Search for Central Market tenant continues

It’s been just short of two months since of a trio of friends, who are also longtime local property and business owners, made an announcement that piqued the interest of many in Boulder City.

Bret Runion, Grant Turner and Ed Cave announced in early July that they had not only purchased the former Central Market building on Arizona Street but that their goal was to bring in a small chain store to lease the building and call it home.

Needless to say, the three received plenty of input, inquiries and appreciation for the proposed plan.

“First and foremost, the positive feedback has been both consistent and overwhelming,” Runion said late last week. “Without doubt, the community is indeed craving a downtown market. We can hardly go out in Boulder City without hearing supportive input from fellow residents.”

Since the announcement, they have been seeking that right fit for the location. For now, the search continues.

“We knew from the beginning that finding the perfect operator was imperative,” Runion said. “We are patiently searching, but we knew that it would take time.”

He added that with community-wide support, including from the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce and City Hall, “We have been planting seeds, all the while we are fine-tuning both our message and our criteria. We really want to get this right the first time.”

Turner agreed.

“We are interviewing applicants and being very discerning in our effort to find a market that meets all of the community’s needs and desires, such as a meat market, flowers, fresh produce,” Turner said. “We feel very optimistic and we definitely feel that we have momentum, based on the extraordinary feedback.”

Turner added that, “It might be worth mentioning that by a wide margin Trader Joe’s was the overall top choice of the community.”

Cave expressed similar thoughts in July.

“We’ve always felt getting a grocery store back in that location was ideal,” he said. “The demographics and housing in this area have changed greatly over the years. We used to have two chain supermarkets and Central Market, co-existing at the same time. Now we’re down to just one so we feel this is a prime opportunity, especially with its location.”

At the time of the announcement, Chamber CEO Jill Rowland Lagan said, “There is a lot of excitement knowing the new owners of the old market just might be the town heroes and bring back the hometown grocery store we’ve all been missing for many years.”

“It’s such an iconic location that will add to the quality of life for our residents as well as build on the number of guests within the Historic Downtown,” said Rowland Lagan.