I stopped into the Safeway store on Northwest Boulevard on Spokane's North Side last night around dinnertime, and it was packed, five or six deep in line.

I asked the clerk if it was because it was a Thursday evening and maybe people were planning on 3-day weekends and stocking up. She said, "No, it's like this every day this time now because Albertson's closed."

Albertson's closed its Northwest Boulevard store Aug. 11. Officials said it was "based on business factors."

The store opened in 1980, when I was living and working in the East, but it was my parent's favorite store, so I visited there often and when I moved back to Spokane, it became one of the stores I frequented.

I drive by it every day to and from work and it looks sad to me, boarded up, empty parking lot. Even grocery stores hold memories. One day my mom ran into a high school buddy and her husband there. They struck up a conversation, resumed their friendship and now, 15 years later, they are both 90, widowed but see one another once a week for dinner and a movie.

It seems weird to grieve the end of businesses, but I think sometimes, we do. I still miss Town and Country Restaurant on Trent Avenue, where my sisters and I all held our wedding receptions.

What business do you miss?  

(Spokesman-Review archive photo)

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