About 1,500 people live year-round on Anderson Island in South Puget Sound.
Monday, Feb. 2, was a hard day for island resident Barbara Lake, who closed the island's only general store for the last time. The store served as a grocery, post office and gas station.
Lake told Tacoma News Tribune reporter Becca Most about her struggle to keep the doors to this community resource open.
“I tried my best, so I thought — you always go back and think, 'Well, if I did this or did that?' I’ve been told not to do that. But it’s hard,” said a tearful Lake, second-guessing her decision to close the store.
Most joined KNKX's Lisa Brooks to talk about what the store meant to the island community, and how its closure will change the lives of the people who live there.
KNKX Weekend Edition host Lisa Brooks: Can you please tell me about the residents of Anderson Island and how they relied on this general store?
Tacoma News Tribune reporter Becca Most: You know, Anderson Island is a pretty small residential island. It's about eight miles long, and so it only has one restaurant. And as of Monday [Feb. 2] the only other thing it had was a general store, which also served as the island's gas station, hardware store, cafe, deli, post office, and I think it also had a U-Haul kind of situation going on there, too.
And so the island is home to about 1,500 full time residents, and most of them are retirees and older people who've lived on the island, maybe grew up on the island, and own their homes there.
I went out there on Monday, on its last day. It had been open for more than 50 years. And you know, it was really a sad moment. A lot of people I spoke to in the parking lot said that they had been going, you know, every week, sometimes every day, for lunch at the deli and other stuff as well.
And the owner herself, you know, was — based on the people I talked to — really beloved in the community, and she had been trying to make it work for as long as she could. I know she was also running a free or discount, you know, meal service for low-income seniors that no longer is going to be able to happen on the island without the commercial kitchen. And I think it was kind of an "aha moment" for a lot of people about, you know, "Hey, if I need a lemon, or something small, there's nowhere for me to go, unless I would take, you know, the $25 ferry ride across the way." So I think this is going to be a big problem.
Brooks: Why did it close?
Most: Yeah. So based on talking with the owner, Barbara Lake was telling me that, you know, like many small businesses right now, it's a very challenging time to run a small business. Even though the store had weathered through the COVID pandemic and the 2008 recession and things like that, her margins were very small.
And as more residents came to rely on Amazon and delivery services for some of their needs, they didn't go to the store as often as maybe they could have, and her small business just couldn't make it. She was telling me there was a lot of equipment breakdowns that she couldn't afford to get fixed. I heard there were some other issues with the building that would have needed extensive repairs, and so ultimately, it just — it was too much.
Brooks: What will the residents do next? I mean, the post office, that's a huge deal. How do they get their mail?
Most: Yeah, so I'm told residents can still get their mail delivered to their houses, but they might have to pick up packages or mail, you know, on the mainland. I know there's a post office in Steilacoom, but they might have to drive to Lakewood or DuPont to get packages as well.
Brooks: I'm concerned about gasoline as well. What do people do for gasoline?
Most: Yeah, you know, gasoline is tricky, too, because, yeah, this was the only place for people to get gas on the island. And interestingly enough, the Pierce County ferry system is kind of unique in the way that it doesn't allow people to carry gasoline on the ferry. So I reached out to Jani Hitchen, who represents the island on the Pierce County Council, and she was saying that she has, you know, heard this might happen for a while, and so she's been trying to work with, I believe, the Coast Guard and other agencies to see if they could get a permit to allow people to carry gasoline onto the island. I was kind of asking around on Monday, and I heard that a lot of people were kind of stockpiling up gasoline before it closed later that day.
Brooks: So what's next for the residents of Anderson Island?
Most: I know a lot of people are hoping a new grocery store or something will go into that spot, and the owner told me that there are a couple interested buyers. But you know, it could take at least a couple months for that to happen.
Brooks: I want to say thank you so much. Becca Most is a reporter with the Tacoma News Tribune. Really appreciate your time today.
Most: Thank you.
