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New Ashland market planned Jeff's Harvest Market will open at the former site of Cantwell's By TONY BOOM ASHLAND - A new tenant plans a December opening for a grocery and specialty food store at the former Cantwell's Market site. Jeff Pygott has secured a Small Business Administration loan for the store, at 310 Oak St., from a Sacramento lender after failing to secure similar loans through local banks. The store will be called Jeff's Harvest Market. Financial problems closed Cantwell's in May. Pygott has been interested in the location since February. Former owner Tom Cantwell had been a buyer for Larry's Markets in Seattle, where Pygott was director of groceries, wines and fine foods. "I'm trying to get open in December because it is such a good month for us," said Pygott. "There's tremendous loyalty to this location. Most of the former employees are coming back so the store won't lose its neighborhood feel." Between 30 and 35 full- and part-time workers will be employed at the market. A mix of conventional, organic and natural products similar to Cantwell's will be offered, but with more specialty items. Pygott expects to have 2,000 more products than Cantwell's carried. SuperValu will be store's primary grocery supplier. Tree of Life will be the main supplier for specialty and organic products. Meat and producer suppliers have not yet been selected. Community Food Store will remodel Ashland Community Food Store will straighten its shelves this weekend in advance of a planned remodeling. The store will close from 4 p.m. today until 8 a.m. Monday for the switch. The popular organic and natural food outlet will be remodeled and expand its store beginning in January. Shelves are now aligned diagonally to the walls. The new alignment will give the store 25 percent more shelf space. Additional freezers will be added this weekend along a wall that presently features supplements and mercantile goods. "We'll carry more frozen foods," said ACFS representative Annie Hoy. "We recognize that our customers lead busy lives and they want the convenience of frozen foods, but they still want the integrity of organic food." Additions to three sides of the building will start in early January. The expansion will add 4,400 square feet to the 12,000-square-foot building. A larger kitchen, expanded delicatessen and larger produce and meat sections will be included. Contractor John Fields will build the additions. Store closures are not anticipated during construction. Work should be finished during spring. "We may still be a little ragged looking but we are going to reopen (Monday morning)," said Hoy. "We will have staff ready to help customers and will have maps to show new product locations." In the meantime, customers will get a 10 percent discount off everything until the store closes this afternoon. Delicatessen, wine and body care sections will be carried over from the former operation. New freezers will replace some older units, and Pygott plans to add others later. Other changes will come next spring when an enlarged kitchen area will be built. That will lead to a sandwich shop and espresso bar. Pygott says those outlets will benefit from traffic generated by the A Street Market Place nearing completion across the street. Pygott worked at the QFC and Hagen grocery store operations in Bellingham, Wash., for 18 years. He briefly owned The Food Connection store in Portland in 1991. Pygott and his wife, Sandra, have a 20-year lease on the location. They will be landlords to a travel agency and Laundromat at the site, and will reopen the video rental store. The Mind's Eye juice bar will relocate to the Ashland Community Food Store in December, Pygott said. A lease for meat-cutting space to ACFS at the Cantwell's site expires Nov. 17. The SBA loan was secured from CIT Financial Corp. in Sacramento. A trust established by Silvia Thompson of Medford owns the building, and it is administered by her son, Brent Thompson, an Ashland resident. According to Thompson, Pygott was unable to obtain a loan through local branches of US Bank and Western Bank, although he sought the loan under the same SBA program offered by CIT. Thompson in September offered to lease the building to the Ashland Community Food Store with an option to buy at a later date. ACFS had already planned to expand its current location. ACFS's board of directors rejected the offer. "His offer didn't come anywhere close to meeting our needs," said board chairwoman Diane Taudvin. She indicated the store would prefer to own its building rather than lease space. "We are not the kind of family that normally sells property," said Thompson. "My mother didn't want us to sell the building and I'm glad we are able to honor that." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Tony Boom at 482-4651, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.