THE
NEW FRONTIER
M
R K E
r
PRESENTS
&
0
A PARTY with
the
h0%5
50"""AUGUST 10*909
Aamision3.50
1197T affer .
/ /2 yearof doing,
I will be under new \
I ownership. I
\ Comeseeurat /
_ uKedar L
1
OFF admission
with COUPON
available with any
purchase at
New Frontier or
Red Barn Grocery
hurry: limited offer
Entert. Grypkar 35
“"“in cooperation with CCPA at the
WOW HALL 8th & Lincoln
The Final Frontier
by Hilary Anthony
Ownership of the New Frontier
Market is changing on August 17.
For the last 12 years Cary Thomp
son has shaped the spirit of the
market. Here he talks about the
history of the store, the people
who have worked at the market,
the natural foods industry, and
why he has decided to move on:
CT: The building was a horse barn
around 1895. This comer has been
a commercial space of one kind or
another since at least 1920. Before I
was here, it used to be a little gro
eery store. There used to be an old
wagon wheel out front, and a plow
up on the roof. I think I remember
an alligator hide on the wall; there
was a wood stove inside that was
not connected to anything. The
store was real dark and real folksy.
It sold mostly beer and chips and
that sort of thing. [The previous
storekeepers) had a dispute with
the landlady, so they pulled out—
lock, stock and barrel. Then the
landlady remodelled the space in
side a bit and put a foundation on
the building. I rented the empty
space in 1973. I started it on
$5,000. Those days are gone. You
can't do that any more. It took
years to get the stock in; to start
we had nothing on the shelves. We
started out slowly with sweat equi
ty
It was more neighborhood ori
ented ithan health food oriented)
from the beginning. We had a
whole line of Betty Crocker cake
mixes, Hamburger Helper, that
sort of thing. I thought that was
what people in the neighborhood
wanted—Wonder Bread, Twin
kies, the whole shot. But then I
used to go over to Community
Store and buy two pounds, three
pounds of almonds off the shelf
and take them over and mark them
up just a little bit to have a few
natural foods. I could not afford to
buy whole boxes of stuff. When we
started with the produce, I remem
ber thinking, "Oh, no sweat,
whole box of oranges." Then 1
, a
we
couldn't sell
whole box of
a
oranges. They got all wrinkled and
dry at the end. I have been looking
back at the old records: for a long
time we were doing only $200 to
$250 a day. That was close to a
year into the business.
The neighborhood-oriented
blend of natural foods and
grocery items baffles some cus
tomers; they might ask, "Why do
you carry cigarettes if this is a
health food store?" Other shop
pers are satisfied to get their At
lantic sea dulse, and do not seem
to worry about what others put
into their bodies. Some regulars
buy nutritional yeast because their
vets recommend it to control their
pet's fleas; other customers are
known to use the "hippy dust" on
every meal. And there are those
regulars who have seen little of the
store besides the beer cooler and
the check-out line. Coke, marzi
pan, bulk flour, organic broccoli,
dried papaya, urva usi or candy
bars—New Frontier has it.
CT: Natural foods began to take
off in town in the mid 1970's. Peo
ple wanted to buy bulk foods, both
for the nutritional aspect and the
cost savings. There was a large
counter culture population that
was very receptive toward it.
There were a number of stores that
started up at that time. . .. The co
ops could not compete. . . . The
only co-op to survive has been
Grower's Market, which is a pre
order co-op. Grower's used to
have 500 orders a week. In the old
days it was the biggest thing going
in town in natural foods for a
while. Then, as the other stores
took hold, people thought, "Why
should I work when I can get all
this stuff down at the store?" The
last three or four years, the super
markets have jumped on the band
wagon. They decided that the little
stores were getting all this business
and they might as well get a part of
it. So they started natural foods
sections, bulk food sections and
every other kind of sections. Re
cently, the natural food market has
expanded mostly because of the
large chains getting into it.
Things have changed at New
Frontier Market over the years.
Now employees want more hours
rather than fewer. The parties at
which people climbed into the
chest freezers are history. The free
box is gone, so is the picnic table.
"Tofu to TV dinners" is still on the
sign—sometimes you will see a
couple of turkey TV dinners in the
freezer, whereas the selection of
tofu products is now large.
One thing that has not changed
over the years is Cary's efforts to
make contributions to the com
munity through the New Frontier.
The store contributes to many
local organizations. The mark-up
on local products is less than that
on products from outside of
Eugene. The market has been a
comfortable, stable place to work,
with generous benefits for
employees.
CT: Well, what goes around
comes around. I am idealistic. I
like to support little groups and
causes that cannot easily get dona
tions from other places. Also, it
comes around too. If I am nice to
them, maybe they will come and
shop here.
The produce section is probably
the single best draw of any depart
ment in the store. It does between
17 and 20% of the business over the
year. It helps support a lot of local
people. Having organic produce
has set us, and a few of the other
natural food stores, apart from
other stores that don't carry any
thing like that. For health con
scious people, people who care
what goes into their bodies, they
can be fairly assured they are get
ting a product that is cleaner and
does not have added chemicals.
This recent watermelon scare, for
example, would not have happen
ed with organic certification.
Everything like that helps the
organic movement.
The sale of New Frontier came
as a surprise to many people who
know Cary. Neighborhood resi
dents have expressed feelings of
dread, despair, concern and
anger; they realize that Cary
shaped the market they have so
much affection for.
CT: New Frontier has been real
good to me in general. It has been a
lot of hassles, too, of course. It has
helped me to get to know a lot of
people, and of course, support my
self. It has been a real good ex
perience overall to be able to work
down the street from where I live
and keep it in the neighborhood.
I am still going to be a grocer
after I leave here, with my other
store ICary owns half of Red
Bam]. I have thought about doing
other things, but as a career I can't
think of anything I would rather
do.
The new owner, Rich Hardy,
says he wants to keep the flavor
the same and keep as many of the
same people working here as he
can. He is a very different per
sonality than I am, from what I
have seen, but I have to take him
at his word and hope for the best.
Cary and Joan have been
spending time sorting through the
papers in the attic. Some of the
old receipts and checks can finally
be tossed. The old dance notices
and posters that have blurred can
go. Ancient adding machines ap
pear; spare parts for every chip
rack in the store are somewhere in
the office-lounge-kitchen upstairs.
"Look, here is a group photo from
the late seventies," Cary held out
a photo taken in front of the New
Frontier. A dozen familiar faces
smiled from behind beards and
long hair.
On August 10, New Frontier
will have a party at the WOW
Hall. Appropriately, the Cashiers
will be the band; this will be their
last gig before breaking up. For a
discount off the admission price,
drop by New Frontier or Red Barn
for a coupon before going to the
event.