Trio looks to bring new grocery store to town

If one were to ask 25 Boulder City residents what the town is missing, you’d probably get a few different answers like affordable housing or a movie theater. But the overwhelming answer would likely be the same – a second grocery store.

Thanks to a trio of longtime Boulder City residents and business owners, that wish may be granted in the near future.

Last week, Bret Runion, Grant Turner and Ed Cave closed escrow on the former Central Market building on Arizona Street, which up until a month ago operated as an antique mall. They purchased the building from the Wayne and Helen Goble trust. The Gobles owned and ran Central Market for decades but closed it about a dozen years ago.

“Grant and I had worked on buying it before Wayne had passed but it just never came together,” Runion said.

“We then made another run at it probably a year before it hit the market,” Turner added.

But they said the day it listed as for sale in January of this year, they got the ball rolling because there was no question they were still interested. The owner of the antique mall apparently had first right to purchase it once their lease expired last month but chose not to, opening the door for others.

“We’ve all been talking about this for a long, long time,” Runion said. “All three of us are heavily invested in downtown Boulder City, so this is important for us.”

Cave agreed.

“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.”

Public’s desire

Runion, Turner and Cave already own several properties in the downtown area including Turner’s Dillinger and Skinny Bar. Turner said, on a regular basis, he will ask his Boulder City customers what the town needs most. The answer is almost unanimous.

“Probably 95% of the time their answer is, ‘a second grocery store,’” he said. “The town wants it badly.”

Word of the purchase and subsequent plans are starting to spread with great anticipation.

“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,” said Boulder City Chamber of Commerce CEO Jill Rowland Lagan. “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.”

Wanting a grocery store to return to that location may not be as easy as it sounds, despite the community interest. The trio have started putting out feelers to smaller grocery chains since they realize a larger chain won’t be moving into that location or anywhere in town, for that matter, any time soon.

They’re hoping whomever moves in will offer things that make them stand out more, like a full-service butcher shop as well as wines and cheeses. With more restaurants in the downtown area than ever before, they feel the store could cater to the restaurants with meats and a variety of other items. Turner said he’d be willing to make a commitment to the store that he’d buy his meats and other necessities from them, at a cost of at least $30,000 a month, for the Dillinger. He’s confident other Boulder City restaurants would make the same commitment.

“It was so convenient having Central Market there,” Turner said. “If we needed, say peppers for our cheesesteaks, we could just walk across the street and get them. We were there probably four to five times a week.”

More than just a business deal

Runion said this purchase wasn’t just about money for the three.

“This is us wanting to make a difference in the community,” he said. “Everyone we’ve talked to has been so supportive of our plan.”

“The response from everyone has been, ‘That would be so amazing,’” Cave said.

“I get a little bit of (expletive) for every project I’ve done but I have not gotten even an ounce of pushback on this one,” Turner said, laughing. “I’ve tried to keep this tight-lipped until now but the word is starting to get out. People are very excited about the possibility of another store.”

The three have no plans to sell the building to a grocery store but rather lease it. This is fairly common in that stores will enter into a long-term lease agreement instead of buying a building outright.

“We want to find a successful, experienced operator,” Runion stressed.

The building attached to the back portion of Central Market has been several restaurants over the years, the most recent being Casa Don Quixote. Conveniently, Runion and Turner purchased that portion of the building in 2020. A new restaurant is planning to move in Aug. 1.

The market portion of the building is approximately 8,500 square feet. They realize that a major facelift will be needed on the building to attract a tenant, starting with exterior windows, which the building offered prior to a fire 40 years ago. (See rendering that accompanies this article of what they envision). For now, they will wait to see what vision a new tenant may have before any upgrades are made by either party.

Cave said the city and chamber have had several inquiries from grocery outlets about coming to Boulder City. They plan to follow up on those inquiries as well as marketing the building in several other ways.

“Right now, we have an existing building that can be renovated for a reasonable amount of money versus ground-up construction,” Tuner said in terms of starting a store from scratch. “Realistically, they could come here, move into our building and be open by the end of the year.”