Local businesses provide employment for area residents and products and services close to home. Mid-county Memo Business Memos celebrate news, advancements, promotions, retirements, expansions and other noteworthy events at these cornerstones of our community. To share news of your business with our readers, Business Memo submissions for the December issue are due by Thursday, Nov. 15. For best results, e-mail Darlene Vinson at editor@midcountymemo.com. You may also mail submissions to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave., Portland, OR 97230. To leave a phone message, dial 503-287-8904.
Chad and Gina Hilker are the new owners of Grocery Outlet in Parkrose.
COURTESY GINA HILKER
Grocery Outlet under new ownership
On Sept. 20, Grocery Outlet in Parkrose changed ownership, and along with the new owners, customers will also find new items, new employees and wine tastings. The store opened in August 2016. Original owner Rob Mode bought the Grocery Outlet in St. Johns.
New owners Gina and Chad Hilker are recent transplants from Texas, though Gina grew up in Yakima, Washington. The two have been in Portland for almost a year. In Texas, Gina was “in medicine, but [she decided she] wasn’t into patient care anymore.” Grocery care is more her speed, and the Hilkers are eager to mesh with the locals—preferably over some bubbly. “I want to have wine and food tastings two times a month,” she says.
According to Gina, you can also expect the Hilkers to capitalize on your frugality. “We’re a family-owned, local company. If we can’t save you 40 to 70 percent on your groceries, we don’t have it in the store.”
Visit Grocery Outlet and experience its reboot at 10721 N.E. Sandy Blvd.
Warm sock drive
Join Complete Health Dentistry of Portland in its third annual warm sock drive this fall. Staff and patients at this local dentist office collect new socks in all sizes, as well as gloves and scarves, to donate to clients of SnowCap Community Charities. Deliver your donation to 11765 N.E. Glisan St. Call 503-253-1262 to learn more.
Church expansion nearly complete
Crossroads Church, 2505 N.E. 102nd Ave., has nearly completed construction of a 22,000-square-foot addition that was begun in 2008.
“The project has taken awhile because it has been funded entirely by contributions, not financing,” according to Carol Bash, church bookkeeper. “The first phase erected the shell of the two-story building on the west side of the existing church building. As funds became available, work on the interior was done. Now we are very close to being granted occupancy by the city,” she said.
Plans are to use the additional space for church activities as well as outreach in service to the community. Bash credits Jim Watkins with being the team leader on the project, overseeing many volunteers.
Architect’s rendering of what the frontage of O’Dear, the new modern cocktail bar at 10810 N.E. Sandy Blvd., will look like upon completion.
COURTESY SCOTT THAMASON
Parkrose craft cocktail hub opening soon
Good things come to those who wait—even if the wait is for an unspecified period.
Parkrose fidgets in anticipation regarding the opening of O’Dear, a modern cocktail bar with plenty of Southeast Portland doppelgangers, cursing at the bar’s never-ending “coming soon” status pinned to its Facebook page. But don’t worry, one of its owners says, it really is coming.
“We are at least still a couple months out, possibly three. It will happen though, we promise! When we feel comfortable with a date, we will start promoting it and [getting] the word out,” says Scott Thomason. “When you start a project like this, you have some hefty ambitions from a timeline perspective, but it always ends up taking longer than expected. We want to make sure things are right and we create the space we set out to when we started.”
Thomason describes the progress further: “[O’Dear] has overcome some of the larger hurdles, and we have been focusing less on cleanup and demo and more on building out and finishing up work.” This may mean a launch is still possible before 2019 comes knocking.
As reported late this summer (“O’Dear cocktail bar opening pushed back,” MCM August 2018), O’Dear is reorienting its building’s blueprint, calling for the construction of a swanky upstairs lounge and a stage for rotating musical acts. Opening in the former location of Gilhooligans Bar and Grill (10810 N.E. Sandy Blvd.), the cocktail joint assures “unique food options for both lunch and dinner that people won’t find in the neighborhood,” according to Thomason, hinting at tiki-style drinks, tangy steak bites and gourmet charcuterie paired with cheese and fruit. He contends that O’Dear will operate as a restaurant by day and a nightclub/music venue by night.
Thomason will co-own O’Dear with Vince Culp, a seasoned bar owner who runs Whiskey Tango in Hood River (112 Oak St.) and 2nd Street Bar in Gresham (42 N.E. 2nd St.). If you’re familiar with Culp’s other hotspots, some signature menu items will rollover onto O’Dear’s menu.
O’Dear is fueled by a $50,000 Historic Parkrose storefront improvement grant.
“They’re still spending the money,” says Mingus Mapps, outgoing executive director of Historic Parkrose. “The contractors are working over there as we speak. Once they finish their work, we’ll get the bill and have a lovely brewpub.”
If Thomason is to be taken at face value, O’Dear is well worth the wait. Mapps believes it’s groomed to become “the jewel of Parkrose” upon completion. “I think we are most excited about providing something different for people in the Parkrose neighborhood,” says Thomason, who is excited to attract new blood to Parkrose’s drinking scene. “The spot is large, and we will be offering a lot, from food to pool to craft cocktails.”
For more on O’Dear, check out their Facebook page at facebook.com/ODear-Bar-980170058827132.
Reporter Jack Rushall contributed to this report
