Grocery Outlet opens in Elma, draws a lot of fanfare

Shannon Browning made a lot of people who live in Elma happy Thursday morning.

In turn, the people made her smile ear-to-ear.

Browning, the owner of the brand new Grocery Outlet — 10 Eagle Dr. — is glad to be of service to her fellow Elma residents. 3,505 people live in Elma, according to an April 1 population estimate from the Washington state Office of Financial Management.

Browning’s store, only the second true grocery store in Elma, is a little more than 10,000 square feet in size. The store is well-stocked and it hosted so many people throughout the morning.

People were beaming as they filmed the ribbon-cutting ceremony out in front of the packed store and the even more packed parking lot. Other Grocery Outlet representatives, Elma Mayor Josh Collette, Rep. Mike Chapman and Browning spoke. Greater Grays Harbor, Inc. (GGHI) representatives were there. Timberland Bank employees and Janaé Jobe, both of Jodesha Broadcasting and a GGHI ambassador, were there too.

Browning spoke briefly about the flood of customers before the ceremony.

“This morning, traffic was lined up past the RV parking lot,” Browning said of the full parking lot that accommodates more than 190 spots.

At the time she said that, there were only a couple spots here and there strewn throughout. People were also parking at Starbucks — kitty corner from Grocery Outlet’s building, at Burger King and at Arby’s in order to get a spot so they could shop at the large brick-and-mortar store.

Ember Goods, out of Olympia, appeared to contribute nicely to the well-attended opening of the store. Nick Terrel, co-owner of the coffee shop out of Olympia spoke about the work he and his business partner Logan Smith were doing for Browning’s big day. The shop provided a pop-up stand — with free drinks for anybody shopping and-or waiting for the ceremony — in front of the outside of Grocery Outlet.

“We were here at 5:15 a.m., and we opened at 6 a.m.,” Terrel said at about 9:45 a.m. “Grocery Outlet opened at 7 a.m. (So far) we’ve served about 200 drinks.”

The quick-working guys served people smooth coffee, tea and other hot drinks until 11 a.m. Terrel and Smith were quite busy giving people their morning jolt.

Before Thursday, Browning and her staff were busy. Not only was the staff cleaning, stocking and making sure everything was the way it should be when the store opened, Browning was making sure Elma Little League could get on its way down to Nogales, Arizona. It was announced Thursday morning, during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that the car wash for Elma Little League that was held on the Grocery Outlet parking lot raised $4,700 for the team. They raised that amount in about three hours, according to Browning.

“Thank you Elma Grocery Outlet!” Elma Little League posted on Facebook. “Your support is very much appreciated.”

In addition to the car wash, and a few big checks for nearby food banks and the Elma School District Food Bowl, The Elma Grocery Outlet has also helped bridge the gap for people dealing with food insecurity.

Until Thursday morning, East County Thriftway was the only major grocery store in town. The new store not only will help with food insecurity, it’ll allow the nearby food bank shelves to remain stocked with its low prices. And, as Rep. Chapman said, “think of the jobs” the store has and will continue to create.

“It’s always a pleasure meeting a job creator,” Chapman told Browning in front of the red and yellow balloon arch. “You’re a job creator.”

Collette applauded Browning’s efforts to bring the store to Elma.

“This is huge for our community,” Collette said. “This was supposed to be a Bi-Mart, now it’s Grocery Outlet.”

Collette said it’s been six years since Elma started trying to fill the space with a grocery store.

“This makes new possibilities, (I’m) looking forward to (those),” Collette said.

The fanfare wasn’t done with Collette and Chapman’s comments. The ribbon and the ribbon cutter himself, Shannon’s brother Orren Browning, took the “stage” underneath a balloon arch.

Orren, alongside Shannon and the siblings’ brother Caleb, stood and waited for the chance to cut the oversized and overstretched Grocery Outlet store receipt — a creative idea that made people think of those long CVS receipts.

Orren accomplished his task easily. His sister will hang the receipt — which everybody in attendance could sign — inside her office.

Collette and Bill Wickwire, of the Elma VFW, spoke about how the area around Grocery Outlet was undeveloped for years.

“15 years ago, this was all open land,” said Collette, who complimented the vision it took to grow it to where it is now. “It was a stop for folks on the way to the beach. It’s been a huge transition.”

Wickwire said the grocery store is “gonna be good for (Elma).”

“I won’t have to drive all the way to Aberdeen,” Wickwire said.

Wickwire said Elma has “grown, but the population stays the same as far as being welcoming.”

“The secret is out, Elma is a great place to live,” Collette said.

Browning talked about the “amazing” reception she’s received from the community.

“Everybody that I’ve connected with and reached out to has just been incredibly welcoming, supportive, and I call them up and they’re willing to help,” Browning said. “So, it’s been really great.”

Browning said there were probably more than 200 people in line when Grocery Outlet first opened its doors.

Browning talked about how her store will help Elma residents and people who live near Elma.

“Every July, we (at Grocery Outlet) do the Independence from Hunger (Food Drive), which we partner with local food banks,” Browning said of the grocery store chain’s 14th annual food drive that combats food insecurity. “After research for it, we found out July is one of the months when people go without food the most, especially kids because they’re not in school. And so, we partnered with the East County Food Bank, and also the Elma Food Bowl. Today, you probably saw me donate $500 to each of them. And then we donated another $500 to them. We actually donated $1,000 to each food bank and the Elma Food Bowl.”

Browning is also tempting her customers with another way to help through the rest of the month.

“We also have, at our check stands through July 31st, the give $5, get $5,” Browning said. “If you donate $5, you get a coupon back for $5 to spend on another visit. That will run through July. All of the funds raised through that will go directly to the food bowl and the East County Food Bank. It’s a win-win.”

It’s the neighborly care from residents that Browning loves. Browning, who has been in the grocery store business since she was 15-years-old — is glad to be in Elma.

“This little town is very supportive of each other. That’s what drew me to Elma in the first place,” Browning said. “I knew this site was coming and I currently have a house in South Bend, so I drive by here all the time. I watched it (get) built from the ground up. I was like ‘I’m gonna try to go for that store.’ And so I started connecting with the chamber, and I connected with the police chief, I connected with the mayor, I connected with the fire department, I connected with the food bank. I tried to make those connections before I even applied for the store because I thought the community has been so awesome. I thought it would be a leg-up for me to already have those connections before I was actually here. And you can see it’s benefited me very well, so I’m super thankful.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Nick Terrel, co-owner of Ember Goods, a coffee shop in Olympia, presents a free mocha complete with delicate foam art on Thursday morning at the grand opening of Grocery Outlet — 10 Eagle Dr., in Elma. Terrel, who owns it with Logan Smith, who’s behind Terrel, served about 200 customers in almost four hours. The duo kept busy for the next hour as well. But they were happy to offer the delicious hot drinks.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World While there was a well-attended ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday morning for the grand opening of the brand new Grocery Outlet in Elma, there were far more people shopping inside the store and navigating the store’s large parking lot.The constant stream of customers put a smile on Shannon Browning, who owns the Elma location. She said she’s “super thankful” for her friends, neighbors and other customers who showed up in droves.