Business
& AGLIFE
The Observer & Baker City Herald
B
Thursday, November 17, 2022
123RF
Inflation, avian flu, global pres-
sures and supply chain issues have
created a recipe for higher costs
and possible shortages on some
traditional foods as the holidays
approach in 2022.
Holiday
meal to bust
wallets as
prices surge
BY MARTINE PARIS
Bloomberg
PORTLAND — Any way you
slice it, this Thanksgiving is go-
ing to cost more.
Price increases for flour and
cookies hit a record high year-
over-year for October, U.S. gov-
ernment data showed Thursday,
Nov. 10. Eggs jumped the most
since 2007. Turkey and other
non-chicken poultry were up
17%.
It’s all part of historic food
inflation that’s hammering
consumers also grappling with
sky-high prices for everything
from fuel to housing. The war in
Ukraine is upending global sup-
ply chains, while the ongoing
bird flu outbreak is decimating
egg-laying hens and turkeys.
Scarcity and surging prices
may trigger a shift in buying
habits ahead of the holidays, ac-
cording to Russell Barton, a di-
rector at commodity researcher
Urner Barry.
For shoppers this year, “it
might be a first come, first
served-type situation,” with peo-
ple substituting other proteins
such as ham, beef, short ribs
and roasts, Barton said. Others
are switching to lighter fare such
as soup, salad and pizza.
As avian flu wreaks havoc
on bird supply in parts of the
U.S., Sen. Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa, and Sen. Amy Klobu-
char, D-Minn., have pushed for
more funding to mitigate the
outbreak.
Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack said recently that even
though it might be challenging
to find a 20-pound turkey in
certain locations because there
hasn’t been time for them to
grow, he’s confident there will be
turkeys available to carve.
“It may be smaller, but it will
be there,” he said.
Historically, many traditional
menu items see a lift before
the holiday, according to retail
analytics firm IRI Worldwide,
which released a Thanksgiving
Tracker of sales and sentiment.
This year, Butterball, the largest
U.S. producer of turkey prod-
ucts, said it had to raise prices to
customers after its cost of pro-
duction nearly doubled.
“We’ve had the impact of in-
flation and skyrocketing grain
costs,” Chief Executive Officer
Jay Jandrain said in an interview
this month. While the company
doesn’t expect turkey shortages,
“there will not be a surplus left
over,” he said.
Still, optimism about a cool-
off in prices is growing. U.S.
inflation slowed in October by
more than forecast, offering
hope that the fastest cost in-
creases in decades are ebbing.
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
Derek Chamberlain, right, co-owner, and his employee Cody Fisk pose in front of the DieHard battery inventory at La Grande’s new Chamberlain Auto Parts and Sales,
also known as CAPS, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. Owners Derek and Claire Chamberlain opened the La Grande shop, their fourth CAPS auto parts store, in October.
A NEW ADDITION
CAPS of La Grande buys out former Baxter Auto Parts inventory, moves to old Sears building
BY TRISH YERGES
For The Observer
L
A GRANDE — The
former Sears building on
Portland Avenue has a
new tenant.
Owners Derek and Claire Cham-
berlain, of Vale, have opened their
business, CAPS of La Grande, also
known as Chamberlain Auto Parts
and Sales, at 1700 N. Portland Ave.,
La Grande.
On the front of their store, the sig-
nage prominently reads “Carquest
Auto Parts,” which is their biggest
supplier of inventory.
“Carquest is nationwide, and they
have a fantastic warranty backing, so
we use their sign on the front of our
building,” Derek Chamberlain said.
The Chamberlains bought out the
Baxter Auto Parts inventory from its
closed store space on Adams Avenue
and moved it into the former Sears
location in mid-October. The new
store is larger, offering 9,000 square
feet of floor space.
“Carquest has been extremely help-
ful in this move,” Chamberlain said.
“They brought their area reps from
all over Oregon and Washington, and
they spent the week moving stuff. I
brought some of my other employees
from other stores, so we had about 10
of us moving inventory for a week.
Then we opened up for business Oct.
24.”
The new store location offers an
additional 5,000 square feet for in-
ventory compared to the former Bax-
ter Auto Parts store. To fill that extra
space, Chamberlain anticipates re-
ceiving a significant amount of inven-
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
Chamberlain Auto Parts and Sales, also known as CAPS, in La Grande, is open and
ready for business Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. Owners Derek and Claire Chamberlain
bought the inventory from the closed Baxter Auto Parts on Adams Avenue and
will be adding to the new store’s offerings, located in the former Sears Building
on Portland Avenue.
tory directly from manufacturers.
“Once that is in, we’ll get that sit-
uated,” he said. “Our signs are being
built, and I hope to see those finished
by the first part of December.”
Chamberlain anticipates a grand
opening and barbecue event to hap-
pen next spring when it warms up
again.
The CAPS of La Grande store is
the Chamberlains’ fourth and most
recent auto parts store.
“We have a store in Vale, which we
opened in 2016, another in Ontario,
which we opened in 2018, and a third
store in Baker City, which opened in
2021,” he said. “We’ve been growing a
store every 18 months to two years.”
Chamberlain said the auto parts
stores weathered the pandemic fairly
well, and it’s a stable industry to be in.
While some new cars may be hard to
get or afford, people are being forced
to hang on to their used vehicles and
maintain them. This is good news for
owners like Chamberlain.
He comes into this business with
a background in auto and truck me-
chanics.
“Before April 2016, when I opened
my first store in Vale, I worked for
eight years in the truck parts depart-
ment for Kenworth trucks,” he said.
“Prior to that, for four years, I worked
as an auto mechanic.”
As a native of Eastern Oregon,
Chamberlain said he’s very familiar
with La Grande through high school
league sports and shared FFA events.
He likes the community and looks
forward to getting to know and serve
residents through his business.
“I grew up in Vale on my parent’s
dairy farm, so my background is all
agriculture,” he said. “Combined with
my eight years with Kenworth, I’m
pretty knowledgeable on the agricul-
ture side. I know what farmers want
and need, so we’re going to have a
section of our business that caters to
what they need.”
Consequently, Chamberlain said
his store inventory will include truck
brakes and shoes, cargo control,
ratchet straps, rake teeth and bale
steers among other items.
“That’s a little bit different mold
than what NAPA or O’Reilly’s does,”
he said. “Being an independent
owner, I have the ability to buy from
other vendors to bring in products I
know will do well.”
CAPS of La Grande also carries
DuPont paints for vehicles and farm
equipment.
“We will have the paint mixing
booth, paint supplies and equipment
to set our customers up so they can
paint their own vehicles,” he said. “It
will be a big part of what we do here.”
Customers can rely on prompt de-
liveries of auto parts, Chamberlain
added. He orders from a warehouse
in Portland and receives next-day de-
livery on customer orders. In addi-
tion to parts, CAPS is also a dealer of
DieHard batteries.
Chamberlain will be at the La
Grande store three days each week for
a while, so he invites residents to come
in, meet him and see what CAPS has
to offer. Charge accounts and deliver-
ies are available upon request.
Pendleton’s only winery survives hard times, aims to thrive
BY JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — Pendleton’s only
winery has survived the pan-
demic and recession. It’s a down-
town business success story, but still
faces challenges.
Robb Zimmel, winemaker and co-
owner of Cerebella Winery, 30 SW
Emigrant Ave., grew up around wine.
He is now co-owner of Pendleton’s
only commercial winemaking oper-
ation. His partners are Carol and Bill
Code, owners of Rooster’s Country
Kitchen restaurant, 1515 County 1303
Road, off Southgate, Pendleton.
“I’m third or fourth generation
German immigrant from South Da-
kota,” Zimmel said. “The women in
my family made wine out of anything.
If You Go
The regular hours of the tasting
room at Cerebella Winery, 30 SW
Emigrant Ave., Pendleton, are Friday
from noon to 6 p.m., and Saturday
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Glass prices
range from $7 to $12, bottles from
$19 to $45. Limited numbers of
cases of 2015 vintages remain
available.
Rhubarb, chokecherry, you name it.
They would put a balloon on a gallon
jug while it was fermenting. The bal-
loon would inflate. I was fascinated.”
In grade school, Zimmel collected
wine bottles, trying to get consecutive
years.
“Chablis 1973,” he said. “Bottled
history. In high school, I tried mak-
ing wine. Don’t ask my sister how that
turned out. I never thought I could
be a winemaker. I thought it was a
caste system, that you had to be born
into it.”
Zimmel was a Portland flight para-
medic and with the Army Reserve,
living in Vancouver, Washington.
During his first deployment to Af-
ghanistan in 2006, he researched vi-
ticulture (i.e., grape-growing) and
oenology (i.e., winemaking) courses
in Washington state. From a desert
in Afghanistan, he enrolled in Clark
College, Vancouver, by satellite phone.
After his return from Afghanistan,
See Winery / B2
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Cerebella winemaker and co-owner Robb Zimmel on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022, reveals
the latest bottles of wine from his Cerebella Winery, 30 SW Emigrant Ave., Pendleton.