For the week of April 9 - 15, 2003

Paul’s Market prepares for final days

Store holding sale to liquidate inventory

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

At Paul’s Market in Hailey, the signs of change were already in place last weekend. Outside, expansive banners in the front windows advertised a 10 percent discount on all of the grocery store’s inventory. Inside, the meat, dairy and produce sections were virtually empty, as customers and clerks speculated on how long the remaining stocks of food and household goods will last.

Paul’s Market in Hailey is closing to make way for a new shopping center on the block it occupies on Main Street. Express photo by Willy Cook

 

"It’s going fast," store manager Brian Ford said, noting that discounts will increase later this week to help the store clear out its remaining inventory.

Paul’s, an anchor in the Hailey downtown business district since the late 1980s, will close in the weeks to come, although a final closure date has not been announced. A group of developers at the end of March closed a deal to purchase the 21,000-square-foot Paul’s Market building at 117 Main St., allowing the market’s managers 60 days to vacate the site.

Ford declined to comment on the closure of the market, except to note that the store will remain open in coming weeks to sell its remaining stock.

Paul Zatica, owner of the Homedale-based Paul’s Market chain, could not be reached for comment on the closure of the Hailey market or speculation that he is searching for a new supermarket location in the Wood River Valley.

Paul Kenny, real-estate broker for the Ketchum office of Colliers International, who brokered the sale of the Paul’s Market building, said Paul’s representatives are considering the purchase of a new site in a commercial-zoned area of Woodside subdivision in Hailey, but no final decision has been reached.

Led by Ketchum real-estate broker John Sofro, the group of developers that purchased the Paul’s Market building plans to redevelop the commercial structure into a shopping center with eight retail and restaurant units. The group has negotiated with the owners of the Hailey hardware store L.L. Green’s, currently located in Alturas Plaza, to move the business to anchor the new shopping center.

The impending closure of Paul’s Market has already had an affect on its clientele and staff. On March 31, the market stopped conducting all customer-service transactions involving check cashing, Western Union wire transfers, money orders and Select-a-Seat ticket sales.

On Sunday, some of the market’s staff wondered aloud what they will do for employment after the store is closed.

In addition, the market is no longer processing Idaho Power utility bills, a service that was long popular with many area residents for its convenience. However, the service is now being provided by Colortyme, a rent-to-own business at 743 N. Main St. in Bellevue.

Paul’s owners did make a substantial effort to relocate the business in the Wood River Valley while the supermarket building was offered for sale in 2002. A plan by the company to build a new 35,800-square-foot building and parking lot on the entire block between Hailey’s Main and River streets and Maple and Chestnut streets was rejected last May by the city Planning and Zoning Commission.

Paul’s representatives had applied to rezone a portion of the block from General Residential to Business but were denied their request by the city amid complaints from some area residents that the site was inappropriate for a large-scale business operation.

 

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