Learn how crime, corporate decisions, and City Hall inaction brought Parkrose to the brink of becoming a ‘food desert’ …
A simple “Store Closing” banners and flags at Parkrose Grocery Outlet Bargain Market store deliver a stark message for neighbors who rely on this market.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
The only full-service grocery store in Parkrose will reportedly close this Saturday, leaving neighbors wondering how – and where – they can shop for food, if the doors of this store on NE Sandy Boulevard swing shut for good.
Parkrose’s Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, at 10721 NE Sandy Boulevard, is expected to close on June 27, according to multiple community sources, and recent public comments from city officials. The reported shutdown would mark the latest blow to outer East Portland’s fragile food access, following the 2025 closure of the Gateway Fred Meyer and other departures that pushed the area towards what officials call a “food desert”.
For years, local leaders have warned that the disappearance of neighborhood grocers would leave families traveling farther – and paying more – for the basics.
Last year, independent owner-operator Don McKeever met with East Portland News – seen here working in the stock room of his Parkrose Grocery Outlet Bargain Market store – where he described the toll of violent crime on his family at and around the store.
In article we published in October of 2025, Parkrose Grocery Outlet Independent Owner-Operator Don McKeever described to East Portland News how chronic theft, vandalism, and slow police responses eroded the store’s ability to survive, while he tried to keep prices low for working families, and support local food banks. [CLICK HERE to read our original reporting in this article.]
He recounted assaults on his staff – including his own son – and the cost of broken windows and organized shoplifting crews that treated the store as an “easy mark”.
“It’s not the two-dollar bag of cookies,” McKeever emphasized at the time. He argued that every theft chipped away at the thin margins that small grocers rely on to keep their doors open – as well as to keep paychecks, benefits, and community support flowing to employees and neighborhood programs.
Parkrose Grocery Outlet’s Don McKeever shows bags of groceries prepared for a local food pantry last year, highlighting the store’s support for neighbors in need.
That earlier story on East Portland News also revealed how uncertain the store’s future had become. McKeever acknowledged he had not renewed his lease; and the property owner warned that both the Grocery Outlet and a neighboring discount store could stand empty, if new agreements weren’t reached.
Even then, violence, vandalism, and a lack of visible law enforcement had pushed the situation to what he called “a breaking point”.
McKeever did not respond to messages seeking an update for this, our follow-up story.
Councilors warn of a growing “food desert”
District 1 Councilors Candace Avalos and Loretta Smith join Council President Jamie Dunphy at a March forum in outer East Portland to discuss grocery store closures and food access.
By March 2026, the looming loss of Parkrose Grocery Outlet had turned into a public discussion City Hall.
During a Town Hall Meeting on March 10 [CLICK HERE to read our coverage of that portion of the Town Hall, with links back to other topics], Portland District 1 Councilors Candace Avalos and Loretta Smith, along with Council President Jamie Dunphy, confronted the mounting cluster of closures across outer East Portland, and the risk of entire neighborhoods losing basic food access.
Dunphy, who said he lives within walking distance of both Parkrose Grocery Outlet and the now-shuttered Gateway Fred Meyer, told the audience he felt “particularly hurt” by the closures. He recalled the “scary incidents” told to him by McKeever that their staff faced in Parkrose, and years when 9-1-1 calls brought little or no response. He posited that while police alone cannot fix deeper problems, city leaders have tried to show national chains that “it’s a new day in Portland” with more attention on safety and support.
But neighbors wonder, is it, really a new day?
Council President Jamie Dunphy explains at the March forum that a neighborhood grocery on NE Sandy Boulevard is key to preventing Parkrose from becoming a food desert.
At the same forum, Dunphy acknowledged a hard reality: Faraway corporations ultimately decided which locations live or die. “They don’t live here, they don’t owe anything to us,” Dunphy observed, noting that corporate leaders could walk away without facing the disruption left behind for workers and neighbors.
Dunphy’s staff acknowledged emailed requests for comment on the current situation, noting that he was very busy but would respond, but no further statement has yet been received.
Together on stage, Avalos and Smith link the Parkrose grocery crisis to long-standing inequities, calling for local and stable grocers, instead of relying on national chains.
Avalos and Smith pushed the conversation further, tying the Parkrose situation to long-standing inequities. Smith warned that losing the Parkrose store on top of the Gateway Fred Meyer and other nearby retailers would leave “a food desert in this area” unless a stable grocer stepped in.
Avalos argued that outer East Portland families, many with young children, needed not only groceries but safe, active spaces – and urged the city to “grow our own” local solutions, instead of relying solely on distant chains.
Topic revisited by PPB Chief Day
Then, when Portland Police Chief Bob Day met with East Portland residents on Tuesday evening, April 14, he discussed “very real” livability problems in northern outer East Portland. [CLICK HERE to read about this meeting.]
In Parkrose, at a community meeting in April, Portland Police Chief Bob Day acknowledged that retail theft in northern areas of outer East Portland remain a concern.
At that meeting, at Rossi Farms in Parkrose, when speaking about retail theft, Day noted had surged nearly 88 percent a few years ago, has “begun to level off”– while cautioning that reducing theft from local stores remains a priority – including outer East Portland businesses, such as at the Parkrose Grocery Outlet Market.
What might follow on NE Sandy Boulevard?
Since that spring forum, public discussion has intensified around what, if anything, might follow the expected June 27 closure. Community members have traded hopeful talk about possible new grocery models, or a locally-controlled store that could eventually reopen in the same building.
Some of those conversations have included references to economic development agencies and neighborhood prosperity groups exploring ways to help a new operation “pencil out”. However, so far, no City of Portland elected official, bureau, or organization has gone on the record with concrete statements about plans or proposals.
A “For Lease” sign now hangs atop the building where Parkrose Grocery Outlet once was a thriving family business, underscoring the neighborhood’s fight to keep food close to home.
At this point, though, any new grocery concept for the NE Sandy site remains just that – a concept. Details about ownership, funding, and timing are still unsettled, and no official announcements have confirmed any successor to the Grocery Outlet tenant. What is clear is that Parkrose neighbors, and their elected representatives, are under pressure to find a path that keeps fresh food and everyday essentials within reach.
As the reported closing date approaches, the store’s possible last days as a grocery anchor for Parkrose underscore a larger question that has hung over outer East Portland for years: Will the city and its partners move beyond meetings and promises to deliver a durable, local solution — or will residents be left crossing longer distances for groceries while another storefront goes dark?
Whatever happens next on NE Sandy Boulevard, East Portland News will continue to follow the story.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
