See ya Hanks! Its was good while it lasted.

Wow, Hank's Thriftway Grocery store in Cornelius Oregon, a Big city block long, 71 year old business and once the biggest Grocery Retailer in all of Washington County, is dead, done and gone.

Its been replaced by Grande Foods' a Latino Grocery that features products from South of the border and sure enough is Big on candy, candy, candy.

Sweets and Alcohol will prove to be their biggest movers. Note: I didn't say sellers as there is a Big difference.

Golly, that is amazing as Hank's was a giant store, known to buy in Rail Road Car volumes and selling at low, low unbeatable prices.

One can only wonder what killed their business . . . as everybody else knows.

The new Hispanic operators base some of their optimism on the success of Uwajimaya, a Beaverton Grocery Retailer that caters to the Asian community.

Fat chance. What they fail to appreciate is there is quite a BIG difference in shopping behavior between the Asian and Hispanic communities.

Example: The Large Latino Grocery idea was tried in Mexalem and didn't last a year. They had moved into a large building what had been a Pep Boys Auto Parts and Service center. Big enough.

It looked quite impressive at the start. However, soon after opening they made some changes to the facility and thus became more like the other retailers in that part of town. That was with blocking one of the two large entry/exit doors and drastically reducing the size of the one remaining entry/exit door.

I can only assume this was done for the same purpose as other area retailers who made the changes as a result of suffering Great Losses from Shop Lifting which seems an accepted component of the Hispanic Culture.

Stealing one's way into a Foreign Land where you are unwanted and unwelcome, is only the start of more to come.

Oh yes, there is no truth to the old phrase, "Honor Among Thieves."