October 11, 2023 3:50 a.m. 

In the KQEN Business Spotlight:

WinCo Foods hopes to open its new Roseburg store on Monday November 6th.

WinCo Foods LLC Vice-President of Real Estate Greg Goins told News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN that the company expects to have between 125 and 150 staff working at the store. Goins said so far about 95 percent of the new store associates are local hires.

The store is approximately 73,000 square feet in size. It is on Northwest Stewart Parkway across from CHI Mercy Medical Center and occupies the property that was previously home to a Kmart store for many years. That building was torn down in January after being vacant since 2017.

WinCo has been working on the project for at least three years. A pre-application conference was held with City of Roseburg Community Development Department staff in November of 2020. An application for a site plan review was submitted in March of 2021.

WinCo is based in Boise, Idaho and has around 135 employee-owned stores in operation spread over 10 states, mainly in the western U.S. Goins said employee ownership means local residents will have a stake in the business and what it means to the people and the community. More than 20,000 people work at a WinCo location.

Once the store is open, that section of Northwest Stewart Parkway will be home to four grocery stories. Along with WinCo, Albertsons, Sherm’s Thunderbird Market and Walmart are all close by. Fred Meyer and Grocery Outlet are not far away, on Northwest Garden Valley Boulevard. Safeway is on Northeast Stephens Street. While convenience stores abound all over town, southeast Roseburg and the westside of Roseburg along West Harvard Avenue have no grocery stores.