but “I’ll just have to call my husband and ask him to pick up something,” she said.
Wells said Weller and Ferren did their best to keep the store running.
“The owners have worked hard to try to save the store and to make it work, but the financial hole they were in was just too great and they were unable to do so despite their best efforts,” Wells said.
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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