Prosser’s old Shopko getting a $1.6 million renovation. The new store is adding 40 jobs
More than 40 jobs are returning to Prosser after a national chain pulled up stakes in the city last year.
Lep-re-Kon Harvest Foods, a small chain of Central Washington grocery stores, plans to start work on converting the empty Shopko Hometown into a grocery store.
The store at 471 Wine Country Road has been empty since last May when the troubled retailer shuttered stores across the Northwest, including locations in Prosser and Kennewick.
The Montemayor family, which runs the Othello-based grocery stores, bought the spot in September, and recently got a permit through the city for a $1.6 million renovation.
It was too good of a location not to snatch up, said Andrew Montemayor, the chain’s general manager.
“We’re super excited,” he said. “It was a really good location for us. ... We live close to Prosser. I went there for sports in high school. It’s just a really great community and we saw it as a really great opportunity to sell some groceries up there.”
The grocery store will have a staffed meat shop, produce section, bakery and deli, along with a full-service pharmacy, he said.
While the groundwork for the project starts next week, they haven’t settled on an opening date or figured out when they’re going to start accepting applications.
They hope to open the doors in late spring or early summer.
It will be the second grocery store for the city’s 6,000 population. Prosser’s Food Depot is on Meade Avenue.
Most of the 250 people who responded to a 2016 Prosser Economic Development Association survey were driving 20 to 25 miles to Sunnyside or the Tri-Cities to buy their groceries.
Eastern Washington chain
Lep-re-Kon’s current owners, Joe and Timo Montemayor, are a husband and wife who began working at the chain in the 1980s, before buying it in the early 2000s.
When they began, there were stores in Othello, Mattawa and Connell. They added a Moses Lake location in 2007 and a Zillah store in 2012.
The Moses Lake location is their largest and is about the size of an Albertson’s. The Prosser location will be close in size, but not quite as big, said Andrew Montemayor.
The proximity to their Othello headquarters is one of the reasons they picked it. They like to make sure they can easily visit all of the stores, he said.
“We try to be at the stores as much as we can,” he said. “Prosser is a great location. We’re familiar with the community.”
All of the stores are members of Harvest Foods marketing, which allows independent grocery stores to combine buying power.