Open & Shut

The Broadway Market Theater’s marquee came down this week — more than two years after the theater lost its lease. It’s part of the construction for QFC – a grocery store that is moving in from its space across the street. The new QFC space is being carved out of the awkward two-level Fred Meyer space and a handful of other businesses that have been evicted from their storefronts.

Like QFC, Fred Meyer is a Kroger-owned chain. Both stores were acquired by Kroger — which now owns more than a dozen other regional grocery chains — in the late nineties. (Update: In the comments, Dylan reminds me that Fred Meyer acquired QFC before Kroger acquired Fred Meyer.)

I checked the company history timeline on the QFC website for the date of the QFC-Kroger transaction. But the timeline is actually a history of the Kroger grocery chain, with no description of QFC’s background or even a mention the QFC acquisition.


The chain gym that took over the Theater’s space has remained open longer than I predicted. The introductory 50% off price for new memberships is apparently still being offered.

The old weblog entry that I linked in the first paragraph also mentioned the closing of the Green Cat Cafe. That closing turned out to be temporary. The Green Cat was reopened under the original management, and my understanding is that some of the employees were also later brought in as partners. But the Green Cat recently closed for good. It will reopen as “The Local Cafe” after a remodel is finished.

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Cookies

A mother at the grocery store says to her small son, “Do you want to get some cookies?”

He scans the shelves, something catches his eye. He makes a small “Oh” sound and reaches toward a box of fruit snacks.

His mother snaps at him, “I said cookies!”

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