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Ray�s felt several pinches photo by Andrew Kemp Convenience for many deals blow to those in the way By SHARI DOWNHILL Ray�s Food Place on North Pacific Highway closed Thursday, falling victim to a freeway interchange project designed to make traffic flow more smoothly through the city. The project moves Medford�s "Big Y" intersection in front of the Rogue Valley Mall, and creates a new highway from Medford to Jacksonville, connecting to Highway 238 at Hanley Road. The eventual convenience for many has dealt a death blow to those sitting in the path of progress � including Ray�s and the nearby Burger King and Hungry Woodsman restaurants. Constructed in August 1993, Ray�s at North Pacific Highway was built on a site that met traffic flow criteria of Brookings-based parent company C&K Markets. But that was before the Oregon Department of Transportation set a course to redesign the north Medford freeway interchange, said Doug Nidiffer, C&K�s president and chief executive officer. "The express concern for ODOT ... was to make their project work," Nidiffer said. "They tried very hard to mitigate the project, but their mission was to create a better highway." C&K District Manager Mitch Pallotta said construction activity confused customers entering and leaving the store�s parking area. Once the construction stops, the result won�t be any better, Pallotta said. "The predicted long-term changes at that location were permanent and were not acceptable," he said. "Once the construction is complete, we�re losing a substantial amount of parking area and our egress from the parking lot will be greatly impaired ... two exits will be right turns only." The opening of Albertson�s in Central Point and WinCo Foods on Barnett Road also could have contributed to the drop in customer sales at the Medford Ray�s store, Pallotta said. C&K owns the property and 42,000-square-foot building and will consider options for its sale or lease following the completion of the interchange project, likely sometime this summer. All but 10 of the 70 Ray�s employees from the North Pacific Highway location transferred to jobs at one of the six remaining Ray�s Food Place stores in the Rogue Valley, Pallotta said. Prescription files from the Pharmacy Express outlet in the store are now at the Ray�s in Central Point, 126 Pine St. The Medford store�s closure is not an indication of overall company financial health, Nidiffer said. "C&K is very healthy right now. This is just a problem with that specific location." C&K Market Inc. also owns stores in Phoenix, Rogue River, Grants Pass, Murphy and Gold Hill. The company operates 28 grocery stores in Oregon and 20 in California. "We�re actually in a growth mode right now," Pallotta said. C&K Markets recently opened stores in Eugene and Bend and is building a 42,000-square-foot store in Sutherlin. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.