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New market � old location Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming photos Scott Ready and Karen Trank, above, work together Tuesday filling shelves in the new Market of Choice, which opens today where Buy Rite once stood across from Southern Oregon University on Siskiyou Boulevard in Ashland. Market of Choice will offer bulk foods, left, conventional products and organic and natural foods. Remodeled store opens today across from SOU By Tony Boom ASHLAND � Grocery shopping will resume at an old location with a new $3.4 million look when Market of Choice opens this morning. Contractors applied finishing touches throughout the store Tuesday while employees stocked shelves and checked operating systems. Manager Sean Grunwald hoped to get some sleep before the store�s "soft opening" at 7 a.m. Market of Choice is located on the site of the former Meister�s Buy Rite market across from Southern Oregon University at 1475 Siskiyou Blvd. The remodeled outlet offers conventional and natural foods, an on-site bakery and a deli in a space nearly 40 percent larger. "We are not coming in and opening a new market that didn�t exist," said Rick Wright, executive vice president of Eugene�s Wright�s Foodliner, parent company of Market of Choice. Wright said the firm had been considering an Ashland operation when it learned that Steve Meister wanted to sell the business and lease the building. Wright�s Foodliner also has three stores in Eugene, two in Grants Pass and one in Cottage Grove. "The area�s much like south Eugene," said Wright. "Clients are very much into natural and organic foods." Other grocery outlets in Ashland are Albertson�s, Ashland Community Food Store, Cantwell�s Market, Safeway and Shop �N� Kart. Buy Rite closed in fall 1999. Wright said Market of Choice differs from Ashland Community Food Store in that it offers conventional products in addition to organic and natural foods. He said the store�s price structure "will be quite a bit better" than Cantwell�s, which also offers a mix of conventional and natural products. The Quonset-style roof of the old Buy Rite is no longer visible, hidden behind a new facade of brick highlights and metal roofing that also encompasses four other businesses in the plaza. Products are shelved on wood displays inside the market. A ceiling has been removed to reveal beams and the curved roof. Expansion has increased the market�s size from 12,900 to 21,000 square feet. The store includes the former grocery area, space once occupied by a drug store and a 28-foot-wide addition across the rear of the building that will serve as a storage and receiving area. A loading dock was added to the new space. The old drug store site was demolished for the remodel. Market of Choice has invested $2.4 million in the remodel. Meister spent $1 million to remodel the building�s exterior and to repave the parking lot. Adroit Construction Co., of Ashland, did the remodel. About two-thirds of the 80 employees will work full time. The store has 12 managers for overall operations and departments. Jobs pay from $7.50 to $15 per hour, with the higher wages going to specialty positions such as meat cutters and bakers, said Wright. Full-time positions include a benefits package. "Lots of the people don�t really have any grocery experience," said Grunwald. "We looked for good people. We can train them to be grocery clerks." Inside and outside seating is offered for deli customers. Meats will be cooked on a fire-burning rotisserie from Mesquite, Texas. Bakery goods are made from scratch. Store hours will be 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days per week. For Wright and produce manager Ken Mitchell, the new operation represents a homecoming of sorts. Mitchell grew up in Medford, but has worked for the chain in Eugene since 1991. Wright also grew up in Medford and lived in the dorms just across the street at Southern Oregon University for two years. "I shopped at Buy Rite all the time," said Wright. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.