In the late 90’s, the Eastport Plaza mall was demolished and the property was converted to a strip center, and Albertsons built a new store as an anchor. It’s one of the newer Albertsons stores in the area.

Whenever I visited the store (rarely, since Safeway and Fred Meyer have better deals 95% of the time), the place always had a few customers, but was never busy. It was no problem getting a close parking space. Meanwhile, the Wal-Mart next to it is always packed with shoppers, and a car circling the lot looking for the best parking space available isn’t a rare sight. And that was another problem for the Eastport Plaza store: being right next to Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart may not be a supercenter, but it has a decent grocery section, complete with a refrigerated case.

Like I said earlier, Albertsons didn’t have the best prices. But it’ll still be sad to see them go. If Eastport Plaza can’t attract another supermarket chain, it will leave the Fred Meyer on 82nd and Foster and the Food 4 Less on Powell as the only supermarkets directly in the area. I also liked the Deli’s fried chicken, which imo was better than Safeway’s or Fred Meyer’s. And job losses are never good.

And yes, those Patricia Heaton commercials were annoying. I guess they’re more tolerable than that Carpet Carl guy, though.

Another thing: I wonder how long I’ll be hearing rumors that Albertsons decided to close the store because of that idiot that exchanged gunfire with the police and killed himself at the Army Recruiting Center last month. Ugh.

There’s one out in The Dalles that should be closed. It’s right next to a Safeway and Fred Meyer’s, both of which are much nicer and have better food. That store is a total dive.

btw, one in Hazel Dell (north Vancouver) is going to be closed as well.