New Grocery Store Opens in Colbert

Midway Market, located at 16221 N. Hatch Road, opened on July 25. The market offers a new grocery option in the Colbert community, including unique items and fresh produce, as well as an on-site gas station. According to Midway Market General Manager Steve Fels, the new grocery store was built to create a “cornerstone” in the community.

“Similar to the Kendall Yards project (in Spokane) when they put in My Fresh Basket, it kind of helped the community to be a pillar and then other restaurants came. So we're hoping this is just the start to an amazing community,” Fels said, adding, “This (Colbert) is a food desert. So if you wanted food, you had to go to Wandermere or Deer Park. So there was a need as well.” Fels said Midway Market stands apart from other grocery stores because people are “able to find stuff they can't at other places.” Along with diverse items and fresh produce, Midway Market also has a bistro, offering made-to-order food, a salad bar, and a coffee bar.

Fels also said they prioritize supplying goods from local vendors. “We can't be the cheapest, and we can't be the biggest, but we can be different, more creative,” he said. Fels said the project took approximately 13 months to complete from the time they broke ground, but that the original plan was just to build a Sinclair gas station. “The first iteration was a gas station. It wasn't even a grocery store. And then they changed plans to a small grocery store, then a bigger grocery store, and then Bernardo Wills (an architecture firm) drew this beautiful building, and no one could refuse it,” Fels said. Fels said the community response has been the biggest highlight, although the project has not been without its hurdles. “Our pin pads were programmed wrong, our register systems aren't working the way we would like.

None of the produce codes got uploaded to the self-checkout, etc.” He added, “But everybody's been amazing. Sales are double what we expected.” Looking ahead, Fels said the plot of land that Midway Market sits on will continue to be developed. “There's different phases to the development. There's six retail locations planned to go along Hatch Road.

They haven't been sold or decided what they're going to be yet. It looks like a couple restaurants, maybe a retail store, and hopefully a doctor's office clinic.” He continued, “I'm just so thankful for the customers, everybody has been so sweet. That's my biggest takeaway.”