Its founder, Terry Halverson, got his first job here as a bag boy ("courtesy clerk," in modern-speak) at the age of 16. He eventually bought the store, added several more over the years, and changed the company's name to Metropolitan Market in 2004.
A sign at the site of a new six-story residential project directs shoppers to the bottom of the hill, where Metropolitan has a 32,000 square-foot supermarket that it completely remodeled in 2010).
The landlord, developer Joe Geivett of Emerald Bay Equity, has an excellent reputation for community involvement, but can't make the numbers work for Metropolitan, which needs a parking lot big enough for 60-foot semis to back in without using side streets, the way they do at the Safeway, a block to the north. Best guess for a replacement market in the site's new apartment complex: Trader Joe, bursting at the seams in its store on West Galer. Trader Joe shoppers are delighted at the prospect of wider aisles, but hilltop residents who don't drive (and can't make the trip down the Counterbalance to the Met Market on Mercer) are none too unhappy.
It wasn't easy for Halverson to close his first store, but he's moving on. The company has bought the Magnolia Thriftway from its longtime owners, and will remodel it early this autumn.
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