Fruit stand sign of life amid business closures

By Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Jun 24, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Shannon O. Wells / The Gresham Outlook

Debbie and Richard Lowry show off their new Troutdale Fruit Stop, located in the former Handy Service Station in downtown Troutdale. The couple has been selling fruit and produce in East County for years, and are now focusing on the fruits of Spada Farms, owned by Ron Spada.

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A sour economy continues to take its toll on East County businesses, yet there are some overt signs of hope and optimism here and there.

In the past week, a prominent Gresham restaurant and a Fairview recreational vehicle shop had its merchandise repossessed, while Eddie Bauer, which operates an outlet store in Troutdale, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

But first, a little good news.

Fresh fruit in the summer is something that even record-breaking unemployment can’t sully. The brand-new Troutdale Fruit Stop pairs two veteran East County farming families with a long-dormant location at the gateway to downtown on Historic Columbia River Highway.

Debbie and Richard Lowry approached Neil Handy, owner of the former Handy Service Station, this spring about bringing the quiet white stucco building back to life. The couple is pleased to see a steady stream of vehicular and pedestrian traffic flowing through to buy fruit and produce grown by Spada Farms in Dayton.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” Debbie Lowry says. “This is new to Troutdale.”

The Lowrys used to operate the former Farmers Outlet and Powell Boulevard Produce in Gresham, and still sell produce at the Gresham Farmers Market.

Sylvan Valley greenhouse tomatoes, Maryhill Orchards cherries and strawberries are selling steadily, says Lowry, who says she’s glad to be back in the business of fruit.

“We’re back into the daily vegetable grind,” she quipped. “We’re getting a lot of customers back.”

Lowry credits Handy, who hasn’t had much luck finding a tenant for the old service station, and neighboring merchants with making the venture possible. Handy cited estimates that between 12,000 and 13,000 cars passed by the station daily.

“Neil’s been real supportive, and the merchants have been supportive.”

Talk about a new fruit stand came together in late spring when the Lowrys joined with Ron Spada, who was looking for an additional outlet for his produce.

“Many discussions came together around the middle of May,” Lowry says. “But the seed was planted a long time ago.”

The fact that many nearby local businesses are struggling is not lost on Richard Lowry, who says he hopes the lure of fresh fruit will transcend recent economic trends.

“It’s ironic. We’re starting something up when you’re supposed to be closing.”

•••

Speaking of which, Sympatico Bistro & Espresso, one of Gresham’s more beloved restaurants, served its final bowl of Hungarian mushroom soup Friday, June 19.

The restaurant at 1000 N. Main Ave. opened four and a half years ago and developed a strong following for breakfast and lunch offerings, and expanded into dinner territory in January 2008.

Although lunch crowds were strong, as were Sunday breakfasts, owners Keenan and Rebekah Cron say the bistro’s fortunes declined dramatically when the economy turned south last fall.

“We had some good runs,” Keenan Cron says. “But the past 10 months were pretty bad. Bad enough to where the rent wasn’t getting paid on time. The economy fell in a 20- to 30-percent drop, just like that. We never recovered from that.”

Cron, who credits his landlord for being lenient in allowing them to recover, says looks can be deceiving when judging a restaurant’s success based on its lunch crowd. The closure meant laying off five loyal employees, he added.

“A lot of people told me, ‘You’re always busy. How could you close?’ ” he says. “Well, one hour or so of good business is not gonna keep it open.”

The couple’s business deliveries had also seen a decline.

“Where we had one a day, it ended up being one a week,” he says. “That was a big change.”

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