Oregon Public Broadcasting

Residents of Portland's Hillsdale neighborhood will soon have a neighborhood grocery store again.  As Andrew Theen reports, Food Front Co-Op is opening a second store.

When Wild Oats Market in Hillsdale closed last October, people noticed. The specialty food store was the only one of its kind for miles.

Holly Jarvis, the general manager of Food Front Co-op, says hundreds of emails filled her mailbox urging the co-op to move into the Hillsdale Shopping Center.

Jarvis says the building is almost ready.

Holly Jarvis: "We're going to be able to come in and get the store open without the same kind of investment you might need to make in opening a store from scratch.  However it still is going to take about a million dollars to get the store open."

Food Front has about 3,000 members, or owners.  But Jarvis said the co-op will need more people to join.

Jarvis says she hopes to open the doors in Hillsdale in August.