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Stock Market Foods in Lake Meridian/Kent, WA photos?
Posted: 07 Jun 2025 01:44
by Bakery&Deli
I'm searching pretty hard for any photos of the long closed Stock Market Foods that was in Lake Meridian/Kent, Washington just off 516/SE Kent Kangley road, it's now an LA Fitness. It was by The Marketplace, it seems to have been owned by Thriftway, and was a small chain before being bought by QFC/Kroger. I'm barely able to find any mention of it online, aside from a company that did some wall paneling for them (no photos or info tho), and a very blurry brief view of the sign from 516 from an old WSDOT state routes video from 1991.
If you have photos, or know where I might be able to find some, I'd be super grateful!
Re: Stock Market Foods in Lake Meridian/Kent, WA photos?
Posted: 27 Jun 2025 23:34
by mtaylor044
It's low resolution, but I found this photo.
Re: Stock Market Foods in Lake Meridian/Kent, WA photos?
Posted: 16 Jul 2025 01:44
by tkaye
Bakery&Deli wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 01:44
It was by The Marketplace, it seems to have been owned by Thriftway, and was a small chain before being bought by QFC/Kroger.
Stock Market Foods was originally owned by Keith Uddenberg, Inc., which also operated stores under the Thriftway and Mark-It Foods banners. (Not all Thriftways or Mark-Its were owned by Uddenberg, however. They were names also used by other Associated Grocers members.)
Uddenberg sold all his stores (except for the Gig Harbor Thriftway) to QFC in 1997. The Thriftways were older, smaller stores. They were promptly changed to the QFC name, while QFC continued to operate the Stock Market stores separately. (The Mark-It stores were all gone by the early '90s.)
Fred Meyer, Inc., (not yet part of Kroger) bought QFC the following year. Under Fred Meyer, the Stock Market stores were split up. I found an article that stated five of them were converted to the small-format Fred Meyer Marketplace (Lake Meridian/Kent, Gig Harbor, Shelton, Spanaway, and James Center/Tacoma) and another (Belfair) was converted to QFC. Four more were sold. Of these, I know that the Everett store was sold to Brown & Cole and the Port Orchard location went to Signo Uddenberg (Keith's nephew). The Everett store continued to operate under the Stock Market name for a couple years, as did the Port Angeles store (sold by QFC to Greg Saar immediately after the '97 acquisition). That leads me to believe the Stock Market name was actually owned by Associated Grocers and used by Keith Uddenberg under license.
To round out the chronology: Keith Uddenberg died in 2000 and his heirs sold the Gig Harbor Thriftway to QFC in 2003. QFC closed the store in 2011.
Re: Stock Market Foods in Lake Meridian/Kent, WA photos?
Posted: 26 Jul 2025 02:19
by Bakery&Deli
mtaylor044 wrote: ↑27 Jun 2025 23:34
It's low resolution, but I found this photo.
Oh! Incredible that you found this, thank you! Where did you find it?
Re: Stock Market Foods in Lake Meridian/Kent, WA photos?
Posted: 26 Jul 2025 02:25
by Bakery&Deli
tkaye wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 01:44
Bakery&Deli wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 01:44
It was by The Marketplace, it seems to have been owned by Thriftway, and was a small chain before being bought by QFC/Kroger.
Stock Market Foods was originally owned by Keith Uddenberg, Inc., which also operated stores under the Thriftway and Mark-It Foods banners. (Not all Thriftways or Mark-Its were owned by Uddenberg, however. They were names also used by other Associated Grocers members.)
Uddenberg sold all his stores (except for the Gig Harbor Thriftway) to QFC in 1997. The Thriftways were older, smaller stores. They were promptly changed to the QFC name, while QFC continued to operate the Stock Market stores separately. (The Mark-It stores were all gone by the early '90s.)
Fred Meyer, Inc., (not yet part of Kroger) bought QFC the following year. Under Fred Meyer, the Stock Market stores were split up. I found an article that stated five of them were converted to the small-format Fred Meyer Marketplace (Lake Meridian/Kent, Gig Harbor, Shelton, Spanaway, and James Center/Tacoma) and another (Belfair) was converted to QFC. Four more were sold. Of these, I know that the Everett store was sold to Brown & Cole and the Port Orchard location went to Signo Uddenberg (Keith's nephew). The Everett store continued to operate under the Stock Market name for a couple years, as did the Port Angeles store (sold by QFC to Greg Saar immediately after the '97 acquisition). That leads me to believe the Stock Market name was actually owned by Associated Grocers and used by Keith Uddenberg under license.
To round out the chronology: Keith Uddenberg died in 2000 and his heirs sold the Gig Harbor Thriftway to QFC in 2003. QFC closed the store in 2011.
This is great info, thank you. Hopefully some of this will help lead me to interior photos of any of the locations
Re: Stock Market Foods in Lake Meridian/Kent, WA photos?
Posted: 07 Dec 2025 11:49
by Super S
Longview-Kelso had a very short-lived Stock Market Foods that opened as a new build around 1989 or 1990. It had a diagonal aisle layout and did not resonate well with locals. Local operator Sinnett's Market Place took over in the early 90s and operated it until around 2006. They did go to a regular aisle layout, but also retained some elements of the Stock Market interior such as their neon signage in produce and seafood departments. The store has been remodeled beyond recognition though, divided between Harbor Freight, Big Lots, and Jo-Ann. As I type this, 2/3 of the building (Big Lots & Jo-Ann spaces) are empty.
The Cowlitz County Assessor's website used to be a good source of older pictures, but has recently been acting very buggy and only displays the most current photo of any given property at this time.