News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
It's hard to miss the construction on the former site of the Sisters RV park at the west end of town.
That massive structure is the new Ray's Food Place, set to open in November.
"If it does sooner than that, great for us. If it goes a little longer, I think that's expected, but at this point it's a waiting game." said Ray's manager Jeff McDonald.
Doug Lee of Lee Construction is the general contractor. He has built several Ray's markets already, which McDonald says gives him an edge in anticipating the ins and outs of the big project.
"He's been doing this for a long time already," McDonald said. "This store is basically the same as Redmond, and he built Redmond."
The new store encompasses 43,500 square feet, dwarfing the existing 28,500-square-foot Rays' in the Three Wind Shopping Center. The store will have additional amenities, including a 420-square-foot in-store convenience-banking branch of Bank of the Cascades.
"You'll have to use the entrance of the store to get to the bank," McDonald said.
Plans for an in-store pharmacy did not materialize. There may, however, be a coffee shop. McDonald is quick to emphasize that it won't be Starbucks.
"No Starbucks in Ray's," he said. "I don't know what's going on around town..."
In fact, McDonald said he's been talking to Joy and Winfield Durham of Sisters Coffee Co.
"We've been talking a lot about putting a Sisters Coffee House inside the store," he said. "If there's any kind of coffee house inside the store, that's what it'll be. We definitely want to take care of the local folks first."
While the project is on schedule or maybe a little ahead, McDonald notes that it's easy to fall behind, especially when refrigeration equipment is being custom made and shipped across the country.
The project involves a lot more than simply moving the current store.
"Everything in this store will be brand new," McDonald said. "The only thing we'll move in the middle of the night will be... dairy, meat, produce and maybe deli stuff. Everything else in this store will be brand new."
Ray's Food Place will be the centerpiece of a 9.6-acre shopping center called Outlaw Station running from the site of Sisters Inn west to the McDonald's and Chevron station.
In the area around Ray's there will be 20,000 square feet of space to house six or seven tenants, according to developer Todd Taylor. As of the middle of May, South Valley Bank & Trust was the only definite tenant. Taylor expects more announcements soon.
As many as 10 tenants may go in along the development's frontage.
One issue Taylor hopes to resolve is the question of drive-throughs. South Valley Bank is far enough from McDonald's to fall outside the 500-foot restriction imposed in the wake of a community-wide effort to minimize the proliferation of drive-through fast-food restaurants in the wake of McDonald's arrival in Sisters.
The bank can have a drive-through.
However, other businesses in Outlaw Station would be restricted, such as pharmacies.
"The concept of the drive-through was truly (for) fast food," said Taylor. "We're going to go back to the planning commission and see if we can redefine that."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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