Warehouse store will be built near Walmart in Clarkston

A 20,000-square-foot Smart Foodservice Warehouse Store will be constructed across the street from Walmart in the 800 block of Port Drive in Clarkston.

Barclay Group Clarkston purchased 1½ acres from the Port of Clarkston for $473,690 for the project at the end of June, said Port Manager Wanda Keefer in an email.

Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores are retail businesses for independent restaurants that are open to the public, said Ryan Weedon, a spokesman for the company in the Portland area.

They carry a wide range of foods in bulk quantities, such as 50-pound bags of onions and potatoes and 7-pound cans of garbanzo beans, chocolate sauce and stewed tomatoes, he said.

“Anything you would find on a restaurant menu as an ingredient, we’ve got it,” Weedon said.

It also will sell silverware, dishes, pots, pans and other items needed by owners of eateries or organizers of large gatherings, like weddings and graduations.

The Clarkston store is expected to open in early 2021, joining more than 70 Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Utah and Nevada. Some of the closest are in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.

“It’s a great area for us,” Weedon said.

The Barclay Group Clarkston will lease the parking lot and the building to Smart Foodservice Warehouse, said Ryan Gaston, executive vice president of development for the Mountain West division of the Barclay Group.

Gaston’s firm has developed sites for businesses such as Walgreens in 15 Western and Southern states.

The lease for Kate’s Cup of Joe, a business on the site, has been switched to the Barclay Group, in an arrangement the port hopes will allow the venture to continue to thrive, Keefer said.

The port believes a Smart Foodservice Warehouse Store would be a good fit for the community for a number of reasons, including that it will employ about 20 people, Keefer said.

“The sale allows for the growth of the current retail core in downtown Clarkston and provides more shopping choices for residents,” she said.

The options for shopping in the area have diminished significantly in the past five years with the departures of stores such as Kmart, Shopko and Bi-Mart.

“The $3 million investment (for the building) will also add to the local property tax base and increase employment in the region, which were key factors for the port as it evaluated the economic development value of the project,” Keefer said.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.