January 14, 2003
'Tribune' on Ladd's Future Co-op
Proving yet again that news coverage comes in clumps, today's Portland Tribune has its own coverage of the possible rise of a cooperative grocery in Ladd's Addition:
Even in a place with no corners, people like the idea of a corner store.
So much, in fact, that residents of Ladd's Addition, the historic Southeast Portland neighborhood with the curious radial street plan, may pool their resources to keep a small market just the way it was. Or maybe a little better.
The Ladd Circle Grocery, which has operated more or less continuously since 1923 at 1990 S.E. Ladd St., is empty right now. In December, the lease ran out on an amiable Texas transplant named Tab Foster, who ran the store for 7 1/2 years. Foster may not have gotten rich, locals say, but his neighborly approach to business demonstrated that a small retail enterprise could mean much to a community.
There's some more background on the former grocery, and on Ladd's Addition itself, which doesn't differ all that much from the earlier Oregonian coverage. But there are some more specific details on the property and the prospects for being able to go forward with the co-op plan.