A6
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Closing:
Continued from Page A1
the beleaguered chain across
the country. It has also been
selling or assigning KMart
store leases to Target. More
than 70 Sears stores were
slated to close, Axios
reported on May 25, 2022.
Transformco acquired the
struggling retailers out of
bankruptcy. Federal Judge
Robert Drain in New York
authorized a deal to sell the
major remaining assets of
Sears to its chairman, largest
shareholder and former CEO
Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund,
ESL Investments, USA Today
reported on Feb. 7, 2019.
As Sears’ retail footprint
kept dwindling, Transformco
said in 2021 it would begin to
market the chain’s 273-acre
corporate headquarters in the
Chicago suburb of Hoffman
Estates, Illinois, to potential
buyers in 2022. Transformco
also is considering other rede-
velopment uses for the site,
the Chicago Tribune reported
on Dec. 16.
“The Main Street site is a
beautiful spot for a retailer,”
Vaughn observed. “We put in
the pad catercorner from the
Marigold, so that customers
could back in to load appli-
ances.”
The former home of
Wicked Kitty Tattoo &
Piercing next door at 132
S. Main remains for rent,
as is the adjoining historic
Club Cigar Saloon build-
ing. But elsewhere on Main
Street, business is good.
Mackenzie Whaley/East Oregonian
Store closing signs on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, adorn windows
of the Sears Hometown Store, 124 S. Main St., Pendleton.
John Tillman/East Oregonian
“Store closing event” flyers hang on all items Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, at the Sears Hometown
Store in downtown Pendleton. Displays also advise all sales are final.
“We’re full up across the
street,” Vaughn’s develop-
ment partner Imsland said,
referring to tenants in the
building containing Virgil’s at
Cimmiyotti’s, 137 S. Main St.
But a block south, another
downtown anchor is shutting
its doors — Dean’s Pendleton
Athletic.
Dean’s owner Cari Broker
started working in the store
part time in 1992, after grad-
uating from Blue Mountain
Community College. She is
founder Dean Fouquette’s
sister-in-law. He started the
business in 1980.
“Then I stayed and went
full time,” she said. “I bought
the business in 2015.”
Broker attributed the need
to close to changes over the
past seven years.
“Changes have occurred
in retail in general, with more
shopping on line,” Broker
noted. “Others have been
specific to Pendleton and its
downtown. Penney is gone
and Maurice’s has moved.”
Downtown has lost foot
traffic, Broker said, despite
its restaurants.
“The detailed changes
include decline in youth and
high school sports participa-
tion,” she continued. “The
numbers aren’t drastic, but
there has been slow decline
due to video games and kids
being interested in different
things.”
These changes and fall-
ing enrollment in the Pend-
leton School District have led
to declining sales, making it
difficult for Broker to esti-
mate the specifics of inven-
tory.
“Even before COVID, we
weren’t selling as much for
a year to two years,” Broker
said. “Then the virus hit in
2020. It was huge for this part
of retail. No one was playing
sports, which were big for
here. The community was
great. They wanted to help,
but it’s a simple correlation
— with no organized youth
or school sports, demand for
athletic gear and uniforms
crashed.”
Then a combination of
factors further hurt business
after pandemic lockdowns
lifted.
“Inflated costs for prod-
ucts and shipping affects all
of us, retailers and consum-
ers alike,” Broker said. “And
the lack of availability. Local
customers were constantly
calling in, wanting to buy
products that we just didn’t
have.”
Since summer 2021,
the lack of inventory really
pinched profits, Broker said.
“Suppliers couldn’t get
products, since production
was coming to a halt,” she
said. “Wholesalers were just
waiting. Then two major
suppliers, Nike and Under
Armour, told me my account
had been closed, due to
changes to their selling proce-
dures. If you don’t have things
to sell, you don’t have a busi-
ness. If I can’t bring in the
public to sell them things, I
can’t make a living.”
All these changes have
made for quite a ride for
business, she said, but on a
personal level, she said she
feels blessed to have been a
part of the store during its
peak years.
It has been so much fun
to have connections with big
and little athletes and their
families, with youth and high
school sports,” she said. “It’s
perfect when I can serve what
is needed. I feel charmed.”
Broker said she has no
regrets.
“It was not my plan, but I
look back on 30 years with a
smile on my face,” she said.
“I’ve sold cleats to parents
to whom I sold cleats when
they were kids.”
Golf:
Continued from Page A1
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Pendleton High School students hangout Tuesday morning, Aug. 30, 2022, outside the school at the start of the fall term.
School:
Continued from Page A1
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Spanish teacher Kathryn Youngman, 58, greets her students as they enter her classroom
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, at Pendleton High School.
students milled about explor-
ing what will soon become
their morning routines.
Students found their lockers,
searched for classrooms and
reunited with their friends.
“The large scale goal for
us is relationships above
all,” Dutcher said. “I feel
like Pendleton High School
is probably the best start of
the school year with two
weeks here, which gives our
students and staff an oppor-
tunity to build those relation-
ships with kids before we go
into our Round-Up break.”
He said there is “no secret
to the sauce” — it’s about
students seeing teachers as
reliable resources.
“We build great relation-
ships,” Dutcher said, “and we
move forward all together.”
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challenges, but us as teachers
can look at them as negative
or positive. I choose posi-
tive,” Youngman said. “I’m
going to look at those chal-
lenges and take what we’ve
been given and make the best
out of the situation. The kids
are awesome, you’ve got to
love teenagers.”
All in all, excitement filled
Pendleton High’s hallways as
RD
they’re nervous. We have no
masks, so we finally get to see
people and smile. I think that
it’s going to be a change, but
we’re all so excited to be back.”
Students also expressed
excitement, but some also felt
the return to classrooms was
a bit nerve-wracking.
“It feels weird, it feels
unreal,” said Marilla Holden,
a freshman at Pendleton
High, while she looked for
her first classroom of the day.
“Especially because we were
online for so long, I don’t
feel like I even did middle
school.”
On the other side of the
high school spectrum, senior
Thomas Carlos said this
scene felt familiar.
“Summer went by really
fast, I don’t feel much of a
difference between my junior
and senior year, so far,” he said.
Whatever students may
be feeling, embracing posi-
tivity is core to Spanish
teacher Kathryn Youngman’s
approach to returning to the
classroom.
“I think of course there are
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Play begins at 7 a.m.
Sept. 2, with the second
wave of players at 11:50 a.m.
Admission for fans is $5 per
day.
“My goal is to be play-
ing on Sunday,” Greb said.
“These players are some of
the best in the world, but if
I play well, you never know.
I feel like my game is in a
good place.”
Epson Tour players have
been in Pendleton since
Aug. 29, playing the course
and trying to get a feel for the
greens.
“It’s Monday and the
tournament doesn’t start
until Friday,” Greb said.
“You can tell it’s their whole
lifestyle and career. I know
some of the players, but
I haven’t seen them in a
while.”
Knowledge of the course
is where Greb may have
an advantage. Wildhorse
is Pendleton High School’s
main course, and Greb has
played there most of her
career.
“I think it’s a huge advan-
tage to come back to your
home course,” Greb said.
“I know the course. It’s a
big event and the course is
in really good shape. I am
comfortable out there, which
is key. It will be good.”
Greb, 23, has spent most
of the summer in Utah play-
ing golf and working at a
golf course.
“I will finish my masters
in December, and my goal
is to turn professional next
fall,” she said. “I will go back
to Tulsa and work on my
game. I will go to Q-school
next fall and try to make it
through there and get a tour
schedule set.”
Stage one of qualifying
school begins in August
2023 at Mission Hills Coun-
try Club in Palm Springs.
Greb was in Pendleton
early in the week to help with
the youths golf clinic Aug. 29
and 30 at Birch Creek and
Wildhorse, along with other
tournament players.
Also earning a spon-
sor exemption was Therese
Warner of Kennewick, who
played high school golf at
Southridge, then went on to
play at University of Arizona
for two years. She recently
turned pro and competes on
the East Coast Women’s Pro
Golf Tour.
She won the Lake Jovita
Women’s Championship
in Dade City, Florida, in
March.
“I was catching up with
her today,” Greb said. “She
was telling me about her
transition to pro golf. She
said she is enjoying it a lot
more than college.”
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