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Major changes in store for Ashland Safeway Monday Jan 9, 2017 at 12:01 AM By Jim Flint for the Mail Tribune Remodeling has begun in earnest on the old Ashland Safeway store at Siskiyou Boulevard and Sherman Street, with an anticipated reopening of March 15. Major changes are in the works, including a relocated entrance, a Starbucks with indoor and outdoor seating, and fresh sushi with a sushi chef on site. “We’re going to be able to provide approximately 100 new jobs,” said Victoria Wagner, a communications administrator for the Portland division office of Safeway/Albertsons. “And we’re doing our best to bring back as many of the previous Safeway employees as possible,” she said. The store has been closed for more than a year. It was acquired in a merger with Albertsons in 2015, but then sold to the Washington-based Haggen chain when the Federal Trade Commission cited antitrust issues. Haggen operated the store under its own name for several months before closing it after filing for bankruptcy in the fall of 2015. The FTC allowed Albertsons to buy back 33 Safeway stores out of the bankruptcy, including Ashland’s. Passersby may have noticed that the pavement has been torn up in front of the store. It’s part of the work in relocating the main entrance from the side to the center of the storefront. “Our new entrance will include plenty of nearby bike parking and outdoor seating,” Wagner said. Some of the new outdoor seating will serve customers of the store’s new coffee vendor operation. “We’ll have the most up-to-date Starbucks,” Wagner said, “with both indoor and outdoor seating, outdoor heating, and a roll-up door.” The store has contracted with AFC Sushi to operate the fresh sushi department. A sushi chef will work on site. AFC is the largest provider of its kind in the United States and can be found in university and corporate food courts, in military commissaries, as well as in supermarkets. Fresh seafood will be a new emphasis for the Ashland Safeway. “We’ll focus on providing fresh, local and natural in our Ashland store,” Wagner said. “Some of the focus items will include wild sockeye salmon, fresh seafood fillets, and local seafood products from Pacific Seafood.” Pacific Seafood has its headquarters in Oregon and recently celebrated 75 years in business. Its CEO is the grandson of the Croatian immigrant who started the business selling fresh seafood out of the trunk of his car. Other additions will include an expanded choice of homeopathic and natural items, a large selection of specialty cheeses, and fresh fruit cut daily. Before remodeling could begin, some clean-up was required. Asbestos was removed from the store in the spring. The store will have all new cases in the meat and produce departments, with an increased variety of organic items and a bulk foods section. The delicatessen will be revamped as well. — Jim Flint is a former newspaper publisher and editor living in Ashland. Reach him at [email protected].