EVERETT – The 25th Street Market is a throwback to small grocery stores of another age, but that’s exactly what its customers have loved about it.
Having operated under the same family for nearly 72 years, the market’s quality and service continued in recent decades under co-owners Richard Faulkner and Elmer Callaghan.
“They were just wonderful. They were customer service personified,” said Debbie Webber, food and nutrition manager for the Everett School District.
Which is why some of the market’s shoppers aren’t quite sure what to do now that the market’s been sold. The new owner, Hai Nguyen of Burien, plans to keep operating the business, but it won’t be the same for some.
“I feel like half my life is gone. I traded there for 50 years,” said Betty Norway of Everett. “So many of us feel like our lives have changed around now.”
Faulkner’s family owned the property and part of the business. It was his decision to sell. Over the years, it was taking more effort to keep up with the changing competition, he said.
“It was getting a little bit harder, a little more competitive,” said Faulkner, 56.
Callaghan, 75, started working for Faulkner’s father, Bud, in 1960. He quickly summed up the formula that kept the market going into the age of Wal-Mart supercenters: “Quality, friendship, service.”
Bob Cawthorne, Bud Faulkner’s stepfather, started the market at the northeast corner of 25th Street and Broadway in 1934. According to county property records, the 3,000-square-foot structure at the site dates back a decade before that.
A few longtime customers still remember Cawthorne, and many remember Bud Faulkner. In the years since they ran the business, 25th Street Market built up its wholesale business, selling to restaurants, cafeterias and the Everett School District.
“They’ve been our 100 percent supplier for as long as I’ve been here,” said Webber, who has worked for the district for 26 years. She also remembers going to the market after school in her younger days to buy apples.
In addition to selling quality produce and other products out of a space just a fraction the size of a modern supermarket, the Faulkners and Callaghan were generous to customers. Sherri Pride of Everett said they donated fruit baskets around the community every year, and often delivered grocery orders to elderly customers.
For his part, Callaghan said the repeat customers kept the job lively.
“I just enjoyed it,” he said, adding that he helped serve three generations of the same families during his years at the market.
Callaghan said he’s not sure what he will do next. Faulkner said he may go to work for another store after taking a few weeks of vacation.
Nguyen said the market will remain, but some customers say changes in inventory are evident under the new owner. Plus, Faulkner and Callaghan’s familiar faces are irreplaceable to them.
“It’s such a big loss for Everett,” Norway said.
“It’s the end of an era,” Webber said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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