Highland neighborhood market closes in Salem

Capi Lynn | Statesman Journal

The shades are drawn partly closed, and beer signs occupy most of the windows. A cardboard box sits out front next to the tin garbage can, and there’s a 5-gallon bucket around the corner.

The Ma & Pa Market once was the heart of Highland neighborhood, an older area just north of downtown Salem.

Past owners of the corner grocery store sponsored block parties and took up collections for neighbors in need. They knew the names of children who flocked to the market to buy fists full of penny candy.

It was a true mom and pop store, perhaps the last of its kind in Salem-Keizer.

The market closed several weeks ago, and the building is for sale.

“It’s a cool piece of history,” said Russ Sell, who owns the property at 800 Highland Ave. NE. “At one point it was a pretty cool market, but it’s pretty run down right now.”

He leased the building, which includes living quarters in the rear, to Sam and Joy Lee the past four and half years.

The Lees packed up in mid-March and left for Seattle, where a son lives. There was no official going out of business sale, but friend Stephanie Fravel helped liquidate merchandise over the next few weeks. Items remained on the shelves in the store and furnishings in the home when Fravel turned over the keys to Sell.

“I’m just heartbroken,” Fravel said. “Sam and Joy are the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

The Lees took over the market in the fall of 2012. They had no experience running a grocery store or any other business. Sam had been a longtime pastor, and a Korean church sponsored him and his family to come to Oregon in 2000. They became U.S. citizens about two years ago, according to their son, Toms Lee.

Running a small grocery store, in the middle of a neighborhood with higher than average crime and poverty rates, would be a challenge for the most seasoned businessman. The growth of chain stores and changing consumer habits have made operations like the Ma & Pa Market nearly extinct.

Sell, who bought the market in the 1980s and ran it for some half-dozen years as part of his Russ’ Day-N-Nite chain, believes it could still be a viable enterprise.

“It’s a much better neighborhood than when I bought the store,” he said. “People are fixing places up, lawns are mowed.”

A market has operated at that same address for more than eight decades. It first shows up in the Statesman Journal archives in 1934, listed as Highland Market in an advertisement for local grocery stores.

It was known primarily as Highland Market up until the 1980s, although it sometimes was preceded by the last name of the owner, such as Elsasser, Carr, and Kangas. Several changes in ownership took place, usually published as a notice when the new owner applied for a transfer of liquor license.

In the 1940s and 50s, the market was an independently owned IGA store with a reputation of selling fresh quality meats and offering twice-a-day deliveries.

The most nostalgic era for the market seems to have been in the 1960s and 1970s. A post about the market’s closure on the Facebook page “You Know You’re From Salem, Oregon When …” rekindled fond memories from more than 125 people.

Many of them remember stopping at the market on their way home from school to buy candy, ice cream or soda pops. Highland Elementary is three blocks to the west, and St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School is two blocks to the east. The array of penny candy behind the counter was a hot topic among the group.

Woong Min and his wife, Young, were the original Ma & Pa. They took over in 1990, at a time when the market was reported to have been robbed every other week. They scrubbed the place clean, stopped selling high alcohol content fortified wines, and were described as owners who ran the store as a neighborhood service, not just a profit-making business.

Not long after purchasing the market, the Korean couple invited 300 neighbors to a block party and served free hot dogs and chips. The neighborhood made a public presentation a few months later to thank the Mins for their dedication to the community.

They were known as kind-hearted owners who extended credit to the poor and offered a helping hand to those in need. When a teenager was stabbed and killed in a neighborhood alley in 1993, reportedly on her way to the market, the Mins started a collection to help the family cover funeral expenses.

More than $2,000 was collected in a jar at the counter.

The owners between the Mins and Lees seem to have made less-than-favorable impressions. Before the Lees took over, customers were likely to find adult videos and glass pipes on display behind the counter instead of penny candy.

The Lees made efforts to clean up the operation and the site.

“I saw the gentleman outside most days sweeping, hosing down or mowing,” said Geoff Darling, co-chair of the Highland Neighborhood Association.

The Lees may have been overwhelmed by repairs they said were needed to the property, which city inspectors are scheduled to visit and evaluate this week for possible building code violations. The Lees barely made enough to cover their lease and expenses and felt they were out of options when they left the market behind.

"Mom and dad have always spent their lives with very little," Toms Lee said. "It’s not as if they had much to lose."

Sam had a reputation for being generous to a fault, giving food and other items to the homeless and less fortunate. During the winters, he would buy boxes of hand-warmers and gather coats and other clothing items to distribute.

“His biggest thing was for people who felt unloved in other places to feel loved when they came into the store,” his son said.

Today, Sam is working as a cashier at a convenience store in the Seattle area, and Joy is working as a housekeeper at a motel.

"It’s amazing to see mom and dad in the middle of all these negative circumstances to remain very thankful and grateful for everything they have," Toms Lee said. “They are really thankful to the people who had been coming into the store faithfully the last five years.”

The Highland Neighborhood Association has not discussed a wish-list for what they hope becomes of the neighborhood landmark. One neighbor brought up the idea of opening a co-op coffee shop, but that hasn't gained traction.

The building's uncertain future makes some neighbors nervous, including Don Ferguson, who has lived kitty-corner to the market since 1985.

“I sure don’t want it turned into a marijuana selling place, and I’d just as soon it wasn’t a liquor store,” Ferguson said.

He admitted that he and others who live nearby don't use the market much, only for staples needed in a pinch, such as salt and sugar.

Sell believes a neighborhood market could again be successful in that location, even in a changing retail climate. The price tag for this one is $180,000.

“Sure it can be — if you work it right,” he said. “You can sell enough to make a living, but you won’t get rich doing it.”

“Forward This” appears Wednesdays and Sundays and highlights the people, places and organizations of the Mid-Willamette Valley. Contact Capi Lynn at clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or 503-399-6710, or follow her the rest of the week on Twitter @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.