August 8, 2024
By: Katherine Trowbridge & Roman Corona Martinez
Crews work on digging out and leveling ground on the former landfill in preparation of the new store building project behind Connell’s Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods.
As equipment digs the ground behind the local, Connell Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods, anticipation grows for what will be a brand-new grocery store amongst community and staff alike.
Andrew Montemayor, General Manager of Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods, spoke with the Franklin County Graphic regarding the project. At first, he shared, their goal was to do a big remodel but looking at the numbers, that just wasn’t feasible so they looked at other options. Ultimately, they worked with the City of Connell to purchase land located directly behind their current location. In the end, they will be “building new from the ground up,” he said.
The land, like with the community center, is part of the former landfill. The Montemayors want to get it right, from the ground up, so to speak, so that issues that plagued the other lot don’t hinder their new building. At this time, crews are digging down and cleaning up the landfill area and creating a solid foundation to build upon.
The Prosser Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods (pictured above), also owned by the Montemayor family, is the most similar in size and style to what Connell’s new store will be, although Connell’s store will be unique to our Community.
The footprint of the new store is 95% locked in and while it will feature produce, meat, bakery, and deli sections, it will be quite a bit different. Montemayor stated, “Yes, it will be bigger.” He did state that the store will be more like their Prosser location, in size and offerings, but still be unique to Connell.
“Our main goal is to add more variety into our store, expand the layout and size, and have more of a variety of products,” he shared. “We’re trying to enhance the customer experience with a bigger variety of products in a new modern store. We want people to feel happy with the store.”
The building process will take place over the next year, while the current store remains open to serve customers. Once built, the old location will be demolished and a larger parking lot built, to accommodate the bigger store.
As many have experienced, the current store location is already crumbling, with broken freezers, and a multitude of other issues. Montemayor addressed these concerns stating, “We’ve always tried to be as quick as possible anytime something goes down. We work with great partners that come to Connell and kind of work with us on different things and we try to do as quick a job as possible. There has been an urgency for a long time. If it was up to us, it’d be ready today but obviously things take time. And we understand that and rather do things the right way and get it done correctly.”
Once the ground is solid, construction will begin with one piece following after the other. He shared, “Things take time. We work in the grocery industry so we’re not experts in construction. Equipment doesn’t just show up, sometimes things are delayed, which creates a domino effect and then you can’t do the next thing,” he said when speaking of issues that could delay the building process. He stated, “For the most part, we are working with a very good group of people.” He added, “the city absolutely helped. They’ve been so awesome to work with.”
Montemayor said that the new store, along with offering many new products and services for customers, will provide new local job opportunities. He stated that there could be a total of five checkouts with one also serving as customer service.
The Montemayor's are from Othello and grew up in a small community. “We’re small-town people,” Montemayor said, “Of Connell, we love it there. We love what Connell is about.”
He went on to state that while the bottom line and financials are important, their first look is the community… “It’s growing. We want to help it grow and be a part of that.”
“We’re very excited for Connell, for the community. We have really great employees. Once all is said and done, I hope the community is happy with it. I wish it could be built today and open today, but things take time and we want to do it right, do right by the community we serve.”
The new store is projected to be open by late spring early summer 2025.
Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods is owned by the Montemayor family, who own and operate Harvest Food co-op stores located in Othello, Connell, Mattawa, Zillah, Moses Lake, and Prosser.